David Wilcoxen practices law by day. At night, however, he creates 7-foot dolls from recycled cardboard.
Wilcoxen is one of several local artists and business owners trying to revitalize what might be considered an “ignored part of town.” The group wants to brand the block between Randolph and Neil Streets, south of University Avenue, as SODO, or the South Downtown Arts District.
The acronym, however, doesn’t just refer to a physical space — it’s also an idea. At its core, SODO is a social movement designed to foster a greater appreciation for and of the arts. The city has been working on several projects to rebuild and redefine the area, including a decision to restore Boneyard Creek.
Under the recession, art has been viewed as more of a luxury than a commodity. However, a recent study conducted by Americans for the Arts entitled, “Arts and Economic Prosperity,” revealed that the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity each year nationwide. Revenue brought in by the industry reached $1 billion in Chicago and $25 million for Champaign County.
The SODO initiative was also constructed in response to an invisible line that seemingly dissects downtown from campustown.
Casey Loving, former director of Indi Go Artist Co-Op, said that a stark divide exists between the north and south section of Champaign. “We feel that there is this giant barrier between us and the rest of downtown.”
SODO district lines run from University Avenue to Neil Street and Springfield Avenue to First Street, though the actual boundaries are still somewhat fluid. “It’s a blurry line,” Loving said. “The overall belief is that we want to encourage people to go in and put some art into the neighborhood such as mosaics, murals, things on the ground that show you where to go.”
Natalie Ellis, owner of Class Act Studio, adapted the name from New York’s SoHo region, an area that is identified by its aura, not just its physical presence. She, along with James Barham, owner of Indi Go Artist Co-Op, felt ostracized from other establishments on the north side of town. “When we both opened up, people just didn’t walk on this side of University,” she said. “We need an easy way to let people know where we are.” If you give something a label or a bit of a structure then people see it that way. “It’s giving people neighbors, giving people connections. SODO came out of my and James’ frustration of trying to tell people where our businesses are and what we’re doing here.”
Several spaces dedicated 
to art, or the promotion of art, are involved in the initiative. Class Act Studio, Indi Go Artist Co-Op, Old Vic Gallery and the I.D.E.A. store are the four main organizers behind the movement.
“The general concept of SODO is that we want to encourage people to think about an area of the town and concentrate their efforts in order to redevelop it,” Loving said. “We want to redevelop it in a guerrilla way. We want people to go out in the streets and create artwork.”
The brains behind SODO envision the gesture as a collaboration between the physical structures where art is made or displayed, like galleries and theaters, and the independent artists themselves. They encourage community members to create art in their own neighborhood, whether it be mosaics, flags, chalk drawings, among other forms of self-expression.
Wilcoxen, associate director of environmental compliance in Facilities and Services at the University, said he came up with the idea of creating life-size paper dolls after visiting a Tennessee arts district with friends. He noticed that several buildings had empty storefronts along the street, due in part to an unstable economic climate. Various artists in the community, however, utilized space by sketching their own ink creations on the storefront plywood. One woman, in particular, drew life-size ballerinas, Wilcoxen said. Some of the work was even carried inside local restaurants and put on display.
Likewise, the same principles can be applied in a community the size of Champaign-Urbana. “There are so many artists and people interested in the arts here, and it’s just not emphasized in any way,” said Emily Denis, gallery director at Indi Go Artist Co-Op. “My primary interest is finding a way to get other community members or kids involved in visually beautifying the area.”
Ellis said that it is vital for amateur and professional artists to work alongside each other. “It’s kind of this mix of established art and artists who are thriving and working and more up-and-coming, underground or developing work,” she said. “We’d love to have both informal and formal public art happening. We’re completely open. We don’t want to set any perimeters. We want it to be a place where creativity happens, and people know that they have these resources like a stage and lights and sound and space. I’d love to see more structural changes, whether it’s mosaic work on the sidewalk or an arch over the street.”
Gail Rost, executive director at the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation, works at the I.D.E.A. store, a facility downtown that collects raw or re-used materials that are sold to become new items and works of art.
“By virtue of where we are and where our location is, we are indeed part of that,” she said. “We’re kind of waiting to see what it brings. It’s a new idea to organize this area of downtown to have it be recognized as a community that supports the arts. I think they’re in the process of developing just exactly what that means. As I’m understanding, their vision for this district is to identify a coalition of businesses that have the main goal of bringing up this part of downtown and having it recognized as a vital piece.”
However, the initiative isn’t just about art. It’s also about safety. Five lanes of traffic pose logistical problems for patrons wanting to access the south side of Champaign where many of these businesses are located. In fact, accidents repeatedly occur in this section of town. “There’s this giant block over there,” Loving said, gesturing to the north side of University Avenue. “It’s a visual barrier to us. We have an immense amount of pedestrians walking between the terminal and the other locations.”
The Champaign Center Partnership is focused on the duality between downtown Champaign and campustown as well as increasing the number of pedestrians between those two areas. The city’s planning department, Loving said, wants to encourage people on campus to migrate downtown and take advantage of the vibrant arts community.
Loving, who serves on the area public art board, said that SODO does not necessarily want to claim a 501-(c)(3) status or become another group that collects dues. They would, on the other hand, like to exist under the umbrella of another non-profit organization or at least tap into some TIFF funding.
Furthermore, the area has a unique combination of people who collaborate in ways that artists from a larger demographic could not. “Access is what Champaign-Urbana has,” Wilcoxen said. “If I were to try to organize something like that in Chicago, it’d just be so much harder. The degrees of separation here are like one degree. So many people here are willing to come on board. It’s not hard to come up with a team that is highly talented, highly educated and willing to do something — and then do something about it.”
Indi Go Gallery, for example, was created under the philosophy that, “Visual space has essentially no owner.” The statement is based on a quote from the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
“We think the SODO name is catchy and we’d like to see where that goes, too,” Barham said. “We create awareness that there is potential in this area. People are finding each other here now and that’s something that I’m just as happy about.”
Wilcoxen, for example, has made a connection with members of the community by giving away paper dolls, which he places in cafes and other outdoor public spaces. “I’m trying to promote what I call a ‘free exchange’ of art downtown,” he said. “For the past few years, I’ve created paper dolls that are life-size or larger than life cardboard women in designs, in different fashions in fabric or paint,” Wilcoxen said. “I’ll place them in a certain spot downtown and leave for people to take. It’s a really free spirited radical self-expression, self reliant effort that inspired these art events and wanted to bring this to Champaign.”
Barham agrees that the public is as vital to the movement as professional artists. “Everyone sees the value of art now,” he said. “That’s what I like. The cities recognize it. The University recognizes it. We’re getting a lot of good community-minded people that see the value of it. We’re hoping other people knock us out of the way and do something big.”