Ivy Tech Plans to Return Waldron Arts Center to City of Bloomington

Bloomington, Ind. - Ivy Tech Community College and the City of Bloomington announce that ownership of the building known as the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center will revert to the City of Bloomington over the next several months.  Ivy Tech has owned and operated the building at 122 South Walnut Street as a community art center since 2010, when it purchased the building from the City of Bloomington.  Ivy Tech’s Center for Lifelong Learning classes offered at the Waldron will be relocated to the main Ivy Tech Bloomington campus.  The City of Bloomington has not determined the future use of the facility at this time.

“The City appreciates Ivy Tech’s successful stewardship of this important downtown asset over the last decade,” said Mayor John Hamilton.  “As the City considers the building’s future uses, we will consider the important role it has played in our City’s history and ways it might further activate our dynamic downtown.”

“First, I would like to acknowledge how fortunate Ivy Tech Bloomington has been over the past decade as stewards of the Waldron Arts Center, a true downtown treasure. Our staff there forged community partnerships that provided opportunities for Ivy Tech students they otherwise would not have had,” said Chancellor Jennie Vaughan. “However, this transfer of ownership back to the City will allow us—especially in these uncertain times—to conserve and deploy our resources toward Ivy Tech’s mission of increasing the educational attainment of residents in the communities we serve.”

Ivy Tech State Board of Trustees will approve the transfer during their June 4 meeting, and the Bloomington Board of Public Works will review the agreement on June 9.  The City will work with Ivy Tech to determine the specifics of the agreement and any outstanding agreements for the galleries and performing arts spaces.

Built in 1915, the building served as Bloomington’s City Hall and subsequently housed the City’s police and fire departments until the City deeded the property in 1990 to the Bloomington Area Arts Council.  Since then, the building has provided gallery space, classroom space for art classes, two performance spaces, meeting rooms, and offices, and since 1994 has been the home of WFHB Community Radio.  

Bloomington’s Old City Hall building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the Courthouse Square Historic District. The Waldron name dates to 1990 and recognizes Cecile Waldron, a major donor to the building renovation project, and John Waldron, her husband's great-grandfather, a prominent 19th-century Bloomington politician.