2021: Year in Review

Photography by Christopher Whonsetler

With 17 days to go before we leave 2021 behind us, it’s as a good time as any to reflect on the past 12 months. PATTERN, our little non-profit that could, turned 11 years old this year and we’ve kept chugging in spite of Covid thanks to our hard-working and dedicated team. A group of people without whose time, effort and talents, PATTERN would not be the dynamic, impactful and inspiring entity that it is.

And what better way to celebrate our wins this year than to put ourselves on the December digital cover??! LOL! I mean, look at those sweet faces!! (Ignore the person wearing the cat ears on the left!)

Photography by Chris Whonsetler; Cover Design by Carrie Kelb; From left to right: Polina Osherov, Carrie Kelb, Anne Laker, Jacob Moran, Lindsay Hadley, Jenny Walton, Lynsey Johnson, Khaila King & Alexa Carr

This year brought a lot of wins, even if things weren’t as hectic as usual.  The slow down has allowed us to really scrutinize our initiatives and pinpoint our strongest areas of impact. While we love hosting events that bring together Indy’s community of creatives, we’re finding ourselves doing more and more work around education and professional development for young creatives. The need is urgent and mostly unmet, and it’s been gratifying stepping in the gap providing the needed resources.

The initiatives that I am especially proud of are our Internships, Creative Fellowships and the newly launched Industrial Sewing Certificate program. Over 100 college students have taken part in our internship program, and this year we graduated two more Fellows, bringing the total number of graduates to ten. Our sewing certificate program graduated four students this year as well.

One of the developments this year that I am especially excited about is the addition of Jenny Walton, and Lynsey Johnson, Operations Manager and Social Media Manager, respectively, to the PATTERN team. They, along with our Design Director, Lindsay Hadley, and our Development Strategist, Anne Laker are taking PATTERN to a whole other level.

The other big change this year has been our move, after three and a half years, from our HQ on the ground floor the Buckingham Companies building on the corner of Meridian and St. Joseph, to The Stutz – where coincidentally, I’ve had my photography studio for close to 13 years. The Stutz is undergoing a major renovation, and we’re looking forward to having a front row seat to witnessing its transformation and having a bunch of incredible creatives and artists as our neighbors.

Other than that, we…

  • published two MORE volumes celebrating TEN YEARS OF PATTERN Magazine. WHAT????
  • helped IndyChamber coordinate and market the 4th season of St’Artup317. Giving another 30-odd brands and artists a chance to host a 30-day retail pop-up completely free of charge.
  • went digital with our monthly covers, throwing light on a dozen creative stars-to-watch
  • crowdfunded $25,000, matched 100% by IHCDA to transform a decommissioned IndyGo bus in a mobile pop-up shop
  • launched our Industrial Sewing Certificate program at StitchWorks
  • partnered with Indiana Fashion Foundation to host Indiana Fashion Week
  • hosted a half dozen photography exhibitions and events at our Paradox event space showcasing over 30 local & regional photographers
  • Awarded a $1000 cash prize to Paris Colby of Broken Needles to continue growing her clothing brand at The Summit, a fashion-focused educational event and competition with guest speakers TJ Walker of Cross Colours LA, and Vic Lloyd of Fat Tiger Workshop.
  • Hosted a Martk’d art on sneakers design competition in partnership with Puma and Finish Line with 40 artist participating and the winner walking away with a $2500 cash prize
  • And a bunch of other stuff too, but I don’t want to bore you guys. 😉
It’s been a hell of a year, and we’re grateful to have you along for the ride. Here’s to building an even bigger creative colony in Central Indiana in 2022!
P.S. If you like our work, why not make it official with a $30 magazine subscription or a financial gift? TBH, these are our love languages. <3
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