Resiliency Plan for Muncie

In fall 2019, Urban Planning students under the direction of Dr. Michael Burayidi prepared a resilience plan for the City of Muncie, IN. Several steps were used in the development of the resilience plan including a review of previous city plans to better understand city priorities, what has been implemented in the past, and where additional focus may be needed. Students also assessed the hazard risk index for Muncie using the Calculated Priority Risk Index (CPRI) to determine the likely hazards that could impact the city. A community survey was conducted using Qualtrics, an online survey tool that obtained responses from community residents. Several civic leaders were also interviewed to gain insights about the state of resilience of the city and how their organizations are contributing to making Muncie a resilient place. The Muncie Resilience Plan is aimed at addressing concerns related to safety, infrastructure, education, economics, and the environment in order to prepare for challenges that may yet be foreseen.

See the plan (pdf)


Faculty Mentor: Michael Burayidi
Department: Urban Planning
Community Partner: City of Muncie

Junior Producers Club

In the fall and spring semesters, Ball State’s Music Media Production faculty and students collaborated with the Boys and Girls Club in Muncie’s Whitley Neighborhood to install a recording studio at the Buley Community Center. The room is equipped with higher-end recording equipment to allow youth to record and produce music and develop new skills. Ball State students became problem solvers and communicators while learning to be empathetic to their young clients’ needs. The youth gained technical skills not only in music production but also in computers and digital media.


Faculty Mentor: Christoph Thompson
Department: Music
Community Partners: Boys and Girls Club, Buley Community Center
Student Team: Kyler Altenhof, Emma, Boyd-Ryan, Malik Brown, Chase Carter, Tessa Chason, Aaron Holloway, Max Lawson, Morgan Satterfield, and Makieya Street

Muncie Neighborhood Visual Identity Design (ongoing)

snippet of one of the branding images

The City of Muncie has diverse communities with friendly people, exciting pasts, and outstanding cultural amenities that make it a desired place to live, do business, and visit. Starting in Spring 2019, Studio 165+, an immersive design studio in the School of Art, began working with neighborhood committees to develop their visual identity, elevate their image and evoke a sense of pride in residents. The students researched each neighborhood determining unique key aspects, characteristics, challenges, and opportunities. After developing a neighborhood identity, they created designs to captured those characteristics and established style guides to help the neighborhoods illustrate graphic standards and rules to ensure consistency and continuity across applications and platforms. The neighborhoods done so far include Gatewood, Halteman Village, Westbrier, Old West End, Robinwood Estates, Forest Park, McKinley, Southside, Riverside/Normal City, and Whitely.  With input from residents of each neighborhood, they created a variety of materials including logos for each neighborhood to choose from, each one tailored to what makes that area of our community special–from the mid-century architecture of Halteman Village, to the open hands of Whitely.

If Studio 165+ is coming to your neighborhood soon, please fill out this brief questionnaire to help them get started on your new neighborhood identity.

Photo Gallery | You can also check out the great work they’ve done so far!

Awards & Recognition:

Whitely Community Identity Design

  1. American Graphic Design Award (National Award)
  2. American Advertising Federation East Central Indiana, Silver ADDY (Local Award)

Old West End Neighborhood Identity Design

  1. American Advertising Federation East Central Indiana, Gold ADDY (Local Award)
  2. American Advertising Federation East Central Indiana, Judges Choice ADDY (Local Award)
  3. American Advertising Federation East Central Indiana, Best of Show ADDY (Local Award)

Studio 165+

Project Page: https://www.studio165plus.com/bbn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/studio165plus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studio165plus

 


Spring 2019

Faculty Mentor: Shantanu Suman
Department: Art
Community Partner: Building Better Neighborhoods, Muncie Action Plan, Halteman Village, Robinwood Estates, Westbrier Neighborhood, Whitely Community, Old West End
Students: Nikki Abel, Ashley Allegretti, Hanna Boggs, Mariah Drake, Kate Hamilton, Valerie Francis, Emily Lipps, Sylvia Marbach, Samantha Robbins, Cameo Smith, Ashlyn Sterling, Katie Strader, Angel Winchester


Fall 2019

Faculty Mentor: Shantanu Suman
Department: Art
Community Partner: Building Better Neighborhoods, Muncie Action Plan, Forest Park, McKinley Live Learn Neighborhood, Southside Neighborhood
Student Team: Samantha Robbins, Ashlyn Sterling, Dominic Zelli, Erin Mawhorter, Jared Carter, Joel Hall, Katie Strader, Katie Hamilton, Mariah Drake, Ashley Allegretti, Jakob Rosenberger, Mariah Jester, Nikki Abel


