Indiana Blind Children's Foundation Provides Students with Arts Opportunities Through the Toula Oberlies Creative Arts Fund

Following the recent passing of emeritus board member and friend Toula Oberlies, the Indiana Blind Children’s Foundation (IBCF) will continue to honor Oberlies’ esteemed legacy through the Toula Oberlies Creative Arts Fund (TOCAF). Established in Nov. 2021, the fund has provided students ages 3-22 at Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI) with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to uniquely experience creative arts both on and off campus, including but not limited to music, art, writing, dance, and theater. Because creativity opens the hearts and minds of both participants and audience members and because Toula's life exemplified an enormous passion for both the creative arts and the students of ISBVI, this fund will continue to be a fitting tribute to her and serves as a promise to current and future ISBVI students that their lives will be enriched by experiences that spark, sustain, and inspire creativity for generations to come.

In 2022, Toula announced and awarded the inaugural TOCAF grant to ISBVI theater teachers, Janelle Pivec and Josh Baxter, for their Bright Lights, Big City, Chicago Extravaganza trip to Chicago. As part of this theater-centric adventure, ISBVI students worked with Second City Chicago in a half-day improvisational workshop, experienced an accessible Broadway Chicago production of The Lion King, and toured DePaul University's Theatre School.

The TOCAF magic continued in 2023, when ISBVI art and music teachers, Leslie Walsh and Sean Bradley, were awarded the second annual grant for their Arts for All trip to Washington D.C. As part of this multifaceted excursion, the group of ISBVI students and staff visited the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Portrait Gallery.

Through the end of this year, the Indiana Blind Children’s Foundation has a goal of raising $100,000 to complete the TOCAF capital fundraising campaign. Whether $5, $500, or $5,000, the Oberlies Family will match every donation up to an aggregate of $50,000 in order to successfully reach this goal. According to analysis from the National Endowment for the Arts, students with high levels of arts involvement have more positive outcomes in a variety of areas, from high school graduation rates to civic participation. For this reason, IBCF and the Oberlies Family invite the community to invest in the future of students at Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired today by making a contribution to the TOCAF capital fundraising campaign. Visit IndianaBCF.org to make a donation.