The Arts in Bloomington

Bloomington is noted for its vibrant, thriving arts community. On campus, more than 1,000 concerts and events are presented each year by Jacobs School of Music, and a new production opens almost every other week on one of the two stages in the Department of Theatre and Drama. The IU Auditorium offers popular entertainment, including touring Broadway shows and solo artists such as Bill Cosby and Mandy Patinkin, and visitors to the IU Art Museum can view works from nearly every art-producing culture throughout history. Other organizations on campus include the Mathers Museum of World Cultures, home of an outstanding collection of ethnomusicologic instruments; the African American Arts Institute; and the Archives of Traditional Music.

The City of Bloomington annually hosts the critically acclaimed Lotus World Music and Arts Festival (September), the Bloomington Early Music Festival (May), the Indiana Heritage Quilt Festival (March), and the Fourth Street Festival, which features arts and crafts by regional artists (Labor Day weekend). A myriad of other performing and visual arts events are offered by scores of local arts organizations including the John Waldron Arts Center, the Bloomington Playwright's Project, the International Harp Competition, the Windfall Dancers, and the Bloomington Area Arts Council.

As a major university, IU is a favored site of prominent speakers and events. Recent visitors from the arts community have been Michael Kaiser, Executive Director of the Royal Opera House, London; artist Judy Chicago; and—as part of a Leonard Bernstein Festival—music critics, executives and biographers associated with the composer. Other campus guests have included business leader Bill Gates, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, former Polish President Lech Walesa, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Photos: Top - IU Musical Arts Center. Bottom - Fourth of July "Picnic with the Pops."

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The IU Environment

Nestled in the scenic rolling hills of south central Indiana, Indiana University Bloomington is one of the world's most distinguished institutions of higher learning. The 1,860-acre campus, cited as one of the five most beautiful in the United States in Thomas A. Gaines' The Campus as a Work of Art, is 50 miles south of Indianapolis and within three or four hours' drive from Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville. Approximately 38,000 undergraduate and graduate students come from all over the world to IU Bloomington, making the campus a dynamic place to live and study.

The Bloomington campus offers more than 5,000 courses in over 100 degree programs, and is home to the world-class schools of Public and Environmental Affairs, Music, Business, Education, Journalism, and Library and Information Science. The University Libraries rank among the top academic libraries in the nation, with over 5 million volumes, 12 million print and media items, 15 departmental libraries, and the renowned Lilly Library collection of rare books and manuscripts. The Indiana Memorial Union, one of the largest student unions in the world, features a 200-room hotel, several dining facilities, a bookstore, and recreation areas. IU is a member of the Big Ten conference for intercollegiate athletics, and also offers, for individual use, tennis and squash courts, swimming pools, a running track, basketball courts, and an 18-hole golf course.

The eclectic charm of the City of Bloomington is legendary. A downtown square is surrounded by a wide array of specialty shops, ethnic restaurants from African to Korean to Tibetan, art galleries, bookstores, and live music clubs. Street fairs and craft and film festivals are held at various times throughout the year, and for outdoor recreation, Lake Monroe is only a short drive from campus. This scenic lake is bordered on two sides by the 7,000-acre Hoosier National Forest, and the area offers golf, boat rentals, tennis, and dining. For more information, go to http://www.bloomington.in.us/artsrec/.