The Mass Ave Next Vision Plan is underway.
A year-long, community-driven vision plan for downtown Indianapolis's cultural corridor — led by the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District with funding from the Indianapolis Foundation and planning by Proformus.
About
How does a cultural district stay cultural?
Mass Ave has become downtown Indianapolis's home for arts, culture, food, shopping, and more. But success brings pressure — and without a shared plan, development happens to a district rather than for it. The Mass Ave Next District Vision Plan is a year-long strategic framework process designed to ensure that what makes Mass Ave extraordinary doesn't get lost in what comes next.
Commissioned by the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District (MACAD) in partnership with the Indianapolis Foundation, and led by Proformus, the plan serves as an overlay to the district's existing historic preservation and neighborhood plans — enhancing, not replacing, their foundational work.
The district today is 6,400+ residents strong, with a median household income of $87,000 and a 70+% renter population that is overwhelmingly working-age, educated, and white collar — a place optimized for creatives' consumption but increasingly difficult to afford for the artists, small operators, and independent businesses that built its identity. The vision plan confronts that tension directly.
Study Area
The plan boundary.
The study area covers the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District and its surrounding blocks in the northeast quadrant of downtown Indianapolis — bounded by Ohio Street to the south, Pennsylvania Street and Fort Wayne Avenue to the west, and the Interstate loop of I-65 and I-70 to the north and east.
Massachusetts Avenue itself — one of the four original diagonals of Alexander Ralston's 1821 plan for Indianapolis — runs through the heart of the study area, stitching together the neighborhoods, venues, and main-street blocks that give the district its character. The plan considers the corridor and the fabric around it as one connected system.
Process
A year-long journey, phase by phase.
The Mass Ave Next Vision Plan follows a year-long timeline that moves from robust public engagement and district-wide inventory through analysis and into the creation of actionable goals, strategies, and recommendations for the corridor's future.
- Kick off the project and set expectations for the year ahead
- Assemble stakeholders, advisors, and committees
- Review existing plans, studies, and district data
- "Map Your Mass" public kickoff at The Garage (Feb 21)
- Online survey and community mapping campaign
- Pop-up events along the Ave and monthly Pop-up with a Planner sessions
- Existing conditions assessment and district-wide inventory
- Wrap up discovery and analyze everything the community shared
- Theme workshops: Land Use, Connectivity, Open Space, and Arts & Experience
- Translate findings into urban design frameworks and opportunity sites
- Synthesize strategies and priorities across all four themes
- Define goals and solidify strategies for the district's next decade
- Finalize a set of actionable recommendations into the plan
- Final Reveal at the IF Theatre (Dec 3)
The full project schedule — engagement events, working sessions, and milestones run continuously across every phase.
Out on the Ave
Engagement in action.
From board rooms to parklets, coffee counters to an 8-foot corridor map — this plan is being built in public, out on the Ave, with the people who live it every day.
Public Kickoff
Advisory Kickoff
Think Inside the Box
Public Kickoff
Board Kickoff
Think Inside the Box
Public Kickoff
Advisory Kickoff
Public Kickoff
Think Inside the Box
Public Kickoff
Project Goals
Four goals guide everything we do.
Create and sustain a vibrant cultural district
Strengthen the arts, venues, small businesses, and public life that make Mass Ave the creative heart of Indianapolis — and build the conditions for them to thrive for decades, not seasons.
Match the brand of Mass Ave with the experience
Mass Ave promises "45 Degrees from Ordinary." The plan aligns the on-the-ground experience — streetscape, storefronts, public art, and everyday comfort — with the identity the district projects.
Provide a playbook other cultural districts can follow
Document a repeatable, transferable process — engagement, analysis, and implementation — so what works on Mass Ave can guide cultural districts across Indianapolis and beyond.
Create actionable goals for the long-term health of the district
Move beyond vision language to concrete, fundable, measurable actions — with clear owners, timelines, and next steps the district can start on the day the plan is adopted.
Framework
Strategic themes, guiding themes.
The plan's framework is organized around four strategic themes — the physical systems of the district:
Land Use
Infill, housing mix, and ground-floor activation — targeting the parcels where value-per-acre lags the rest of the district. Parking, vacant, and underworked land is the district's largest untapped asset, and this framework shows what those sites could become.
What opportunities exist to maximize land use in and around the district — and what do those sites and strategies look like?
