The Basile Center for Art, Design and Public Life enables Herron faculty and students to apply their talent and skill to real-world situations and needs. The Basile Center brings together Herron artists, designers, and art educators to serve the needs of the broader Indianapolis community. The projects that the Basile Center manages range from permanent public art installations to visual communication design projects, to arts administration and fine art exhibitions, and they yield incredible opportunities for professional practice for our students, including both our undergraduates and students in our graduate programs.

Herron is a major contributor to numerous civic development projects in central Indiana, and our collaborations include projects for the new Carmel City Center, the Indianapolis Arts Council, Indy Parks, the new Simon headquarters, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail project, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indy-Go Transportation, the Indianapolis Foundation Library Fund, the Damien Center, and the Marion County Circuit and Superior Courts.

New and progressive ideas are the foundation from which businesses, cultural organizations, and schools gain strength and momentum. The Basile Center’s clients and community partners are progressive leaders who demonstrate a commitment to art and design education and support innovative thinking. They gain a better understanding and appreciation for creative processes and production by working with Herron students and faculty.

Here are some of the recent projects conducted through the Basile Center:

Imani Workshops, Indianapolis, Indiana

Faculty leaders: Assistant Professor YoungBok Hong, Lecturer Michael Olson and visiting professor Charles Hinshaw
Working in partnership with the leadership of Imani Workshops, Herron Visual Communication students developed and presented proposals for institutional identity, exhibit identifiers, and marketing communications. Imani Workshops is a branch of the Family Preservation Initiative under the IU-Kenya Partnership’s AMPATH (The Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS) program.

United Way of Central Indiana, Indianapolis, Indiana

Faculty Leaders: Lecturer Michael Olson and Adjunct Faculty Marcia Stone
United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) Director of Marketing & Communications, Christine Raymond, invited Herron Visual Communication students to produce promotional materials for the United Way's Ready to Learn, Ready to Earn campaign. The focus of this campaign is in helping reduce the needs of future generations by helping ensure that kids enter school ready to learn and leave school ready to earn. UWCI helps sustain vital human services by working exclusively with proven human services agencies that direct life-changing opportunities. Raymond as well as a copywriter and graphic designer from the United Way offices participated in evaluating student work and providing students with additional direction. A committee at UWCI is reviewing all materials submitted by students, with a finalist to be chosen. UWCI will work with the finalist to further develop materials and eventual publish the student's work in the campaign.

Indianapolis Museum of Art - Stout Reference Library, Indianapolis, IN

Faculty leaders: Matthew Groshek
Funding for final implementation through the IMA Stout Library with support from hardware support through IUPUI Informatics. This collaborative exhibition design for Clowes photogravure folios was managed as an applied project through teams from the Museum Studies Course, Introduction to Exhibition Planning and Design. Through thoughtful teamwork, students proposed several interpretive approaches and selected a best case. Faculty leader Matthew Groshek implemented the final design of casework, graphic panels and labels based on student design concepts. An electronic media presentation was also produced as part of the exhibition, showing all pages of the folios.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana

Faculty leader: Associate Professor Paula Differding and Adjunct Faculty Member Marcia Stone
Students did research and developed a print communications campaign to build awareness for the museum and drive more visitors to view the exhibits. Students also partnered with exhibit design students to recommend possible improvements to the exhibit space itself.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana, Indianapolis, Indiana

Faculty leader: Adjunct Faculty Member Marcia Stone
Students did research and created print materials for a gourmet dinner fundraising event including an event sponsorship brochure, invitation, ticket, program and signage.

The Damien Center, Indianapolis, Indiana

Faculty leader: Associate Professor Paula Differding
Partially funded by a Venture Fund grant from the Solution Center
PHASE 1: Student designed information packet: poster, announcement card and entry forms for high school essay competition for college scholarships. Distributed to over 30,000 high school teachers through out the state of Indiana.

PHASE 2: Students worked with the director of development for the Damien Center, Christopher Ittenbach and Professor Edgar Huang and his graduate students in New Media to produce a public service announcement for a HIV awareness campaign. The awareness campaign was developed by our Visual Communication students in spring of 06.