>> Funding for "Journey Indiana" was provided in part by: >> The WTIU Vehicle Donation Program.

Proceeds from accepted donations of a car or other vehicle make this program possible.

Most vehicles are accepted and pick up can be arranged at no cost.

Learn more at WTIU.org/support.

>> Charitable IRA rollover gifts.

Individuals aged 70 and a half or older may make a tax-free charitable distribution from their IRA to WTIU.

Consult your advisor and visit Indianapublicmedia.org/support for more details.

>> WTIU sustaining members.

Committing to regular monthly contributions, providing WFIU and WTIU with reliable ongoing support.

Becoming a sustainer is one of the most effective ways to support public media.

>> And by viewers like you.

Thank you!

♪ >> Today on "Journey Indiana," we're headed to the lovely city of South Bend.

Get creative at an art center with a little something for everyone.

>> We have a breadth of different material that people can be involved in.

A lot of the students, they can discover their art in a lot of different entry points.

>> Check out a museum that's one part Willy Wonka and one part Jurassic Park.

>> As a 9-year-old, I thought I was an explorer, you know, and I was going to go to Mars or something.

So I've always had that adventure in me, you know.

And being from small town Indiana, I think it was always in my heart.

>> And tour a sacred space, right in the heart of Notre Dame.

>> This really is just a place in the heart of campus where students can stop in and step out of the very busy chaos of their lives and find a moment of peace and find a moment of transcendence.

>> That's all on this episode of "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> First up, we're headed to the South Bend Museum of Art, where creators of all stripes come to see and make amazing works of art.

♪ >> The South Bend Museum of Art has galleries full of stunning local and regional artistic creations.

>> So the collection is focused on contemporary art, our community and our region.

Professors from Notre Dame, IU South Bend, local artists in and of themselves that have made a name for themselves, both nationally and, of course, locally.

>> But this isn't quite your typical art museum.

It's also a creative hub, a place where people of all ages are invited to learn, grow, and even play.

>> So the mission of the South Bend Museum of Art is to really support our local community, the artists in our local community, and raising up those artists that have been part of our community all these years.

From almost cradle to grave, there's many stories that I can tell about people who started here through Scholastics Art Program, through some of our youth programs for drawing and ceramics, who now are active board members, as well as have pieces in our permanent collection.

♪ >> The museum was founded as the South Bend Art Center in 1947.

According to the museum, kindergarten teacher Carlotta Banta left her life's saving to the city to establish a place where, quote... >> Exposing kids to art is still a driving force for the museum.

Today, South Bend fifth graders are taking part in a mask-making workshop, inspired by the children's classic, "Where the Wild Things Are."

>> We really pushed the idea of learning some of the elements of art, such as form, shape, line and color.

Those are the ones that really come into play here, because they have the ability to choose if they want to just take the template and just paint on it, or if they want to build it out and do a more 3D-like designs.

So it really kinda pushes their artistic, creative side, while also implementing some small lessons that they're going to be able to use as they make all sorts of art.

>> We all recognize that many of the school programs around the country, not just here in South Bend or locally, have lost some funding around the arts.

So to have exposure to the visual arts definitely is important for children as they develop, not only to recognize what talents they might have and what joy and passions they might have, but also it might be a filter to better understanding the world around them.

>> The South Bend Museum of Art also offers an opportunity for kids to have their work put on display through the Scholastic Art Awards.

>> Scholastic Art Awards are a national program.

It's over 100 years old.

It's definitely a cornerstone of our mission and what we do here at the South Bend Museum of Art because it encompasses art education and the promise and the passion of young people.

This year, we had over 3,900 entries from 2,600 students across 19 counties.

We jury that down to about 1100 pieces, and we hang about 550 pieces in the gallery.

So the Scholastic Arts is -- like, lights a passion for many, many of those youth involved and helps them find a path, maybe a lifelong path, to the arts.

And sometimes the South Bend Museum of Art is part of that path.

>> But it's not just kids who get to have all the fun.

The South Bend Museum of Art also offers a range of programs for adults.

>> So here at the museum, we have a lot of classes we offer from -- for adults from ceramics to drawing and painting, printmaking.

We have a whole weaving studio upstairs as well.

