The Art Lover – Are you shopping for someone who briefly majored in photography or loves fashion or is always looking for new things to do on the weekends? An IMA gift membership is all of this, plus more, rolled into one package deal! Plus, it is literally the gift that keeps giving all year long. Simply send in this form by December 14 to make sure that your gift arrives before the holidays.

The Film Buff – For the person who can wax lyrical for hours on end about Kurosawa or Hitchcock, check out the 2011 Winter Nights Film Series. You could surprise them with tickets to one movie, or the entire series!

The Foodie – If buying them yet another gift at Williams-Sonoma is too daunting (they already own the entire store), you can’t go wrong with tickets to our Chef’s Taste Series. Or why not make a date and treat them to lunch at Nourish Café? The menu changes weekly and features local and contemporary fare.

The Green Thumb – Has winter left your friend or family member gloomy at the prospect of waiting until spring to get back out in the garden? Why not brighten their day with a gift from our Greenhouse Shop? Treat yourself, too, by stopping by the Greenhouse during our December 16th evening Open House to enjoy hundreds of luminaria, holiday music and toasty beverages.

The Humanitarian –If you know someone who always claims that they don’t need more “stuff” or who spends all of their free time volunteering, why not make a gift to the IMA in their honor? We will send them a letter, plus list their name (and yours) in our summer magazine. No wrapping necessary!

The Music Aficionado –Is their iPod overflowing with classical overtures and/or show tunes? If so, consider buying them tickets to the IMA presentation of The Kid and The Idle Class, a screening of two classic Charlie Chaplin films accompanied by a performance by the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.

When in doubt, check out our Museum store and Design Center online or in person. We have note cards, coffee table books, jewelry, scarves, salt and pepper shakers, lamps, cookies, ornaments and all sorts of interesting items just waiting for you to take them home and wrap them up in something pretty. The elves at the IMA are standing by and waiting for your call… Happy Holidays!

The IMA quite literally would not be here without the support of our donors and friends. The Art Association of Indianapolis, which would later become the Indianapolis Museum of Art, was formed in 1883 as a membership club that intended to educate the public about art. Membership dues actually started it all!

Generous individuals have shaped the Museum in many ways. John Herron’s estate gift in 1895 provided the means for the Art Association to build our first art school and gallery. Other families have given us the Oldfields estate and the Miller House, so that visitors have a chance to step back in time (be it to the Jazz Age or the modern 1950s!). Donor names are on our gallery walls, not because they ever picked up a paintbrush or sculpted in clay, but because they chose to share the art that they collected with the entire community. When the IMA needed to expand in 2005, our loyal patrons stepped up to provide the funds for a total of 143,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Each gift has a ripple effect – you might think you are just buying a membership or supporting a collection you love, but really you are doing much more. In the last year alone, donations to the Museum have made the following possible:

• The IMA presented 15 exhibitions, acquired 552 works of art, and completed 25 installations in our galleries.
• Our conservators complete treatments on 264 works of art—totaling 2,892 hours of treatment time.
• In addition to eight new art commissions, 100 Acres features 9,749 new plantings.
• The dedicated grounds team also added another 14,709 plantings to the gardens and grounds.
• 27,687 students participated in educational tours.
• 5,861 students from the Indianapolis Public School and Washington Township School systems participated in the Viewfinders program, which allows children to share ideas, think creatively and learn to disagree respectfully through the Visual Thinking Strategies curriculum.
• Our volunteers logged in 34,687 hours greeting our visitors, serving as docents, staffing The Toby, helping at special events, working in the gardens, and serving the Museum in a number of other ways.

We are grateful for every gift that has built the IMA throughout our history, and for every volunteer hour spent here. To anyone who has ever made a contribution to the IMA, thank you for sharing your passions with us!

National Philanthropy Day allows us to reflect on the meaning of giving. At the IMA, we appreciate what your gifts have meant to us, but we’d like to know…why do you give?

The book Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thorton is another excellent find. “A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton’s entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture,” according to the book’s publisher. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s at the top of my wish-list. Read a review from The Washington Post.

Those are my two finds. I’m leaving the rest up to you. Your prime shopping date: Friday, December 5 – “First Friday” offers your best bet to buy art at the local galleries. Share your finds below…