Indiana Art and Culture Roundtable

John Herbst is the president and CEO of the Indiana Historical Society.

The Indiana Historical Society (IHS) is, by its very nature, an institution which takes a long view when it comes to current affairs.  We were started in 1830 and so in 179 years we have seen just about every type of crisis bump along the national pike, including the Civil War, two World Wars, and the Great Depression.

Like the other important cultural organizations, this economic crisis comes at not the best moment for the IHS.  We are in the middle of our fundraising effort – the Campaign for the Indiana Experience, and our building is closed to allow for a renovation to accommodate exciting new visitor experiences that will open in March 2010.  We are also accepting a lot of new archival materials and expanding programs in the state like the National History Day competitions for students and our services to county and local historical societies and museums.

We have modified the plans for our program expansion by phasing the renovation of the History Center.  We are fortunate to have a lead cash gift to the campaign – $8 million from Eugene and Marilyn Glick – which allows us to continue the Indiana Experience project.  In 2009 we will do a first phase to reallocate existing interior spaces for the new visitor experiences we have been planning and piloting for the last several years.

On the Future
I believe that the economic downturn will lead area residents to change their travel habits and reduce their expenses associated with leisure time and activities.  This is good news for IHS and many of the other museum and cultural organizations in that we offer experiences that are relatively low in cost and high in value – and right in their back yards.  We are seeing a shift in the nation’s values and we expect people will be attracted to venues like ours that offer a look at the American experience, authenticity, and a high level of visitor engagement.

On Indiana and Indianapolis
The culture of this state has been of “small government and low taxes” with a built-in negativity for large public projects.  We emphasized sports here and left art, culture, and heritage largely to the private sector.  Even though state and city financial support of these quality-of-life issues has been a token amount compared to most other states and cities of our size, the modest gains we have made are unfortunately being swept away at a very critical time in relationship to private sector giving.  I think all of this can hurt Indianapolis terribly in the years to come in terms of the quality-of-life standards that companies use to recruit and retain a talented workforce.  Ideally regional strategies would include public and private support for a wider range of projects to build the region’s desirable qualities in a number of areas besides sports.