Painting a Bigger Picture: Judith B. Thomas on the Future of Indy Arts

Recently-appointed Indy Arts Council president and CEO Judith B. Thomas has big plans for central Indiana’s leading arts advocacy and services agency, including expanding its financial resources and making its role in the local cultural scene as profound as Visit Indy’s is for tourism and the Indiana Sports Corporation’s is for athletics. And she certainly has the chops to do it. Most recently she served as Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood Engagement at the City of Indianapolis, but she’s also worked in various capacities on events ranging from Indiana Black Expo to National FFA, and is currently LOC Co-chair for the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

“People need to realize the value of what the arts community gives to a city, to a community, to a nation,” Thomas said. “We need to make sure that we capture that here. I’m 58, and I’d like to put in a good seven to 10 years helping to make that happen. I’m hoping this is the last job I’ll ever have.”

How are things at your new job going so far?

Oh man. It’s been an education, even though I already knew a great deal about the Indy Arts Council and the local arts community. I’ve been involved with it for years, but I’m still amazed at the amount of programming opportunities the Council provides. It feels like I learn something new about it every day, and gain a better understanding of the scope of its potential and the opportunities open to it.

Why did you decide to accept this job?

I love the Indianapolis arts community, and I think our artists and arts organizations are what make the city unique. That’s what gets me excited – the chance to promote that scene, reach deeper into the community and provide opportunities to improve awareness of what we have to offer. Every time I see an event or an artist, I get excited. It makes me excited to live in Indianapolis.

What inspired your love for the art world?

I was lucky to come up in a family that loved the arts and also worked in the arts. From a young age I’ve listened to different genres of music, though I really grew up in the jazz world. And dance was always a big deal for me. My mother taught dance when she was a student at Indiana University and created her own modern dance troupe as well. I started dancing very young and got to perform with my mother’s group. In junior high school I performed my own “nightclub act” at slumber parties, holding a Mr. Microphone. I dreamed of studying dance at Howard University, but life took me down another path.

What is the Indy Arts Council’s biggest challenge going forward?

Looking for new funding models is a big deal. That’s my priority, but we’ve got to go forward in a very intentional way, to create a foundation for the Council that will last long after I’m gone and everybody else on the staff is gone.

How do you spend your workdays?

Organizing and listening to people. I need to be accessible, so that I can understand what’s happening, what the needs are, and how I can help make plans and then execute them successfully. I think that’s why I loved being deputy mayor, and why I love this job too. I get to be the person who listens to everyone, then pulls all of those ideas together so we can be successful at what needs to be done.

Why is it important to support Indianapolis artists?

Arts make Indianapolis more colorful. And arts can inspire, in the same way the Indiana Pacers can inspire people when they have a great season. And it can transform individual lives. If someone walks through the city and they see a mural or some kind of public art, it changes their heart, their mind, and their emotions. That’s the sort of thing that makes a city special.

What would you like to accomplish during your tenure at Indy Arts Council?

Our goal, of course, is to celebrate artists and arts organizations. But also prioritizing some of the other programs that we already have. How do we keep them going? How do we provide professional assistance to artists and arts organizations? How do we get the word out about their work? How do we collaborate with other organizations regionally? We’ve got to be able to encourage our corporate community to support artists and arts events.

Where would you like the Indy Arts Council to be when you retire?

I’d like it to be as impactful as Visit Indy or the Indiana Sports Corp. We need to have the level of support they enjoy, to bring arts and humanities to the top of the list. To be able to activate public spaces and libraries and parks 24/7 with arts of every type, all over downtown and the rest of the city. That’s the dream. But we’d also like to have the funding to support individual artists who want to do projects, without them having to wait eight months to get funding. Our philanthropic community has just been amazing for us. We should look for new, more creative ways to earn even more of their support. That’s something I really want to work on. We’ve got to be able to encourage our corporate community to support artists and art events.

We started using sports to help develop Indianapolis back in the 1970s. I watched it, and I know that though we’ve seen a massive transformation, it didn’t happen overnight. Well, the Arts Council has been around for a long time, too. But it’s now time for us to stop being humble and saying, ‘Oh, we’re just going to do this and that, and that’s enough.’ It’s not. We need for the local arts community to be at the top of the development list, along with sports and tourism.

What do you do for fun or relaxation when you’re not working at the Indy Arts Council?

I go to arts events. I walk, go to jazz concerts, visit bookstores and visit lots of festivals and parks – anything that’s going on outdoors. But I also do a lot of reading. I like to sit on my front porch, watch the sunset, watch my granddaughter grow up, and spend time with my family.

Photo by Faith Blackwell