Aurora PhotoCenter Receives Grant from Herbert Simon Family Foundation
for Darkroom and Digital Lab Renovation
Indianapolis, IN (December 20, 2024) — Aurora PhotoCenter recently received a one-time grant from Herbert Simon Family Foundation to support the renovation of Aurora’s workspaces. The grant will be used to transform Aurora’s darkroom and digital lab from single-user into multi-user teaching spaces. The ultimate goal of the renovation is to better serve our arts community with an expanded range of photographic imaging tools, services, and workshops.
“On behalf of Aurora PhotoCenter, we are so grateful to Herbert Simon Family Foundation for this tremendous capital investment in Aurora and our mission to serve visual artists working in photography. This grant will increase the footprint of our workspaces and our reach as an essential resource for Indiana photographic artists,” said Founding Director Mary Goodwin.
The renovation will double the darkroom’s size and number of enlargers for black-and-white printing, expand ventilation, and improve water temperature and filtering controls, among other changes. The digital lab will expand with a large-format 44-inch printer, second image editing station, and a camera-based scanning set-up, among other improvements. The renovation will begin late December 2024 and be completed by the end of January 2025. “This vital renovation would not have been possible without the generous and transformative support of this grant from Herbert Simon Family Foundation,” added Goodwin.
Starting in February 2025, Aurora will offer a full range of photographic workshops focusing on specific processes and techniques, such as salt printing, cyanotype, and toning, as well as sessions geared to basic skills, such as developing a roll of black-and-white film and making a black-and-white print, and using Aurora’s workspaces.
Aurora PhotoCenter has the only rentable darkroom and digital imaging tools in Indianapolis. To rent the workspaces, artists must first purchase a membership; members can rent the darkroom for $15 per hour, including all chemistry, as well as the high-resolution scanner and editing suite.
Herbert Simon Family Foundation is a private non-operating foundation. Established in 1999, the foundation has been providing support for organizations in hopes of creating more equitable, sustainable and vibrant communities with an emphasis on Indianapolis and Indiana. Herbert Simon Family Foundation works in partnership with Central Indiana Community Foundation to support the foundation’s grantmaking and community involvement. The foundation grants to organizations in the areas of: Arts & Culture, Basic Needs, Environment and Climate, Jewish Causes, and Social Justice.
For more information contact:
Mary Goodwin
info@auroraphoto.org