$24M in New Projects Intended to Enhance Conner Prairie Experiences

Conner Prairie’s museum experience is being re-imagined.

A fully renovated and enhanced museum center will offer more access to Conner Prairie’s large collection of historic artifacts, with new learning experiences and hands-on activities and more to see and do year-round inside the museum.

A new Outdoor Nature Experience will activate 260 acres of woodlands and prairie and add 2.5 miles of new trails along the White River, one trail that is fully accessible, with four education hubs that feature evolving content, so that guests can immerse themselves in nature.

A new Promised Land Proving Ground permanent exhibit will explore the African-American heritage, including African Diaspora culture and traditions, covering centuries of history from pre-colonial to present day.

These enhanced and expanded and inclusive experiences will be created thanks to a $24 million Prairie Pathways capital campaign that’s already reached 76 percent, or $11.4 million, of its fundraising goal.

The three new projects — that will provide “broader, deeper, bolder experiences” to better serve visitors and members — were announced at a press conference on Friday morning at Conner Prairie, a living history museum in Fishers that welcomes more than 400,000 visitors annually.

Dave Kinard, Conner Prairie member and campaign chair, said the project would not be possible without critical stakeholders, members of our community and amazing staff and volunteers and board members, and those who have donated so generously to the campaign with more than 60 campaign gifts to date for the project.

Philanthropists Jay and Nancy Ricker, founder of Ricker’s Convenience stores in Anderson and who were in attendance Friday morning, have donated the lead gift of $3.5 million to the four-year Prairie Pathways Campaign, which kicked off in 2019, with a goal of $15 million.

“Nancy and I feel very strongly that you should give back to the areas where you made your money,” Jay Ricker said. “Conner Prairie really stuck out in our minds.” (The Rickers in 2017 gave $500,000 to Conner Prairie to help renovate the Chinese House, an historic venue for private events on the property.)

The Rickers’ gift for the current Prairie Pathways Campaign is part of their overall $5 million commitment to Conner Prairie. Commitments of $1 million or more have also been received from Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Steve and Sandy Hageman, Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust and an anonymous donor.

Norman Burns, Conner Prairie CEO of seven years, recalled how Jay Ricker, the incoming chair of Conner Prairie and part of the search committee to find a CEO, seven years ago flew to Richmond, Va., to talk to Burns about the future of Conner Prairie. Burns on Friday morning officially announced the projects which, he said, will ensure that Conner Prairie will be “a place where the doors are always open to a diversity of voices and limitless experiences for generations to come.”

The traditional welcome center will transform into a “Museum Experience Center” that will for the first time be able to have open storage and showcase the museum’s 27,000 artifacts, plus, being a Smithsonian affiliate, will offer traveling exhibits on loan from the Smithsonian, as well as artist exhibits.

The newly renovated museum center will broaden the story-telling at Conner Prairie, said Andrew Bradford, vice president and chief advancement officer at Conner Prairie.

The renovation will take place in a phased approach, he said. “The front-entry portion, that will be re-imagined, and the back exit-portion as you go out onto the grounds, will be the first two pieces of construction,” Bradford said. “And then as we remodel the inside, that will become the second phase of all of this. It’s staged in such a way that we hope to be able to keep most of our experiences open, certainly all of the outdoor experiences will stay open while we’re under construction.”

He said ticketing will move out to the Symphony gates to get people onto the grounds.

“From a staffing perspective, as we transition all of these spaces — we have a strong work-from-home policy right now — we’ll continue to look at how people can achieve their work in a different environment than they’re used to today.” Employees might work from home or Conner Prairie may bring in temporary office space during the expected 18 months of construction renovations.

The renovation won’t just be in the area that guests visit. “We are considering every aspect, every inch of this Museum Experience Center,” Bradford said, confirming that Conner Prairie youth volunteers’ space will also be part of the remodel.

“Our youth interpreters are not only going to experience a new entry sequence for themselves, but they’re also going to get an entirely new space,” he said. Currently, youth volunteers (and adult interpreters) enter at the side of the building into an unseen, almost underground-like, part of the museum center. The new Youth Leadership Institute will “give them the space that they deserve.”