So we have a breadth of different material that people can be involved in.

A lot of the students, they can discover their art in a lot of different entry points.

And I think for some people who aren't confident about their art, they can start by learning something in a basic class, like an intro class, or they can refine their skills in an advanced class.

So we have a -- kind of range of all different kind of areas, and we try to encourage that.

>> With all the different ways the public can interact with the South Bend Museum of Art, it's not hard to see why the staff think of it as more than just a museum.

>> It's a responsibility for those of us who work here because it's a cherished piece that memorializes many artists in our community over 75 years.

It supports young people trying to find their place, or even older folks that find community here.

It's a sacred place in that regard, and it's important for communities to have those places.

>> Now, let's head to the Indiana Dinosaur Museum, a prehistoric collection with roots in the chocolate business?

♪ >> As children, our most enthusiastic conversations may have centered around two distinct topics, chocolate and dinosaurs.

That was certainly the case for South Bend businessman Mark Tarner when he was growing up.

But what makes Mark's story so remarkable, is that those two passions, chocolate and dinosaurs, never faded as he grew older.

And here on the city's west side are a couple large attractions that pay tribute to Mark's two obsessions.

A place where Willy Wonka meets Jurassic Park.

The South Bend Chocolate Company and the Indiana Dinosaur Museum.

>> Constantly trying to bring people together and build bridges and -- and create new opportunities.

But I -- I think primarily, I'm sort of in the people business.

>> Mark's introduction into the people business began in the 1960s, at this modest, family-run grocery store in tiny Leesburg, Indiana.

Here, young Mark learned how to make candy and build a successful business under the guidance of his father, Don.

>> I was the first kid to go to college, and my dad never went to college.

He always had a job.

In looking back, it was probably where I grew up, the time I grew up.

You know, we didn't have the Internet or cell phones.

So I mean, what do you do?

I just kind of followed, in some way, my father's footsteps.

We lived above a grocery store in Leesburg.

And I remember going down for penny candy and straightening up the cans, you know.

And so I grew up in a family business, you know, the American dream, I guess.

Leesburg was a great place to grow up.

And, you know, I delivered all the papers to everybody.

So I understood capitalism as a child and understood its importance.

And it's always been sort of a trait of mine, and I think it's a great Hoosier trait.

>> Mark started the South Bend Chocolate Company in the early 1990s, with little more than a shoestring budget and a few family members willing to back his strong vision and sweet dreams.

Within a few years, Mark and his staff were cooking up more than 500 different varieties of chocolates and candy.

The chocolate company soon grew into one of the top mom and pop shops in the state.

>> I told millions of people, hey, we're Indiana's chocolate company.

It has to be good.

It has to be better than my competition's and you have to like the price that you can buy it for.

Basically, my role at the South Bend Chocolate Company has been and will be to market and to build the brand.

>> The South Bend Chocolate Company has been an important part of the city's business landscape for more than three decades.

Mark's latest passion project, the Indiana Dinosaur Museum, is a new venture, launched in 2024 after several years of planning and construction.

>> As a 9-year-old, I thought I was an explorer, you know, and I was gonna, you know, go to Mars or something.

So I've always had that adventure in me, you know.

And being from small town Indiana, it -- I didn't think I could ever do it, but I think it was always in my heart.

♪ >> At the invitation of a University of Notre Dame professor, and with the encouragement of his dinosaur-loving daughter, Mark and his family traveled to Montana in the early 2000s to join a dinosaur dig.

>> I'd never really been out West.

I fell in love with the adventure.

But the springboard of it, is my 10-year-old daughter said, hey, dad, I want to dig up a dinosaur.

So we were coming back, and I said, well, we're gonna do this.

>> The experience was life altering.

Mark began reading anything and everything he could find about paleontology, and he started conversations with some of the nation's most accomplished scientists and scholars.

>> I started subtly digging around 2000, 2001, and it's something -- you know, you just can't be an Olympic athlete overnight.

It takes years.

So I just partnered with people, people taught me.

I'm bold enough to go ask people to help me.

Some of the best paleontologists in the country have helped me.

In order to stake a claim for his own dig site, Mark must work closely with western ranchers and landowners.

