Listen Hear

12/21/2023

Hope you can join the the Asad Family for a Kwanza celebration at Tube Factory artspace on December 30. We are so grateful that Uzuri Asad & Bashiri Asad are part of Big Car Collaborative's long term artist residency, APLR. They are a family of amazing artists, 🤩.

About Kwanza

As an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world African community, Kwanzaa brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense.
During the holiday, families and communities organize activities around the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles): Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and lmani (Faith). Participants also celebrate with feasts (karamu), music, dance, poetry, narratives and end the holiday with a day dedicated to reflection and recommitment to The Seven Principles and other central cultural values.
Learn more at https://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org

12/14/2023

Season’s Greetings from all of us at Big Car Collaborative!

We’d love your help during this holiday season as we transform an overlooked spot along Bean Creek on our Tube Factory artspace campus into a place for peaceful reflection, socializing, and learning about nature — a perfect gift for the ecosystem and humans alike!

Now through Jan. 13, we at Big Car Collaborative are raising $50,000 matched — dollar for dollar — through CreatINg Places, a program of the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority (IHCDA) that utilizes funds from the State of Indiana. We can accept donations of up to $10,000 toward this campaign!

With this project called Water World: Creekside Social and Educational Space, artists at Big Car are teaming up with experts in landscape design and horticulture, neighbors, and other partners to restore and reconnect a section of Bean Creek behind Tube Factory as a beautiful and natural public asset.

You can donate online at www.patronicity.com/waterworld

All of these tax-deductible donations will be matched by IHCDA through Jan. 13. We can also accept offline donations via check sent to Big Car at 1125 Cruft Street, 46203. And we give back fun and artistic thank you gifts for your donations!

With your support, we’ll:
Remove a section of asphalt along Bean Creek and relocate dumpsters and parking to create a green outdoor classroom and gathering area. This intimate space will feature landscaped paths surrounding native pollinator plants.

Build a path down to Bean Creek, allowing visitors access to this year-round waterway enjoyed by fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals like muskrats and mink.

Clean up trash in the section of Bean Creek that borders our campus.

Program the area on First Fridays and with special small events to bring social and educational activities, conversations, and performances from commissioned artists.

Collaborate with our neighborhood organizations (Bean Creek and Garfield Park) and Reconnecting to Our Waterways on social, educational, and arts-focused gatherings.

Repair the parking lot adjacent to the new restorative space and paint murals on the pavement. This improved lot will also be easily closed to cars and used for events.

How else can you help? Share the word about this opportunity with friends and family and through social media using the link www.patronicity.com/waterworld

And join us for a donation-optional art opening and fundraiser celebration as part of our Jan. 5 First Friday with Julian Jamaal Jones: Take Me Back at Tube Factory artspace.

All proceeds and in-person donations from that day will go toward this campaign. As always, we thank our friends at Sun King Brewery for their ongoing support.

We're transforming an overlooked, overgrown spot along Bean Creek into a beautiful public place for peaceful reflection, socializing and learning about nature.

09/01/2023

Tonight at Listen Hear is the opening of Kierra Ready’s Rooted Radience:
Women and Natural Elements Showcasing Inner Beauty

"Rooted Radiance” is an art exhibition that pays tribute to the innate beauty, strength, and resilience of black women. Through a captivating collection of ten paintings, this show artfully captures black women in their natural element, surrounded by the beauty and serenity of nature. Each canvas tells a unique story, celebrating the authentic lives of women while highlighting themes of prosperity and growth.

"Rooted Radiance" not only celebrates the diverse beauty of black women but also highlights their role as symbols of growth and prosperity. By incorporating elements of nature, each painting tells a story of empowerment, resilience, and the pursuit of abundance. The show aims to inspire viewers to recognize the inherent beauty within themselves and the world around them, ultimately promoting unity and understanding.
This exhibition is a celebration of the profound connection between black women and the natural world. It showcases the inherent harmony between individuals and their surroundings, emphasizing the serenity and inspiration that arise from embracing one's authentic self. Each painting captures a moment of quiet strength, showcasing black women as they are, rooted in their own radiance.

About the artist:
Kierra Ready is a visual artist and art educator creating art that captures the beauty of the outer world and the essence of inner world, inviting viewers to engage in a moment of contemplation and self-awareness.
By incorporating elements of nature, she hope to create a serene and harmonious atmosphere that encourages mindfulness, reflection and ultimately empowerment.
Curated by Dr Jarrod Dortch of Snuggy Bear Presents
Largely underrepresented in museums and galleries, “Snuggy Bear” Dr. Jarrod Nicholas Dortch is part of a movement of Black artists and curators who are hosting exhibits and creating work that shines a light on Black culture. He has been affiliated with Big Car as a Community Artist and Gardener at the Tube Factory artspace.

07/07/2023

Tonight, we celebrate first friday at 2620 Shelby St. Please join us for & ‘s exhibition tonight from 6-10PM

03/22/2023

Women's History Month is not only a time to honor bold women of the past but bold women of the present. Today we're featuring Shauta Marsh, Co-founder/Director of Programs and Exhibitions at Big Car Collaborative.

