Indiana University Northwest is home to two art galleries, a main stage theater, and an intimate “Black Box” theater. A new arts building dominates the east side of campus on Broadway and the university’s School of the Arts (SOA) itself is still young, officially formed in 2018.

Like many arts venues since the pandemic hit, School of the Arts exhibits and performances have been forced into hibernation, but certainly not because of a lack of appetite for the arts.

Now, with a physically distanced academic year starting anew, the School is faced with a perplexing question: How do we reactivate our gallery and performance spaces responsibly in a pandemic?

The answer, of course, is to take IU Northwest’s School of the Arts on the road.

Unlike the coronavirus, it’s not a novel idea. The notion of taking the arts out of buildings and into communities is a conversation that’s been going on ever since the SOA was born. Lauren Pacheco, arts programming and engagement director, talked about the concept at length with SOA Dean David Klamen when she came on board two years ago. Now, faced with the current environment, it is suddenly a perfect time to go after this vision full force.

So with a combination of grant funds earmarked for community engagement, a gallery budget stagnated by the pandemic, and a big vision, Pacheco and Fine Arts Professor Kelly Knaga, set to work.

Pacheco contacted Could Be Architecture, a dynamic duo out of Chicago whose creative pursuits highlight their passion for social justice. She commissioned them to design and build eight modular units that can sustain an IU Northwest mobile exhibit.

The mobile pop-up exhibit, called “Arts + Action Community Lab,” debuted on a recent Saturday in Gary. People on their way to the nearby train station, hopping off the public bus, or heading to Saturday afternoon church gatherings meandered through the exhibits. Some just pulling over their cars, about 60 people stopped by, she estimated, to touch, explore, and discover.

“As I expected,” Pacheco said, “the structures tapped folks’ imaginations and curiosities. I overheard some people talking about how the pop-up reminded them of a museum, with the hands-on component.”

She added, “I’ve had this vision for a long time, well before physical distancing and the need for outdoor activities became such a necessity in our environment. Whatever the spark, I’m thrilled this vision is now a reality. We have so many ideas for what we plan to bring to the community, the exhibits will rarely be the same.”

The pop-up will show up on Hohman Avenue in Hammond on October 10 and at 3^rd and Main street in Hobart on October 16.

Social Practice Art

in 2018, Klamen talked about a new medium that has emerged over the past 15 or 20 years, known as “social practice art.”

“Social practice artists don’t necessarily make artifacts at all,” he explained. “Instead, they use various interactions with the community as their canvas.”

After looking at what Pacheco and Knaga brought to a Gary parking lot on their first Saturday in the field, he said he is thrilled to see this concept at work.

“The pandemic and current cultural climate have inspired wonderful new ideas for arts-related action in our expanded community,” Klamen said. “My colleagues are taking steps that will engage and entertain a wide audience, and influence the perceptions of art in our region.”

The architects of the mobile units, Joseph Altshuler and Zack Morrison, say they are proud to be working with the SOA on its vision to “empower new forms of cultural exchange.”

“Especially in the time of COVID,” they said, “in which conventional gallery spaces remain less accessible, we hope that the pop-up and social-distancing friendly capacities of the Mobile Art + Action Community Lab will invite new opportunities and formats for artists to interface with the public.”

Pacheco explained that the mobile pop-up exhibit is not solely to bring the School of the Arts into communities, but all of IU Northwest.

There are plans to include artifacts and information about all departments across the university at future events. For example, an interactive exhibit from the Department of Biology, with its jarred specimens and other curiosities, would serve to pique interest in that discipline, and ultimately draw folks to explore the university’s degree programs.

Again, as Klamen had visualized back in 2018: “Part of the impetus behind the SOA is to create an infrastructure that will unify our university’s strengths across disciplines and enable cross-disciplinary work.”

For example, Klamen envisions crossing arts administration with business, or art therapy with the College of Health and Human Services. Another collaboration could be pooling the skills of marketing and design majors. Of course, Klamen says that art classes benefit every student, regardless of their major, because it strengthens one’s ability to think creatively and divergently.

IU Northwest photo

Children interact with the School of the Arts' new Arts + Action Community Lab recently in Gary. The lab is a mobile pop-up exhibit that brings IU Northwest into communities.