Connection
Intersections, trails, and links under the highway — making movement through the district as good as the destination itself. From safer crossings to stronger ties with the neighborhoods around the Ave, connectivity is what stitches the district into the city.
What opportunities exist to make movement through the district as good as the destination?
Open Space
Greenspace, third places, and the public realm — converting underused land into the commons residents asked for. More trees, more places to linger, and more room for everyday life along and around the Ave.
Where are there opportunities to create spaces to positively linger and engage the public realm — for residents and visitors alike?
Arts and Experience
Cultural folkways and the places that produce them — public art, programming, and performance. This framework maps where arts and cultural activity happens today, where it's missing, and where the lived experience of the district can rise to meet its reputation.
Where does current art and culture take place, and where is it missing? Where does the lived experience differ from expectation?
But the physical is only half the equation. Running alongside them are the guiding themes — the sociophysical layer that asks not just how do we get there but what do our decisions say about who we are?
More than a street
A dynamic urban village that is accessible, authentic, community oriented, and meets residents' needs.
Stitches the city
A bridge that connects downtown at the nexus of art, culture, livability, and commerce.
Home for all
Supports a diverse mix of residents, businesses, and cultural offerings that is welcoming to all.
Team
Led by the district, for the district.
Mass Ave Next is led by the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District, funded by the Indianapolis Foundation, with engagement and district strategy led by Proformus.
Get Involved
This plan is built from your input.
Take the survey
The Mass Ave Next Community Vision Survey takes just a few minutes and directly shapes the plan's priorities.
Take the surveyPlay the budget simulator
You get one bill of each denomination ($1–$100) to fund different priorities — showing us where the community would put its money first.
Play the simulatorGet email updates
Subscribe to the Mass Ave Next newsletter for progress updates and notifications about upcoming events.
Sign up for emailsUpcoming & recent events
- Sat, Feb 21 — Public Kickoff, "Map Your Mass" at The Garage (completed)
- Mon, Mar 2 — Advisory Council Kickoff (completed)
- Thu, Apr 16, 9–10 AM — Coffee with a Planner at Coat Check Coffee (completed)
- Tue, May 12 — "Think Inside the Box" Pop-Up Parklet (completed)
- Wed, May 20 — Barton Towers Community Meeting (completed)
- Thu, May 21, 9–10 AM — Coffee with a Planner at Coat Check Coffee (completed)
- Thu, Jun 18, 9–10 AM — Coffee with a Planner at Coat Check Coffee (completed)
- Thu, Jul 16, 9–10 AM — Coffee with a Planner at Coat Check Coffee (completed)
- Wed, Aug 12, 3:30 PM — Land Use Workshop (Athenaeum, Wilkie Room)
- Tue, Aug 18, 3:30 PM — Connectivity Workshop (Athenaeum, Wilkie Room)
- Mon, Aug 31, 3:30 PM — Open Space Workshop (Athenaeum, Wilkie Room)
- Mon, Sept 14, 3:30 PM — Arts, Culture & Experience Workshop (Athenaeum, Wilkie Room)
- Thu, Sept 17, 3:30 PM — Strategies & Priorities Discussion, synthesizing the workshops (location to be determined)
- Wed, Dec 3 — Final Reveal at the IF Theatre
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Mass Ave Next is a year-long district vision plan for the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District — a strategic framework that charts the next 5–10 years of the corridor's future through public engagement, spatial analysis, and actionable recommendations.
The plan is led by the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District (MACAD), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to preserving and promoting the arts, vibrancy, and heritage of the district, with funding from the Indianapolis Foundation. Proformus, an Indianapolis-based urban planning practice, is leading the engagement and district strategy.
Mass Ave Next serves as an overlay to existing historic preservation and neighborhood plans — enhancing, not replacing, their foundational work. Rather than starting from scratch, it synthesizes what those plans established and focuses on what comes next: implementation, opportunity sites, and the long-term cultural health of the district.
Take the online survey, play the budget simulator, stop by a monthly "Pop-up with a Planner" session at the Athenaeum, or join us at public events along the Ave throughout the year. Every response and conversation directly shapes the plan.
The final plan will be revealed on Wednesday, December 3, 2026 at the IF Theatre, following the Thinking Big phase in fall and winter 2026. Progress updates are posted to the Resources section of this page along the way.
Resources
Project documents.
More documents — engagement summaries, presentation materials, and the draft plan — will be posted here as each phase wraps up.