Indiana is gearing up for a celebration of its 200-year history, and former Congressman Lee Hamilton says the upcoming bicentennial party can’t just be about the state’s past, but also about its future. He helped announce the creation of the Bicentennial Visioning Project on Friday.
Hamilton – who co-chairs the Indiana Bicentennial Commission – says he wants the state’s Bicentennial Celebration to be about trying to make Indiana’s future a better one.
He says the Visioning Project, Hamilton’s brainchild, will gather thought leaders from around the state – along with input from Hoosiers – to help steer the course of Indiana’s next 50 years.
“Where do we want the communications business, the financial business, the agricultural business, commerce, the arts, the culture of this state headed 25, 50 years down the road?” Hamilton said. “I think that’s a needed element in our state’s thinking today.”
The project will be led by Norm Heikens, a long-time journalist with the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis Business Journal. He will hire students from Indiana colleges and universities to help prepare the project’s final report to be released next summer. That report will come out of recommendations from yet-to-be-chosen thought leaders and ideas Hoosiers will be able to submit online.
The project is funded through support from Old National Bank.
