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Elana Thompson is a renaissance woman who has reinvented herself numerous times over the course of her lifetime, all the while learning, growing and smiling. She’s worked in pharmaceutical sales and at universities in recruitment and retention, done a good deal of fundraising, engaged in diversity and equity training, worked as a Gallup strength coach, and been involved with a number of nonprofit organizations. Now she is Arts for Lawrence’s new executive director. “When I first started working, I would say, ‘I think I’m going to try this,’” Thompson says. “It was always so exciting to be able to create and start something different. I’m a learner.” Encouraged by her parents and others to be creative, Thompson has had a love and appreciation for art ever since she was a little girl. “I have a big imagination,” she says. “I see big things. It used to be, you’d go out and build something with sticks using your imagination. It concerns me that in our society today there is so much tech that there is not a lot of downtime to be with your thoughts and get creative.” Her imagination and drive make her the perfect person to step into the executive director role at Arts for Lawrence, now that Judy Byron has retired as longtime director. When the job description was posted, Thompson’s jaw dropped because it was everything she loved to do. With ample experience as an inspiring communicator, motivational manager and fundraising expert, she was eager to jump into this role feet first. “I love energizing people, and I’ve been involved in a lot of community-focused partnerships as well as leadership programs throughout the community,” says Thompson, who officially started her role on September 6. For several weeks she overlapped with Byron, who worked alongside her, which Thompson appreciated. Read the full article here.

The Fort Ben Cultural Campus in Lawrence will soon open to the public. The project includes an addition on the theater, an outdoor plaza and amphitheater, musical swings and the transformation of a historic building into an art gallery. Read the full article here.

Seeking to shed its label as an art desert, especially in comparison to its Hamilton County neighbors, the City of Lawrence looks forward to opening the Fort Ben Cultural Campus, 8920 Otis Ave., Lawrence. Read the full article here.

In 2018, the Lilly Endowment published a grant opportunity called “Strengthening Indianapolis Through Arts and Cultural Innovation.” Arts for Lawrence applied, and in 2019 the Fort Ben Cultural Campus, a public park and partnership between the City of Lawrence and Arts for Lawrence, received a $5.85 million grant from the Lilly Endowment. The project came to fruition in five phases. Read the full article here.

A look at what is to come when Arts for Lawrence opens the new Fort Harrison Cultural Campus to the public. Read the full article here.

Arts for Lawrence is hosting a unique brick fundraiser that not only serves to beautify their new Fort Ben Cultural Campus, but also provides donor recognition. Inscribed bricks will gradually replace plain, unadorned ones in the new Donor Patio, which is part of a major renovation and expansion slated for completion later this spring. Plans are in the works for a grand opening festival set for May 22. Read the full article here.

Step into a new bronze bootprint at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and you'll be suspended in a moment of past-meets-present. Speakers lining a freshly installed History Walk will sound a familiar marching cadence. Read the full article here.

The Fort Ben Cultural Campus project is Judy Byron’s baby. As executive director of Arts for Lawrence, she is intimately familiar with every detail of the two-year renovation – from the musical swings to the ceramics workspace to the artist-in-residence studio. Not surprisingly, she and her staff look forward to the May 22 opening. Read the full article here.

The finale of this year's bard fest is Elizabeth Rex, a play based on the true story of the execution of the Earl of Essex, the Queen's lover, for treason. This fictionalized account takes us into a barn holding Shakespeare and his players on the eve of the execution. They receive a visit from the Queen on this pivotal night in her rule. Read the full article here.

Judy Byron, the long-serving executive director of Arts for Lawrence, has decided to retire. Her tenure in her current position will end in September, the organization announced. Read the full article here.

Arts for Lawrence (AFL) has received a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as part of a recently announced $57,750,000 in funding from the NEA American Rescue Plan. Read the full article here.

If things had gone according to plan, Arts for Lawrence Executive Director Judy Byron would have retired two years ago when she turned 60. But when an opportunity to receive a Strengthening Indianapolis Through Arts and Culture Innovation Initiative grant was presented, Byron decided to stick around a bit longer. Read the full article here.