Revival: Work set to begin on new performing arts center in Nashville

A southern Indiana tourist mecca is moving ahead with plans for an indoor performing arts center 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) HeraldTimes 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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