Then he and his team can begin their search for fossilized clues to America's prehistoric past.

>> I love ranchers.

They're incredibly intelligent, hard working.

If I can think of any class of American that embodies who I want to be, it's a rancher.

And to gain their trust takes time.

And it's not something that money can buy.

And people trust me.

I'm going to do what I say I'm gonna do.

And that's kind of another Hoosier trait, you know, we're trustworthy and honest and hard working.

And that really, really benefited me.

>> I'm Anastasia or Ana.

I'm a storyteller here.

You are currently in the -- >> The Indiana Dinosaur Museum is an 8,000 square foot warehouse that Mark turned into a huge educational facility for students of all ages.

>> I'm trying to explain complicated ideas in a very simple way, visual.

People get what they see.

You can see we all come from eggs.

You know, dinosaurs come from eggs, turtles come from eggs, we come from eggs.

And so you can see that.

We have turtles, and we talk about the evolution of turtles.

It's one thing to see a turtle, a 65 million-year-old turtle.

It's another thing to hold a live one in your hand and say, hey, that's 250 million years of evolution.

We have a great lab.

There are people actually in the lab.

We have a dinosaur with skin on it.

These are some of the highlights, I think.

♪ The entire campus that Mark and his staff manage expands 100 acres across the Continental Divide, which just so happens to run through his property.

Here, guests can watch live buffalo roam across expansive plains and meadows.

>> I was here this weekend, and I heard grandparents -- the kids would come up, the grandkids came up and say, grandpa, thank you so much for this day.

To see children reward people they love, and then maybe they can learn something together.

Primarily, you know, I want people to take away that life is an adventure.

What I've taken away with this is self-respect.

I think that's the rarest commodity.

So I respect what I've done.

I haven't done it perfectly.

The greatest gift I've given myself is that I took a big league swing, and I do it every day.

I think sometimes I look and see that it's a miracle that I am where I'm at, but it's been purposeful, it's honest and hopefully it will be part of the Indiana story and the South Bend story.

>> And finally, we're headed to the breathtaking Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a church central to the religious life at the University of Notre Dame.

♪ >> It's a place of pilgrimage.

It is supremely beautiful.

The art is lovely.

There's a lot of architecture grandeur.

We don't treat it as a museum.

We treat it as a living community of faith where people come every single day to receive the sacraments, to encounter God in prayer.

>> The writer Robert Louis Stevenson noted that mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.

One such happily inspired landmark stands in the center of campus at the University of Notre Dame.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

>> The Basilica really has this unique combination of being quite grand and ornamented and tall ceilings and gold leaf, but at the same time, being a relatively intimate space.

It's hard to forget the first time you walk in here because it really is one of those breathless moments.

There are not many places in the world that look like this.

It's a unique combination of grand and intimate.

>> Considering the Basilica's soaring spire and elegant facade, it's hard to imagine that it began as a small rustic cabin deep in the Hoosier wilderness.

Father Stephen Badin, the first priest ever to be ordained in what would become the U.S., was a missionary in the late 1600s.

Badin decided to build a small outpost along the banks of the St. Joseph River, a humble, yet hallowed respite for the farmers, fur traders and Potawatomi tribal leaders who were navigating the rigors of frontier life.

The church would serve as a spiritual oasis for nearly 200 years, until Father Edward Sorin imagined that the cabin on the riverbank might also serve as the centerpiece for as entire community dedicated to nurturing religious virtue and higher education.

>> Really that vision, and sort of that audacious vision and bold vision, really allowed us to become the place we are today.

♪ In 1871, under Father Sorin's supervision, construction of the current church began.

>> Over the course of a number of architects and influences, between 1870 and 1888, the structure that we have today finally came about.

If you look at the Basilica, it's not square.

It's Neo-Gothic in style.

All the arches are pointed.

All the -- the spaces between columns are pretty narrow.

All of that is very, very intentional, because it's meant to give the person inside the space a false impression of height.

Your eyes are immediately drawn to the ceiling, which represents the heavens.

Helps us just remember and understand who we are before God, and what the purpose of this space is, which is really to encounter God.

>> In most European towns, large or small, the local church is the structure that is routinely the tallest, the stoutest, the most regal in appearance.

