Meet Richard McCoy | Arts Administrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Richard McCoy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Richard, how do you think about risk?
I have always loved the risk-takers, the dreamers, those who are willing to be audacious and push into new spaces where they have just an idea of what might lie ahead. This takes confidence in your abilities, which really just means a willingness to fail. It also takes the gift of being able to fail and pick yourself back up to try again.

I was a terrible student for all of my early education, barely doing anything that the teachers told me to do, and narrowly graduating from high school. This led to a great deal of experience with failure. I remember a moment in middle school when I was in the principal’s office waiting for him to deliver my punishment, which at this public school meant him spanking my ass with a large wooden paddle. That was an acute failure that I felt for the rest of the day. Knowing and understanding (and even feeling) failure firsthand, or actually on our butt, can allow us to know what it is and maybe not be so scared of it. To take a risk, we have to understand the potential for failure and at some level accept it. This is the only way I know to make new paths, and dreams become visible. The fear of failure can be an excellent motivator.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I love talking about our organization because we built it from scratch in Columbus, Indiana. You may not have heard of this place or maybe as a West Coaster, you may not think much of a small city (population 50,000) in the middle of the country, but I’m here to tell you that this is a special place, with an extraordinary story. Columbus is a place that for the past 75 years and more has been using art and architecture as key investments to make this city a better place to live in the areas that matter most to us: investments in schools, public parks, public libraries, city buildings, hospital facilities, fire stations, etc.

By 2013 there were a number of questions circling around the city, about if the leaders were going to keep moving the legacy forward after many of the people involved from the post-war start had passed on. With these questions at hand, a number of people got together and started to find creative ways to move this story forward. Some creative thinkers got busy dreaming up a new idea, Exhibit Columbus. Shout out to those that were there at the beginning: Hannah Brokenshire, Josh Coggeshall, Erin Hetrick, Hadley Fruits, Tricia Gilson, Brooke Hawkins, Liz Kubany, Jonathan Nesci, Enrique Ramirez, Janice Shimizu, Anne Surak, Rick Valicenti, Christopher West, Kelly Wilson, and so many more.

This is now one of the country’s most visible explorations of community, architecture, art, and design. It leverages the modern legacy of Columbus to create an exhibition of contemporary art and architecture that brings together some of the most creative thinkers working around the world today (including many from Los Angeles).

We were so fortunate to have a number of major funders step up and believe in this project enough to make major, multi-year contributions to it, including Columbus Area Visitors Center, Cummins Inc, Deer Crossing Fund, Efroymson Family Fund, Elwood Staffing, Haddad Foundation, Heritage Fund, Irwin, Sweeney Miller Foundation, Johnson Ventures, Moravec Realty, Schumaker Family, SIHO Insurance Services

I learned one of the biggest lessons of my career in 2016 when we publicly launched Exhibit Columbus. In May of that year, we had only about half of the funds needed to complete the first exhibition and a team that was ambitious but had never pulled off a project at this scale before. Getting to a new place takes a clear vision and confidence in the folks with which you are working. This is difficult work and I know that everyone that was involved with the start of Exhibit Columbus has a great sense of ownership and pride in creating something exceptional in a state that perhaps isn’t known for creating cutting-edge art and architecture programs. This pride carries over to those of us working on it today.

This summer we are building our fourth exhibition of Exhibit Columbus, which is amazing to be able to keep going. I have such admiration and gratitude for all of the people that have personally dug deep into who there are to help build this program year after year.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
You’ll need a guide and a driver for this expedition to my home state of Indiana! I would meet you at the airport in Indianapolis and have a copy of PATTERN Magazine ready for you. This is a big, beautifully designed, and photographed magazine that shows what’s going on in the creative economy in Central Indiana.

Because it is easier to understand Indiana as a significant place if you think about it as a region, rather than just individual cities, and for a week-long trip, I’d focus on a visit between Indianapolis, Columbus, and Bloomington.

In Indianapolis I’d want to make you feel at home, so would take you to my favorite breakfast place, Cafe Patachou. The so-called “student union for adults” is owned by Martha Hoover, who Food and Wine named as the “One of the Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink,” etc. I’m sure they’ll be some friends there so it will be a great place to start the day and connect with some locals. From there we’ll go to The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, and make our way to one of the best places to feel connected to a larger world, Park of the Laments by Alfredo Jaar. After that, we’d have a tea or coffee at Tea’s Me Cafe, located in the heart of Midtown Indy, at Tarkington Park and is owned by Tamika Catchings, 4x Olympic Gold Medalist and WNBA Hall of Famer. (She’s such an inspiration to the community!) If you were fortunate enough to be visiting during the weekend that Butter is happening, we’d have to stop in and see what has quickly become one of the most important events in the city, and one of the best showcases of Black art in the country.

We’d then take the 45-minute drive to Columbus, where I spend most of my days. This small city is so impressive and inspiring to those that visit and has lots of L.A. and international connections. Our most visible program is called Exhibit Columbus and it features an exhibition of newly-commissioned works of art and architecture by some of the most amazing artists working today. Late this August we’ll open Public by Design, which will feature 14 new works made by folks all over the world and an awesome installation by the high school students. In the past, we’ve worked with the L.A.-based groups Oyler Wu Collaborative, LA Más, Rosten Woo, and Some All None — and writer Mimi Zeiger.

When Exhibit Columbus isn’t happening we could still check out a host of art and architecture made by some of the most well-known designers of the 20th century, including Eero Saarinen, Dan Kiley, Jean Tinguely, Deborah Berke, Michael Van Valenkburgh, and on and on. We definitely have to have lunch at the Upland Pump House and have a beer overlooking the White River from their porch. And I love ice cream, so we’d either have to visit the iconic Zharakos Ice Cream Parlor, or grab a cone from the downtown Dairy Queen — the dipped cones are terrific!

Finally, over in Bloomington, we’d have lunch at The Uptown Cafe  and see the newly-renovated Indiana University Art Museum. In a beautiful building designed by I.M. Pei, this museum has a fantastic collection of African and contemporary art and is located in the heart of one of America’s most beautiful university campuses.

You may not believe me reading this, but I could give you a tour of these three cities, and others in southern Indiana that would change your perspective on this place.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I think he’ll be totally surprised, but I dedicate this shoutout to Alex Mouton, a friend I met about 30 years ago who had just returned from photographing in former East Germany. He had a prestigious federal scholarship to study there, a J. William Fulbright Scholarship. He looked at me one day and told me that he thought I too could compete and win one of those scholarships. I’d be surprised if he even remembers telling me this.

But as an undergrad kid from rural Indiana, this changed my perspective on my own capabilities. I saw myself differently. I took his advice and won one of these scholarships the next year, plus another one from the Indiana University School of Journalism! I studied bookbinding and book arts in Europe and Madrid for a year following that.

I’ve heard so many stories from people in the creative fields that say that all it takes is one or two people to truly believe in them at the right moment to change the trajectory of their lives. I’ve seen this happen again and again. I try not to forget how powerful this can be, especially for younger folks, and work to give back to the system.

Website: https://landmarkcolumbusfoundation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardmccoy/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardmccoyinfo/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardMcCoy

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Youtube: @LandmarkColumbusFoundation

Other: https://www.exhibitcolumbus.org

Image Credits
Images by Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation