$7.6M project to shine light on Monument Circle

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The nonprofit Downtown Indy Inc. and the Indiana War Memorials Commission shared details Tuesday about Shining a Light, a $7.6 million project funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Bob Schultz is senior vice president of marketing with Downtown Indy, which promotes Downtown as a great place to live, learn, work, and play. He said the project will tell the story of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument on Monument Circle.

“We have the beautiful monument behind us and we have this incredible Circle that is well under-lit during the evening hours and we wanted to infuse arts and culture and more experiences of that on this most iconic landmark,” Schultz said.

The 5-minute program will feature the monument in red, white and blue. LED lights are being placed on top of surrounding buildings and around the Circle.

“The old Anthem Building has video-projection pods that will illuminate and project 4D digital video onto these buildings that will tell the story of freedom,” Schultz said.

The program starting daily after dusk is expected to bring a new experience to the downtown Circle. Music from the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will be heard as well.

Chris Gahl is senior vice president of Visit Indy, which promotes city tourism. He said, “It will give us another opportunity to invite our visitors to see Indianapolis in a very meaningful way, a very patriotic way, a very visually stimulating and tech-savvy way.”

Many people told News 8 that they’re looking forward to it all coming together starting Nov. 9.

“I think it sounds exciting honestly. I mean the Circle is like the stable of Indianapolis and something to live it up here would be cool, especially if it was every day,” said local resident Clayton Regnier.

Another person, Molly Tompkins, said, “It has a good cause with it, too. (I’m) military so we get it — veteran — it’s a good cause. It’s a good thing to remember everyone in the state.”