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30 Days of Thanksgiving Community

Penrod – 30 Days for Thanksgiving

At F.C. Tucker we talk a lot about “paying our civic rent,” so for the month of November, we would like to express our gratitude to the many organizations and individuals who serve their communities tirelessly and make Indiana a better place to live and work. We obviously can’t highlight everyone, but we would like to salute these 30 organizations that are making a difference.

30 Days of Thanksgiving – Day 24: Penrod

The Penrod Society has a mission to focus on “the cultivation, encouragement and development of public interest in and support of those arts, cultural and educational institutions located in and around Marion County, Indiana, its surrounding counties and the Central Indiana area in general.”

Founded in 1967, The Penrod Society is named after Penrod Schoefield, a literary character from Indianapolis novelist Booth Tarkington.The society was formed by a group of 22 men who volunteered to create a form of support arts and culture for Indianapolis organizations and students.

One of the most popular events launched by The Penrod Society is held at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on the first Saturday after Labor Day. The Penrod Arts Fair™ has over 20,000 attendees each year. The fair has live music, performing arts and cuisine, and features hundreds of artists. Proceeds from fair help to provide grants for Indianapolis-area arts and community organizations.

At The Penrod Arts Fair, hundreds of Indy arts organizations and institutions are invited to participate by exhibiting a  booth in one of the Projects Areas. The Projects Areas show a the amazing amount of depth and diversity of the Indianapolis arts community. Both artists and organizations can find applications to the fair online. In addition, all of the artists are listed online each year here: http://www.penrod.org/meet-the-artists.

For the past five years, The Penrod Society has also hosted a preview of the Arts Fair in an evening reception on the campus of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The reception is called Evening with Penrod and includes food, drinks, live music and dancing. Those who attend also get a ticket to the Penrod Arts Fair. Proceeds from the Evening with Penrod® at the IMA support a broad array of arts, cultural, and educational activities and institutions throughout Central Indiana.

Beyond the Arts Fair, Penrod does even more for the Indianapolis arts community. Every year, The Penrod Society awards monetary gifts to Central Indiana arts organizations to those who send grant requests.You can learn more about Penrod’s history of giving on their website http://www.penrod.org.

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