2020 what a year, am I right?! This year brought so many negatives but in that came so many amazing and wonderful positives. It’s not always easy to focus on the good things when the bad are just staring right back. But that’s what we’re trying to do. So here are 20 things we did in 2020 that we are proud of and that we want to remember this year by and hope you do too!
1. PATTERN turned 10!! We can’t believe we’ve been around for a whole decade and we’re looking forward to being around for decades to come.
2. Through St’Artup317, we partnered with the Arts Council and the Cultural Trail to commission 21 local black artists to paint on boarded up buildings for the Murals for Racial Justice project. We were deeply inspired by all the talented artists and would love to work with them again in the future!
3. We published two more issues of PATTERN magazine! If you can’t get enough of that fresh ink aroma, grab the “hot-off-the-press” Vol. 18, The Reform Issue, now! You can also purchase Vol 17, The Art of Rebellion Issue, on our website.
4. We saw 20 more interns go through our Internship Program. While the spring semester was cut short, we were able to pick up where we left off in May. Some interns loved the internship so much they stayed for a second semester!
5. We published over 150 stories on our digital magazine featuring indie artists & brands, creative entrepreneurs and small business owners. One of our most read stories was an interview with Chef Oya Woodruff who owns Chef Oya’s The Trap.
6. St’artup 317 celebrated its third season! Though we were only able to accommodate for window display vendors due to Covid, we were still blown away at everyone’s creativity and amazing displays.
7. In March we launched our newest program called Stitchworks! By April 1, we were sewing isolation gowns for Eskenazi Health. StitchWorks is a small-batch Cut & Sew facility, offering production services to indie fashion designers, apparel brands and other companies relying on sewing operators to make their products. We also offer sewing classes! Click here to learn more 🙂
8. Being mindful of social distancing, we experimented with our launch parties this year and had our very first drive-through launch party! Thanks to everyone who came and honked for PATTERN.
9. We welcomed two new Creative Fellows to the team! Sariah is our Styling Fellow and Khaila is a Fine Artist and our Digital Content Manager Fellow. ❤️
10. Along with most of the world, we learned how to use Zoom! From meetings, interviews, and planning sessions, to expert panels and Happy Hours, Zoom calls are now part of our daily routines. Still feels unnatural. We can’t wait to get back to the in-person stuff!
11. In February, before the pandemic took all events offline, we hosted a meetup to talk about the importance of inclusivity within the beauty industry. This year we really leaned into our inclusive mindset committing to being even more intentional in elevating black voices and fighting racial injustice.
12. Shhhh!! This is still on the DL, but we got a new space in Broad Ripple! It’s an event space that supports both virtual and in-person events, and doubles as a photography gallery.
13. We won four more Addys! The awards ceremony invitation arrived accompanied by a pink stuffed bear and a bottle of vodka. Polina was ecstatic!
14. Since April, we’ve sewn over 5,000 gowns and about 5,000 masks for local hospitals and companies. A huge thanks to our Production Director, Denisha Dlang, the in-house team at Stitchworks and local stitchers across Indianapolis for helping us make this happen!
15. We teamed up with IndyMaven to photograph and talk with eight Black women in Indy who fought for (and won) influential seats at important political tables, from the Indiana State Senate to the Indianapolis City-County Council. Read the article here!
16. We ran through 5 gallons of hand sanitizer, 50 rolls of paper towel, and 2 large bottles of disinfectant in the midst of COVID, but hey, we managed to stay pretty healthy!
17. To distract ourselves from all the less-than-great news of 2020, we spent hours upon hours scouring through Harry Styles interviews, because why not? Check out our top 5 Harry Styles interviews here!
18. Digital is booming and it shows! We grew our social media audience by 15.7% on YouTube, 9% on Instagram, and 3.7% on Facebook! If you’re not following us, what the heck are you waiting for?? Social media is the best way to keep up with our shenanigans!
19. We published over 120 fashion editorials on our website and in our magazine, submissions came from all over – Indy, the Midwest, and around the world! Hooray for fashion photography!
20. Our in-house Creative Agency provided creative services to businesses and companies including Weissman, Newfangled Confections, ArtHaus Balloon, The Arts Council and Gang Gang. If your company is looking for outside-the-box, campaign-based creative to build awareness with the 18-35 demographic, drop us a line. We can help! info@patternindy.com
Thank you for reading to the end! As you can see it has been a busy year for us, and a challenging one as well, and we couldn’t have done it without your support, and the support of our donors, community partners and clients.
Thank you for being part of the PATTERN fam!
Our projects and programs are made possible with support from:
