Wishard Holds Unveiling at City Market to Share Art Design Proposals for The New Wishard

Visit Art Proposals section to view and comment on proposals.

Art has been an integral part of the healing environment at Wishard since T.C. Steele and others first installed murals in 1914. Nearly 100 years later – when The New Wishard opens in 2014 – art and medicine will have progressed dramatically, along with studies correlating exposure to art and natural beauty with improved health outcomes. And Wishard’s commitment to caring for the whole person will continue

On Friday, Wishard shared a collection of initial proposals for art – a small number of which it plans to select for fabrication and installation in The New Wishard for the next 100 years and beyond – with a crowd of civic, government, health and arts community leaders and the public at historic City Market in the heart of downtown.

“Wishard is, foremost, committed to delivering the highest quality patient care,” said Matthew Gutwein, president and CEO of Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which operates Wishard. “At Wishard, and in The New Wishard, our focus extends to our patients, visitors and staff for whom providing the best possible environment augments quality of care. For nearly a century, if not longer, art has been an integral component of creating a healing environment, one that is comforting, welcoming, warm and inspiring. With the support of philanthropy, with which we plan to fund the art program, Wishard will incorporate art to optimize this environment in The New Wishard.”

Wishard’s art committee will review all of the proposals and make a small number of specific selections for The New Wishard. City-County Councillor Angel Rivera, Wishard CEO and Medical Director Dr. Lisa Harris, and Co-chair of The New Wishard Capital Campaign John Thompson joined Gutwein at the event.

“Volumes of medical, psychological and neurological research have focused attention on understanding the full scope of the healing properties of art, and the positive correlation is clear and compelling,” said Dr. Harris. “The art of healing is an important feature of our new hospital and part of our overall vision for The New Wishard to lead the way in patient-centered care. For Wishard, we seek to create a holistic environment of health and healing – through visual arts, outdoor views and garden settings, through our sky farm and farmers market, as well as our involvement with the slow food movement. Wishard is about more than acute care, it’s about complete community health and wellness.”

The event kicks off a two-week public comment period for the set of art proposals. From March 21 through April 1, City Market will continue to post displays, while Wishard will place exhibits and/or flipbooks of the proposals, along with comment forms, in the Sunshine Hallway at Wishard Memorial Hospital and in each of its Wishard Community Health Centers located throughout the city. Wishard will hold a closing exhibit for the art proposals from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Market on Friday, April 1 as part of the Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association First Friday gallery tour and will also display the art with comment forms online at www.TheNewWishard.org.

“Wishard is engaging the public and ensuring that the art program for The New Wishard is as connected to the community as Wishard has been for more than 150 years” said Thompson. “The New Wishard Capital Campaign is actively engaging the philanthropic community as we work to fulfill Wishard’s plan to fund the art program entirely through philanthropy.”

Wishard budgeted $1.8 million for the art program and plans to fund the art program through philanthropy. More than 500 applicants from 39 states submitted responses to Wishard’s request for qualifications. An independent jury selected 54 finalists, and Wishard’s art committee assigned finalists to different areas of the new hospital. The first set of proposals features 27 design proposals. Of the proposing artists, 29 percent are Indiana residents, 3 percent are disabled, 7 percent are veterans, 37 percent are minorities and 29 percent are women and includes an artist who in his submission stated he credits Wishard with saving his life when he was seriously ill. Local minority-owned business enterprise Blackburn Architects is the art program administrator.

“When the New Wishard opens, our firm will be celebrating 40 years of practice in this community and we’re proud to serve as administrator of the New Wishard art program,” said Alpha

Blackburn, president and CEO of Blackburn Architects. “It is a privilege to be a part of The New Wishard and an art program that aspires to the highest form of art.”

Art proposals online for public comment

Visit the art proposals section here to begin viewing the artists’ proposals and sharing your input.

Marion County stands with Wishard

On Nov. 3, 2009, Marion County voters answered the Wishard referendum question with an emphatic “Yes”, voting to pass the referendum to approve construction of a new, modern and efficient Wishard Hospital on the campus of IUPUI.

“While the focus has been on the care and teaching that Wishard provides, it’s important to note that the
construction of the new hospital will create 4,400 jobs, maybe more over the course of the project,” said Indianapolis Mayor Gregory A. Ballard. “This means new work for many of our hard-working citizens who
will put their training and expertise into building this great new facility.”

Of the 67,023 votes cast, 56,706 voted yes to pass the referendum on a new Wishard Hospital. New facilities will allow Wishard to continue its 150-year tradition of caring for the people of Indianapolis.

“Wishard was there for us when we needed it most,” said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Dennis Fishburn, whose son Ofc. Jason Fishburn was shot in the line of duty in 2008 before receiving life-saving treatment at Wishard. “It gives me great joy, peace and comfort to know that our community – our law enforcement officers and firefighters, doctors and nurses, business leaders and laborers, young and old, rich and poor – will have Wishard Hospital if ever – whenever – they need it.”

“Indianapolis is a compassionate and humane community. Wishard exists because of our community’s values. These referendum results confirm our city’s commitment to ensuring that all our residents have access to high quality health care,” said Matthew Gutwein, Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County CEO. “A historic coalition came together to support Wishard. We are deeply appreciative of their leadership in supporting this project, and to the voters, who offered the most resounding confirmation with each of their sacred ballots, we offer heartfelt thanks.”

Approval of the construction project ensures a future for Wishard’s more than 4,000 workers and will also create more than 4,400 jobs at the height of construction, providing a much-needed shot in the arm to the building trades industry.

Wishard hosts contractor meeting, M/W/VBE workshop

On Dec. 17, area construction firm leaders and managers flocked to Wishard to learn more about contract work to build the new Wishard. Learn more about Wishard’s commitment to diversity.

Wishard’s project team leadership introduced contractors to the construction bid process, which began this month with the release of the initial construction bid package that includes a 2,300-car parking garage. Wishard shuttled participants to the new hospital’s site between 10th Street and Michigan Street on the West side of the IUPUI campus for a tour before an informational meeting and a contractor outreach event at Wishard that included a Minority Business Enterprise, Women Business Enterprise and Veterans Business Enterprise (M/W/VBE) networking session.

Tom Ringham, the Wishard Associate Vice President of Facilities and Transformation, and Wayne Modugno, Project Director, Jacobs Project Management, presented an overview of the construction timeline for the New Wishard, which Wishard plans to wrap up in 2013, and provided attendees with details on the initial construction bid package, which includes a 2,300-car parking garage as well as utilities work and grading for the new hospital. Greg Wilson, Director of Minority Business Development of the Office of Indianapolis Mayor Gregory A. Ballard, spoke in regard to diversity attainment strategies and goals.

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