Shauta has lived on the Southside of Indianapolis since 1999. First in Fletcher Place, then Fountain Square. Marsh and her husband, Jim Walker, started Big Car Collaborative in the upstairs of the Murphy Arts Center in the early 2000’s.

Big Car aims to promote social connectivity, cooperation, and creativity through various projects such as the Tube Factory artspace — a contemporary art museum with a cafe, studios, and community space as well as managing a long-term affordable housing program for artists.

"I come from a family of strong women who supported their families, sometimes solely, and they taught me we can do anything and everything," said Marsh.

To learn more about upcoming exhibits and events at Big Car visit https://www.bigcar.org/.

03/03/2023

Wonderful talk by at this morning. He brings the cheers and peace to our community in so many ways. We’re excited that returns this summer!

And we’re fortunate to have him working with us as an artist with since 2016 — running and curating and plus being a fantastic neighbor and friend.

Congratulations!

02/25/2023

take over the space tonight at Listen Hear w/ fully immersive floor to ceiling live visuals along with a Silent Disco ft. and 8PM

01/02/2023

Join us Friday Jan 6th for the opening of delecate(s) 6-10pm at Listen Hear

delicate(s), a collaborative multimedia installation assembled by Jane Sun Kim, Em Elise, and Simon Plemon, is a hypnotic foraging into the emotional nature of memory and the physical residue it leaves on, in, and around the body. How do we integrate our memories into the minutia of our daily lives? How do they shape the way we move, react? Do they control our perception of reality, our identities? Spiritually fused by a collective longing for tangible depth in the face of social media propelled staged memory curation and the dissociative “new normal” induced by a global pandemic, Kim, Elise, and Plemon bring us delicate(s) to investigate, commemorate, and liberate their hauntings beyond a two dimensional plane. Featuring suspended sculpture, fabric prints, hand-drawn charcoal wall illustrations, projected video, enveloping soundscapes, and personal relics, delicate(s) seeks to summon the complex sensorial richness of remembrance and elicit a subdued state of tender reflection in its viewers.

12/12/2022

Whether you have $5 or $5,000 to spare and want to support Big Car Collaborative's affordable housing and our contemporary art campus-we would greatly appreciate your help. Every penny will get matched by the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority.
Our campus includes Tube Factory artspace, Listen Hear, 99.1 WQRT FM, Guichelaar Gallery, Normal Coffee, our soon to open Terri Sisson Park----and the newly renovated 46,000 square foot contemporary art space that will host at least 24 artist studios and two additional galleries. This will bring bring the grand total of five galleries on site featuring local, national and international artists and a residency program.
As we continue our work on one block in the Garfield Park neighborhood that began in 2015, we're moving to important icing on the cultural cake that will further transform our block from half-vacant seven years ago to colorful, welcoming, and full of art today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Fourteen of our affordable homes for artists are complete on the block — with two more coming soon. And our outdoor greenspace and sculpture garden — with the Chicken Chapel of Love and Indianapolis Bee Sanctuary — have created a lovely and accessible central gathering space between Tube Factory, our future expansion into a larger industrial building, and the backs of three artist houses.
What we're doing next on our contemporary art campus is connecting all of this investment and energy to an improved streetscape on adjacent Cruft Street — bringing the artist's homes alive with color, light, and plantings. We'll add commissioned public art around the block (including poets and musicians as well as visual artists) and launch a seasonal art walk series that will include the resident artists as it becomes a regular celebration for the public.
What we'll do with your support (often working with and paying commissioned, neighborhood, and other locally based artists):
Paint artist houses on the block with vibrant and welcoming colors.
Add light elements to homes and streets for night-time art walks and year-round beauty.
Utilize a projector to show bright and colorful digital art on the side of our soon-to-be-renovated big building — visible from much of the block.
Bring public art to surprising places on the block — like the chain-link fence around our parking lot (colorful flower mural), street sign poles (a perfect place for poems), and the dead-end barrier at the end of Cruft Street (kinetic sculpture).
Add benches around existing trees along Cruft Street and install attractive planters for residents to use for growing food in spring.
Install wayfinding and informational signage around the block.
Start the first of an ongoing tradition of seasonal art walks around the entire block (winter, spring, summer, and fall) that include galleries, installations, and performances at the different artist's homes and yards.

We'll further beautify our block for people to celebrate art, poetry, and each other at a welcoming public place filled with color, light, and nature.

12/03/2022

Tonight at Listen Hear! pop up ft. works by , , & Sounds by - 8PM 🌹 🖼️

10/07/2022

Opening 6-10 pm October 7: Adrian Bless is the alternative hiphop artist and visual artist based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

With the clashing melodies and harmonies to accentuate his lyricism, he’s bringing unique sounds and visuals to the Midwest. The exhibit features original works of Bless's visual art.

He will also perform live. Works will be available for purchase. Curated by