By Caleb Hawkins“Now Entering Marion,” a documentary about the city of Marion, premiered at the Marion Public Library Thursday night.
The project, part of Ball State PBS’s “Now Entering” series, shines a spotlight on the history of Marion. Matt Wilson, the executive director of the Marion Arts Division, said he hopes the documentary helps educate viewers on Marion’s rapidly growing art scene.
“I want my city to be known as an arts culture, because it is,” Wilson said.
The film also touches on other aspects of Marion’s history, including the city’s connection to the Harley Davidson “Hog” nickname and the creation of the Carnegie Museum.
The “Now Entering” series first aired in 2016 with the goal of highlighting the histories of smaller towns in Indiana. August Wilde, the executive producer of the film, said that he hoped viewers walked away from the film with a new view of Marion.
“I hope people come away with how much history there is in this town,” Wilde said. “There are
fascinating stories that I think most of Indiana and most of the nation probably don’t know about
that I’m hoping people discover.”
Wilde said he was impressed by how willing the community was to help. “Every time I think I have a problem that I can’t solve, I’ll reach out to someone at the library, or I’ll reach out to someone who’s a contact at the government office, or someone at the high school for sports information and people are always getting back to me,” Wilde said.
Janice Miller, a 25-year resident of Marion who attended the premiere, said her largest takeaway from the documentary was Marion beginning to make a comeback as a city.
“I know for a while, Marion was considered a dying city,” Miller said. “It’s good to see the people working together and trying to work on the comeback, finding out how many talents we have here and what can be done.”
“Now Entering Marion” will be available to watch on Ball State PBS’s YouTube channel in early March.
Avery Williams 
Ryan Witwell