Bradford said, “These youth are critical to us being able to deliver our mission to guests on a daily basis, and they don’t have the adequate space they need today. We’re actually carving out more square footage for the youth volunteer program so they can have adequate space to convene, to learn, to do research and to prepare for their daily work.”

The larger, newly renovated area will give the youth volunteers “our acknowledgement of their hard work,” Bradford said.

The entrance to Conner Prairie will also be updated. “From the very moment you come off of Allisonville Road, it will be an entirely different experience,” he said. Imagine a new drive and new paths to get guests from their vehicles into the building, integrating natural landscapes.

The entry experience will be totally new with a newly remodeled lobby and Welcome Center. The building will be totally gutted and renovated, and guests will be delivered, not to the back of the 1859 Balloon Voyage exhibit but instead directly into the Prairietown experience.

Last year, he said, Conner Prairie signed another six-year agreement with the Reynolds family, owners of Reynolds Farm Equipment, for a $1 million investment in the Balloon Voyage experience that will go through 2027. (The balloon envelope only has a six-year life span.)

Why make all of these improvements to Conner Prairie, which is already a gem in the community?

Bradford said while funding will go into the Promised Land as Proving Ground exhibit, there would also be investments in 1836

Currently, the last day of the outdoor season is Oct. 31. “Starting in November through March, there is no 1836 experience at Conner Prairie,” he said. “We are a museum that operates on a year-round basis today, but we don’t give an historical experience inside right now. That’s only available out on the grounds. In the winter months, when we close down, our guests are eager to continue engaging with us, but we don’t have a product to give them. Renovating and expanding this entire space will allow us to build those exhibits, those galleries, those hands-on experiences that they love out on the grounds but inside of the space during the winter months.”

Currently, there is about 6,000 square feet of programming space and will transition to more than 25,000 square feet of programming space.

The open atrium area with skylight, that was originally used for weddings and special events, and currently Conner Prairie hands-on exhibits, will be closed in and become two separate floors with more gallery exhibits and hands-on experiences. The current banqueting and catering space will stay the same. Friday’s news conference took place in Conner Prairie’s Overlook Room, which was formerly a restaurant that was open for Sunday brunch and special occasions.

Bradford talked for a bit about the 27,000 artifacts, of which there are “almost none” currently on exhibit. In the newly renovated museum center, he said, “We will have the opportunity to put a curated collection on display each and every day.” The collections currently are stored underground and have their own temperature and lighting controls and security system. “Nobody gets to see them. This new space is going to create a collections gallery. A part of our collections will become viewable to the general public through a glass display. We still have to protect those things, so you won’t be able to necessarily touch and feel them, but we’ll have a digital display board that will allow you to find out more information about each collection piece if you’re interested,” Bradford said. Some items will have reproductions that allow hands-on experiences out on the grounds.

He said Eli Lilly (who in 1934 and then president of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co, bought the 111-year old structure William Conner House) wanted to restore the house and build the village around it. Bradford said, “Eli Lilly wanted to teach history in a way that books could not.”

The preschool is still going strong, in its third year, with half-day programs, inspired by Montessori models.

A new Spark!Lab opened Saturday and provides a space where young inventors will be encouraged to create, innovate, collaborate and solve problems. A new Habitat experience, which opens in September, showcases unique habitats through the gardens and landscapes of Conner Prairie.

Remaining Symphony on the Prairie concerts include One Night of Queen with Gary Mullen & the Works, Aug. 19; The Fab Four: The Ultimate Beatles Tribute, Aug 26; The Phil Collins experience, Aug. 27; Master Blaster: A Tribute to Stevie Wonder; Sept. 2, Master Blaster: A tribute to Stevie Wonder and Super Diamond: the Neil Diamond tribute; The Springsteen Experience:  A tribute to the boss; and Here Come the Mummies, Sept. 4.

The Jupiter Flight Balloon Festival, Indiana’s largest balloon festival, will be Sept. 9-11 celebrating a weekend of innovation, with live music, food, bounce houses and a balloon race. The Apple Store will also be open the Friday during the balloon festival. Also, Smithsonian Free Day is Sept. 17, with Conner Prairie open free to the public. See ya there!

Contact Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.