The arts are main­ly cen­tered downtown.

Down­town, Marion

Down­town, Mar­i­on is where you’ll find the com­mu­ni­ty’s art hub which hous­es a full array of art stu­dios for dance, fine arts, and much more. There are record­ing stu­dios, art gal­leries (some with­in small busi­ness­es), music les­son cen­ters, music gear & repair shops, graph­ic design & pho­tog­ra­phy busi­ness­es, and a pub­lic library & muse­um which hous­es a pletho­ra of resources to quench one’s inter­est in the arts.

Marion’s most promi­nent arts groups include:

Com­mu­ni­ty School of the Arts

Com­mu­ni­ty School of the Arts (CSA) is a high­ly acclaimed arts edu­ca­tion and per­for­mance cen­ter spe­cial­iz­ing in dance, the­atre, music and more, serv­ing hun­dreds of stu­dents who even come from many adja­cent coun­ties, in seri­ous pur­suit of the arts. CSA also part­ners with Mar­i­on Com­mu­ni­ty Schools in aca­d­e­m­ic pro­gram­ming with the sup­port of the Arts Schol­ars Pro­gram. (csa​-mar​i​on​.com)

CSA Civic Theater

CSA Civic The­atre is one of Grant County’s revered the­atre per­for­mance groups, offer­ing many unique and tra­di­tion­al live acts through­out the year pre­sent­ed by com­mu­ni­ty vol­un­teers inside the his­toric James Dean Memo­r­i­al The­ater. (csa​-mar​i​on​.com/​c​i​v​i​c​-​t​h​eatre)

Cre­ative Hearts Art Studio

Carey Ser­vices’ Cre­ative Hearts Art Stu­dio pro­vides a place for indi­vid­u­als with dis­abil­i­ties whom they serve to express them­selves through var­i­ous artis­tic medi­ums includ­ing paint­ing, sewing, and more. The artists sell their works and receive the rev­enue. (carey​ser​vices​.com/​c​r​e​a​t​i​v​e​h​earts)

Fusion Arts Alliance

FAA exists to sup­port and advo­cate for the arts local­ly while empow­er­ing local artists to advance cre­ative­ly and pro­fes­sion­al­ly. The link takes you to a glimpse of the work they do to cel­e­brate and pro­mote the arts in Mar­i­on: Fusion Arts Alliance YouTube Chan­nel. Their web­site is fusion​aa​.org.

Hoosier Shakes

Hoosier Shakes is made up of pro­fes­sion­al and stu­dent artists main­ly known for per­for­mances which high­light the works of William Shake­speare. The non-prof­it reper­to­ry the­atre com­pa­ny spe­cial­izes in out­door the­atre using sim­ple stag­ing and live music. (hoosier​shakes​.com)

Mar­i­on Arts Commission

MAC cham­pi­ons the arts by invest­ing in a vibrant arts cul­ture while devel­op­ing and diver­si­fy­ing the eco­nom­ic base. They are ded­i­cat­ed to the ongo­ing goal of con­nect­ing the com­mu­ni­ty to the arts and build­ing a vital and ever-expand­ing cre­ative com­mu­ni­ty for the city of Marion’s artists, res­i­dents and vis­i­tors. (mar​i​onartscom​mis​sion​.com)

Mar­i­on Design Co.

Mar­i­on Design Co. is a com­mu­ni­ty-based cre­ative design stu­dio run by a team of interns and pro­fes­sion­al design­ers. Their mis­sion is to revive, empow­er, and pro­pel the com­mu­ni­ty for­ward by cre­at­ing sus­tain­able design solu­tions devel­oped through research, design think­ing, and col­lab­o­ra­tion. (mar​ion​de​sign​.co)

Orches­tra Indiana

Local and region­al orches­tras have long been a sta­ple in improv­ing the qual­i­ty of life for com­mu­ni­ties. To expand on its impact and unite more peo­ple through the pow­er of music, Muncie Sym­pho­ny and Mar­i­on Phil­har­mon­ic, each with rich his­to­ries in their respec­tive home­towns, joined forces in 2022 as Orches­tra Indi­ana. Offer­ing bold, inno­v­a­tive con­cert expe­ri­ences, Orches­tra Indi­ana is your gate­way to fall in love with the sym­pho­ny expe­ri­ence. (orches​train​di​ana​.org)

Quil­ters Hall of Fame

Quil­ters Hall of Fame is the home of the world-renowned his­tor­i­cal fig­ure Marie Web­ster, one of the first ever female busi­ness own­ers, and the design­er known for invent­ing the appliqué quilt­ing style. The restored Colo­nial Revival home is an excep­tion­al place to dis­cov­er the folk art of quilt­ing. quil​ter​shallof​fame​.net