Columbus, Indiana — Landmark Columbus Foundation is thrilled to announce three major gifts to its endowment, bringing the total amount to over $1.8 million. These gifts will help the foundation reach its ambitious goal of $3 million by the end of 2025. Several other generous donors have made pledges and contributions alongside these gifts, showcasing the community's unwavering commitment to preserving and advancing Columbus's unique cultural and architectural heritage.

Landmark Columbus Foundation has announced a new Indianapolis-based project, Monumental Gestures. Monumental Gestures’ mission is to transform public spaces through ambitious art experiences that invite conversation, amplify voices, and celebrate histories.

The City of Columbus Redevelopment Commission has announced that it has selected Indianapolis and Pittsburgh-based Merritt Chase to redesign a 1.5-acre plaza at the city’s most prominent entrance into downtown. The project is in collaboration with Columbus Design Institute, a technical service arm of Landmark Columbus Foundation.

In November 2023, the congregation of First Christian Church, the community of Columbus, and supporters from around the country celebrated the completion of the first comprehensive restoration of the Church’s iconic tower. With a musical ceremony, held in the Church’s sanctuary, that honored towers around the world, including the Eiffel Tower, London Bridge Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Rapunzel’s Tower, First Christian leadership thanked the congregation and all of those who supported the $3.2-million, eight-month restoration project, which began in 2022 and was completed in December 2023.

The Columbus Municipal Airport has announced that it has selected Marlon Blackwell Architects (MBA), based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to design a new 100-foot-tall air traffic control tower, in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration and Woolpert, an aviation focused engineering firm. The project will be supported by a grant from the Cummins Architecture Foundation.

Landmark Columbus Foundation announces Activations in Place, a free, two-day event focusing on the work of the seven teams awarded 2023 Exhibit Columbus University Design Research Fellowships (UDRF). The event was created in partnership with the Indiana Communities Institute at Ball State University’s Miller College of Business and Indiana University’s Center for Cultural Affairs at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. It will occur in downtown Columbus over two days, highlighting the Fellows’ work and the expertise of nationally recognized experts. Activations in Place was created so that attendees could:

A new exhibition of Iwan Baan’s photos with three silkscreen prints by Studio Lin opens at the Columbus Area Visitor Center that previews the new monograph written by Matt Shaw titled American Modern, to be published by Monacelli Press in July 2024.

On Saturday, September 30, Exhibit Columbus and many community partners will host Next Generation Day in downtown Columbus. This family-friendly free event will encourage youth of all ages, from elementary to high school students, and families to explore the 2023 Exhibit Columbus Exhibition, Public by Design.

Today, Landmark Columbus Foundation announces the schedule for the 2023 Exhibit Columbus J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize Conversations—a series of public conversations that will connect this cycle’s Miller Prize recipients, Community Curator, and an international expert familiar with their work in a lively dialogue at or near the site of their installation in the 2023 Exhibition Public by Design. These special conversations will serve as a platform where creative vision, community engagement, and design expertise converge to explore the profound impact each installation creates here in Columbus and its significance for a wider audience.

This past Saturday, thousands of community members and visitors came to downtown Columbus, Indiana to experience the 2023 Exhibit Columbus exhibition, Public by Design, a ground-breaking exhibition that showcases how art and architecture can help build a sense of belonging while revitalizing and reimagining historic downtowns as equitable, beautiful, and joyful places. A Columbus resident said on Facebook of the weekend: “Such a unifying and happy moment. We need more of this stuff in the world.”

This Saturday, August 26, the 2023 Exhibit Columbus Exhibition, Public by Design, will open to the public.

On behalf of Landmark Columbus Foundations’ Exhibit Columbus, residents and visitors, alike, are encouraged to attend Rock the Block Party & Dance Show, a free community event offered as part of the grand Opening Weekend of the 2023 Exhibition.

Landmark Columbus Foundation announces the Opening Weekend of the 2023 Exhibit Columbus Exhibition, Public by Design, with the Opening Celebration on Friday, August 25, and a day of free, public events on Saturday, August 26. The Exhibit Columbus community (including the Curatorial Team, Landmark Columbus Foundation Staff and Board, Participants, volunteers, and supporters) has been working together for over a year to create what will be a ground-breaking exhibition that showcases how art and architecture can help build a sense of belonging while revitalizing and reimagining historic downtowns as equitable, beautiful, and joyful places.

At its annual “High Five Day” on Wednesday, May 31, Landmark Columbus Foundation celebrated the release of its 2022 Annual Report, themed Our Town, and announced that the young organization’s endowment is now at a significant milestone, just over $900,000. This new total is thanks to recent gifts from Board Chair Mark Elwood and his wife Wendy, John and Amber Elwood, and Mike and Christine Elwood. At the event, Mark Elwood challenged LCF supporters to help push the endowment total to $1m by the end of 2023.

Public by Design the fourth Exhibit Columbus exhibition, will open the weekend of Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26 in downtown Columbus. Featuring thirteen outdoor, site-responsive installations that derive inspiration and context from Columbus’s architectural heritage, while responding to the needs of the citizens and highlighting the visionary community's role in creating a vibrant, sustainable, and equitable city.

On Saturday, May 13, Landmark Columbus Foundation will co-host a series of events in collaboration with the City of Bloomington as part of the 2022–23 cycle of Exhibit Columbus, which is exploring the theme Public by Design to create meaningful connections between people and the public spaces they share.

The Landmark Columbus Foundation Board of Directors has elected a new board chair and vice chair, marking the first significant board leadership change for the organization. Mark Elwood has moved from vice chair to chair and current board member Tracy Haddad has moved to the vice chair position. With this transition, founding Board Chair Rick Johnson will remain part of the executive committee as the immediate past chair.