Spring 2020

Faculty Mentor: Shantanu Suman
Department: Art
Community Partner: Building Better Neighborhoods, Muncie Action Plan, Riverside/Normal City
Student Team: Samantha Robbins, Ashlyn Sterling, Katie Strader, Valerie Francis, Angel Winchester, Hanna Boggs, Mariah Drake, Cameo Smith, Kate Hamilton, Ashley Allegretti, Sylvia Marbach, Nikki Abel, Dominic Zelli, Erin Mawhorter, Jared Carter, Joel Hall, Jake Gesick, Aubrey Hayden, Xander Crawley, Kimberly Holbrook, James Ong Jakob Rosenberger, and Mariah Jester

Muncie Micro-Cinema

During the fall and spring semesters, students worked with the Muncie Arts and Culture Council to plan ”That One Micro-cinema” screening series and the “That One Film Festival.” These projects are dedicated to screening and exhibiting works of the “moving image” that are experimental, weird, obsessive, no or low budget, avant-garde, and fun. That One Micro-cinema launched in Fall 2019 by inviting two filmmakers to Muncie to present solo screenings of their work, which allowed students to learn how to professionally screen film for a public audience. This semester, they planned a festival that was to take place over two days in April 2020. Students participated in a variety of event creation activities, including the development of a submission and review process in which they and community members reviewed 275 film submissions. They invited two recognized filmmakers to participate as “jurors” and developed marketing and promotional items, visual content, a website, press materials, publications, sponsorships, and professional relationships. The students and their partners have tentatively rescheduled the film festival for September 11-12, 2020.

PHOTO STORY


Faculty Mentor: Maura Jasper
Departments: Art
Community Partner: Muncie Arts and Culture Council
Students: Kai Cohen, Noah Davis Cheshire, Rachel East, Samantha Eldridge, Kendall Gavin, Phillip Gilkeson, Jalen Gill, Kayla Graves, Jerrica Hiddy, Alima Iscandari, Jenna Mesker, Andrea Mourey, Alex Radtke, Rachel Replogle, Maxwell Rinehart, Kwesi Rogers, Nik Stoll, and Chris Zurisk

Beneficence Records (ongoing)

Beneficence Records is housed in Ball State’s Music Media Production Department and is managed by a team of interdisciplinary students focused on promoting the local music scene. As a part of the Cardinal Music Group, this project is a new immersive offering that focuses on Indiana’s burgeoning music business and showcases a diverse roster of artists and their work. This semester, students merged the Beneficence Records project and Indiana Public Radio’s show, “The Scene,” to help support the regional music ecosystem.  Project deliverables included promotion materials for new musicians, curated playlists, music videos, social media, and email marketing campaigns.


Spring 2020 Semester

Faculty Mentor: Daniel Porter
Department: Music
Community Partner: Indiana Public Radio
Students: Megan Berger, Maxwell Denari, Christopher Golab, Lauren Haywood, Miles Jena, Evan Manning, Cesar Rodriguez, Hunter Shaffer, Andrew Smith, Wesley Skaggs, and Jamison Snyder


Fall 2019 Semester

Faculty Mentor: Daniel Porter
Department: Music
Community Partners: Indiana Public Radio

 

Sitting at the Feet of our Muncie Elders: Stories of Resistance and Resiliency

In this two-semester project, Ball State students from English, creative writing, journalism, public relations, and other humanities degrees connected with Muncie senior citizens to capture their stories of resistance and resilience. In the fall semester, students read, studied, and analyzed creative narrative nonfiction (memoir), ethnography narratives, and community writing. They then put those writing skills into practice by collaborating with seniors at Westminster Village, the Delaware County Senior Center, Whitely, and other interested seniors in the community. During the spring semester, the students set out to edit and design a book for those stories to be published through the 409 independent book press in the English department. In addition, they planned to engage local photographers, spoken word artists, and artists affiliated with YART (a local group of artists) to create visuals for a story collection and a spoken-word performance. Some of that work has been delayed, but, when finished, the publication will be free to participating senior citizens, community partners, as well as local libraries. Performances (dates to be determined later this year)will also be free to the community and hosted at established sites with YART’s assistance.  The students will run the same performances for seniors at the Muncie Delaware County Senior Center and Westminster Village.


Faculty Mentor: Darolyn “Lyn” Jones
Departments: English
Community Partners: Westminster Village, Muncie Delaware County Senior Center, Moth Danner and YART (Yard Sale for Art)
Students: Ki Adkins, Jennifer Criss, Mykaala Cagepork, Hannah Eadie, Ryan Hugo, Meara Kanalas, Andrea Mohler, Dilion O’Nail, Eddie Osburn, Eileen Porzuczek, Melissa Rahe, Emily Turner, Grace Wagner, Katelyn Warner, Laurinda Webb, Nykasia Williams, Bernedette Wilson