A fellowship group just for painters wasn’t what he was looking for.
Patrick Tisdale, a carpenter by day who feeds his compulsion to paint in his backyard studio, had met so many creative people in Franklin since moving his family to the city. He was looking for a way to pull them all together and channel talents and ideas, without setting up limitations that the group would be for musicians only, or just for artists.
For years, he was brainstorming how to tie together all the budding creative people in the community.
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Meanwhile, Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett has been navigating how to tap into people with a vision for how to add arts and beauty to the city, such as adding murals, improving landscaping or even making electrical boxes that dot the streets look a little better. The city already has become a unique destination with its downtown shopping; adding unique artistic features in the right way is the next step, he said.
The Creative Council of Franklin was born, and it will serve as an advisory council to the mayor.
The goals of the group are to lay the groundwork so that Franklin becomes a place where creativity thrives, to make the city a destination for culture makers and to give people who are interested in the arts a reason to visit Franklin. The members are working on getting nonprofit status, and have established a fund with the Johnson County Community Foundation.
A creative contest during an upcoming downtown festival is the group’s first public project, but more outreach is planned. The group envisions arranging studio tours, providing artists and art for shows at local stores or restaurants, conducting meetings to network and brainstorm, creating a directory of resources and embarking on public art projects.
And Barnett can turn to the group when he needs input in creating new gateways, beautifying Jefferson Street, adding emblems or markers around the city, considering murals, designing landscaping and even in future concerts that city might have downtown or at a new amphitheater.
“This is a way to bring it all together,” Barnett said.
The group will focus on collaboration and connecting people, rather than one person dictating the best ideas for any project. Working that way will allow the city to “be known as a place that has a thriving, connected community,” Tisdale said.
Tisdale recalls the strong community feeling among artists and creators in Bloomington and Fountain Square. When he came to Franklin, it was clear to him that creative people lived in the city, but had no real way to connect. Through the years, his urge to find a way to draw them all together never went away, but he struggled with what steps to take, until now.
“It seems to be the right time,” Tisdale said. “It’s ripe for something to happen in the community.”
The overall goal is to connect people who are being creative, expose the community to what they are doing and encourage more people to explore their creative side while possibly improving the community.
Sculptors, writers, musicians, landscape architects, floral arrangers, painters, crafters, quilters — all are creators and can be part of the group. Even entrepreneurs who have to get creative to problem-solve are creators. A goal of the group is to bust stereotypes that only artists are creative, and that prompted the intentional naming of the group as the Creative Council of Franklin, avoiding the word “arts.”
After the creativity contest in June, the group could get to work on its first public arts improvement projects — such as wrapping or painting the 24 electrical boxes that dot the festival zone in the heart of the city. One idea is to paint or wrap them as part of a theme or contest that downtown visitors or shoppers could take part in.
While a splash of art can seem abrupt to some, the creative council wants all of its projects to blend in with the city’s reputation as being handsome, stoic and historic.
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Art to Finish
What: A creativity contest open to all residents to kick off the formation of the Creative Council of Franklin
When: June 23 during the Smoke on the Square festival downtown
How: Families, individuals or friends gather in Province Park for a day to make any type of project that expresses creativity, such as a floral arrangement, painting, writings, sculpture or video. The only limit is that the creation must be able to be viewed or read within a five-minute window for judging purposes.
Get involved: Sign up from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Franklin Art Garden, 229 S. Main St., behind Richard’s Kitchen and Richard’s Brick Oven Pizza. People have from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to create something on-site in Province Park. Entries will be judged from 3 to 4 p.m., with prizes awarded in three age categories and an overall best of show.
Contact the Creative Council of Franklin: creativecouncilfranklin.org
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