Tell City Indiana, in Perry County, is home to a wonderful Arts Organization called Tell City Regional Arts. While this organization has been around for several decades, there is considerable growth in its outreach and accessibility due to a permanent storefront location and regular open hours.
With a population of 19,211 Perry County benefits as a small town, a close knit community, while having access to larger towns nearby in Owensboro, and Louisville, Kentucky, and Evansville, Indiana. Our hometown motto is to #pickperry, meaning we keep our business and patronage here at home- to stimulate our local economy while supporting the small businesses of our neighbors.
For this reason, Tell City Regional Arts has done well as a local stop for rotating Gallery Exhibitions- which encourages artists of all ages to showcase their talent at no cost to enter. We work with the local high school’s art education programs to generate participation and interest from students, as they are our next generation of adult artists. In the back half of the facility, TCRA has a large classroom fit to host up to 24 participants. The arts organization pulls from its current member base and outside contracts to host a variety of fine art, craft and project based classes for all ages. Classes range from $10 - $50 in cost on average, and can cover mediums such as watercolor, acrylic paintings, drawing skills, private tutoring, wreath making, leathersmithing, basket weaving, mosaics, flower arranging and more. The list of classes offered rotates based on our instructors’ availability.
In 2022, we relocated to our current location at 1020 11th Street, which opened up the possibility to cater to our local ceramic enthusiasts. The Pottery Place, as we lovingly coined it, hosts two wheels, and one kiln. This department’s start up was funded by a local grant (United Way of Perry County) and is one of our most popular classes, selling out twice a month. Our organization President, Shelly Goodrich, has transformed a corner of our classroom into a full functioning pottery studio for beginners and intermediates. TCRA offers wheel classes for beginners of all ages twice a month, and a hand built class once every other month.
Sketchbook Club is one of our favorite offerings, as it is open to all ages and is 100% free to the participant. Our art organization is located one block from our Tell City high school, and we host an Open Classroom every Wednesday from 3-7pm. This drop in style drawing education is directed toward self-guided pencil and colored pencil activities. A new prompt is delivered every week, and sketchers always have access to past prompts too. While this program sees a regular group of kids from 10-15 families, we anticipate with proper marketing and word of mouth that this will grow substantially in 2025.
In addition to classes, TCRA hosts art camps for students while they are out for summer. Our annual camp takes place in July and can seat 24 students per two day camp. We hosted three camps for ages 6-12 in 2024 and one no cost camp for preschoolers focusing on motor skills and process art. Campers learn the art of screenprints, tie dye, drawing, painting and sculpture art. Our little artists return annually, so we offer new activities every year to keep them coming back.
In 2024, TCRA hosted several Guest Artist lecture series, one per quarter sourcing artists from outside our immediate area who created something unique. The visiting artist would give a short lecture with a history on their art and process, followed by a quick demonstration open to Q&A. The artists hosted a workshop the following morning, so our community can try the new art for themselves. Due to a lack of funding, we have had to cut that out but hope to bring it back in 2026.
In 2025, our Theater Department leads Pat Jarboe and Cindia Ress are bringing back the annual town festival musical which utilizes all ages. This year’s performance This year’s performance of Grease will take place July 31-August 3, 2025 and is being funded by private donations and ticket sales. *Musical title redacted per request, as it has not been released. Auditions begin the weekend of March 29-30th, more detailed info will be released soon.
One of our favorite annual events includes our theater department as we host a Harry Potter Experience every March. This event is a fundraiser for our facility and is co-sponsored by our local library to help offset the costs to put it on. This year, on Sunday March 30th, our guests will enter Platform 9 and 3/4 and immerse themselves in the wizarding world of the Triwizard Tournament, following the book series by JK Rowling and the Goblet of Fire. Dressing up is encouraged, and participants see skits, participate in lessons, craft, and enjoy snacks from Honeydukes.
Please note: TCRA’s list of events is planned one year at a time, but is updated online once a quarter. The online calendar / list of events may not reflect the full plans for 2025.
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