It's no different here.

The facade is constructed of limestone and bricks, sourced right from the Hoosier soil.

The chimes that ring through the campus clouds emanate from the oldest carillon in North America.

The bell tower stretches 230 feet high, the tallest university chapel in the U.S. >> Perhaps the most significant piece of art in the Basilica is actually a sculpture, known as a Pieta, which is the title for any depiction of the body of Jesus being taken down from the cross in the arms of the Blessed Mother.

Ours happens to be sculpted by a sculptor named Ivan Mestrovic.

He didn't want it to be seen as just an art piece, but something that really conveyed God's love and mercy and goodness to the people who we're going to be with.

>> Ornate frescoes float high above the congregation.

They are the work of Luigi Gregori, an Italian artist who once painted for the Vatican.

>> Father Sorin convinced him to come to Notre Dame to be an artist in residence for a couple of years, and he stayed much, much longer.

He painted all of the ceiling here in the Basilica and the frescoes underneath the ceiling.

So the ceiling is full of angels and stars on the blue background to remind us of the kingdom of heaven.

In the Basilica, if we think about the Basilica ceiling, which represents the heavens, of course, all of us as human beings sit here in the pews on earth, and the saints play a really special role in interceding between heaven and earth, and thus they very literally occupy the space in between the ceiling and the pews of the Basilica.

>> 19th century stained glass windows were handcrafted in Europe, using more than 4800 square feet of glass.

>> So our collection of windows, which are all made in the shop run by Carmelite nuns outside of the city of Le Mans in France is the largest collection of this style of French stained glass.

It really does sort of take your breath away.

♪ >> Providing a grand and harmonious presence to the church is an organ that features more than 5100 pipes and stands more than 40 feet high.

>> So this is an instrument by Paul Fritts.

He's one of the eminent craft American organ builders building organs that are strongly influenced by historical buildings.

The sound is just incredible.

There's 70 different stops.

So that's like having an orchestra with 70 different instruments, and you have to know which ones play at a given time and how to use them together.

♪ >> This is the Notre Dame Community Choir, combined with the Notre Dame Children's Choir preparing for mass this Sunday.

♪ >> It's definitely super inspiring to get to sing here.

It's such a special community here.

They support the choir so much, and it makes this place really feel like home.

>> I can't walk in without tearing up.

But I found this place about six weeks after I lost the love of my life to Parkinson's disease.

I came here grieving and empty, and this place, and the choir, just wrapped its arms around me and gave me a compass.

I didn't even know if I could still sing.

Once more, I didn't know if I could find my voice again, but this place literally gave me my voice back.

♪ >> This towering Neo-Gothic treasure serves not only as a place of worship, but also as a tourist attraction that welcomes more than 100,000 visitors annually to South Bend and the university.

>> People come here regularly from across the country to pray.

The number of people we encounter who are just driving by I-80 and need a quick stop to stretch their legs and decide that this is a place to do that, really is kind of significant.

♪ >> This really is just a place on the heart of campus where students can stop in and step out of the very busy chaos of their lives and find a moment of peace, and a find a moment of transcendence.

The space has always been just very, very special to me.

And now to be able to shepherd that space, it really is a privilege to serve in that way, to take the space I love so much and hold so dear and really, it's about trying to share with others as best as I can, and making sure that everyone who comes to the Basilica, finds a place that I found in it so long ago.

♪ >> Thank you for coming along on our tour of South Bend.

We'll see you next time on "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> Funding for "Journey Indiana" was provided in part by: >> The WTIU Vehicle Donation Program.

Proceeds from accepted donations of a car or other vehicle make this program possible.

Most vehicles are accepted and pick up can be arranged at no cost.

Learn more at WTIU.org/support.

>> Charitable IRA rollover gifts.

Individuals aged 70 and a half or older may make a tax-free charitable distribution from their IRA to WTIU.

Consult your advisor and visit Indianapublicmedia.org/support for more details.

>> WTIU sustaining members.

Committing to regular monthly contributions, providing WFIU and WTIU with reliable ongoing support.

Becoming a sustainer is one of the most effective ways to support public media.

>> And by viewers like you.

Thank you!