'A Monumental Affair' charette will tackle West 38th Street corridor development

INDIANAPOLIS – (October 19, 2010) Limited spaces are still available for the full-day A Monumental Affair charette, held from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday, November 5. Participants will explore how everyday access to beauty, through nature, art and good design, can improve the commercial corridor in the Lafayette Square area. While many commercial storefronts remain vacant in the area, residents are working together to improve the corridor, capitalizing on the vitality of the diverse international cultures that permeate the neighborhood. Registration is still being accepted online for the full-day event at www.kibi.org/ma_workshop.

In accordance with this year’s theme: It’s About US, the charette will partner the very best talent that Indianapolis has to offer in design, development, construction, engineering, and public art to reimagine this year’s location: the West 38th Street corridor. The resulting ideas will be presented as part of the program at this year’s A Monumental Affair awards ceremony on November 11, at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. For more information, please visit www.kibi.org/monumental.

The Department of Metropolitan Development recently issued a Request for Qualifications for entities interested in developing thematic gateway plans for the Lafayette Square area. “The creative energies devoted in this charette, informed by residents and business owners, hold great potential for inciting healthy change in the community,” said Maury Plambeck, Director of Department of Metropolitan Development with the City of Indianapolis. “Both local and national livability experts have noted the great potential that exists in building on the Lafayette Square area’s existing strengths.”

The A Monumental Affair charette is sponsored by the Central Indiana Community Foundation. For more information on the event please visit www.kibi.org/ma_workshop. Tickets for the charette are $50. To purchase tickets or for information about A Monumental Affair, contact Laura Fox at lfox@kibi.org or 317-264-7555 ext. 100.

A Monumental Affair is a program of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. (KIB) in partnership with the Society for Marketing Professional Services Indiana and supported by the City of Indianapolis. Proceeds from the A Monumental Affair charette and awards dinner benefit KIB—a nonprofit that unites people to build community and transform public spaces through aesthetic and environmental improvement.

For more information about A Monumental Affair, visit www.kibi.org/monumental.

About Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc.
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. (KIB) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit engaging neighborhoods in environmental and community improvement projects throughout the city. Last year, KIB engaged over 40,000 volunteers on projects around the city. The mission of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. is to unite people to build community and transform public spaces through aesthetic and environmental improvement. To learn more, visit www.kibi.org.

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