Work set to begin on new performing arts centre in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Ind. – A southern Indiana tourist mecca is moving ahead with plans for an indoor performing arts centre that local officials hope will lure visitors back to its once thriving arts-and-music village.

Brown County officials will break ground Tuesday on the $12.5 million Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center on the west side of Nashville, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis.

The county-funded project is scheduled to open next summer with a 2,000-seat indoor performance space.

The (Bloomington) Herald-Times reports that Brown County has struggled to regain the tourist base that was once secured by the community’s Little Nashville Opry, which was destroyed by a 2009 arson fire.

That venue brought big-name country and western performers to the town for decades, including Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride and the Oak Ridge Boys.

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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com