Ball State is continuing its successful partnership with Brown County in southern Indiana by assisting local officials with their 100th anniversary celebration of painter T. C. Steele.

As part of the university's Business Fellows program, an interdisciplinary team of 12 students and two professors toured the county last fall to help prepare for this summer's centennial celebration of the famed Hoosier impressionist.

"We want the students to really get to know Brown County and meet the people they will be working with," says theatre professor Harold Mortimer, who is coordinating the project with music professor Jeffrey Pappas. "We're going to put in an exhausting day, but we're confident that we'll establish good relationships, completely immerse the students in the effort, and create a solid action plan."

This initiative follows quickly on the heels of Ball State's work to help Brown County become a nationally known tourist destination. New developments in that effort include the following:

• The community has embarked on a fund-raising project to construct an outdoor amphitheater at Deer Run Park in Nashville. This was a recommendation in a 2005 report prepared by a team of Ball State fine arts faculty led by Stanley Geidel, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts.
  
• Through a Business Fellows project, Ball State students will provide daily live street theater in Nashville from May through December. This entertainment will enhance the arts experience for visitors, generate new enthusiasm about the arts in Brown County, and help promote upcoming plays.
  

Learn more about Ball State's assistance in Brown County.