The gateway consists of a pocket park with a centerpiece sculpture. Stone markers identify buildings once located on this site and a former street is represented as a crushed stone plaza. Local artist Dick Lutin worked with the Southeast Neighborhood Development Corporation (SEND) to design a piece of artwork that relates to the bright future of Fountain Square and pays homage to the district’s illustrious past. Lutin’s sculpture, titled Wishful Thinking, is a conceptual abstraction of a fountain. It displays graphic content about Fountain Square’s history and culture. Blue neon provides night interest and represents moving water. In addition to adding beauty, the new gateway creates a locator for Fountain Square as a special place. It is visible from Interstate 65. The project is located on the southwest corner of Virginia Avenue and Leonard Street, just south of the Virgnia Avenue interstate overpass. Dawn Kroh, Green 3 and Eric Fulford, Ninebark, served as the project’s landscape architects. Eric Etchison, Smock Fansler, built the base and provided site preparation. The budget for the gateway was $85,000, with $60,000 from the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission, $5,000 from the Southeast Umbrella Organization and $1,000 from the Fountain Square Merchants Association. As an in-kind contribution, IPL moved an existing street light and power lines.

“Fountain Square is a great cultural destination in Indianapolis,” said Paul Baumgarten, director of Fountain Square Main Street, SEND. “This project will surely attract many new visitors who will discover the vitality and opportunities within the district.” Fountain Square is one of Indianapolis’ six cultural districts that received funds from the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission for enhancement projects that each district’s stakeholders identified in grant proposals. The other five cultural districts are Broad Ripple Village, The Canal & White River State Park, Indiana Avenue, Mass Ave and the Wholesale District. Indianapolis Downtown, Inc. and The Corsaro Group serve as program managers of the Cultural Districts program on behalf of the Cultural Development Commission. The Arts Council of Indianapolis managed the grant program and is the program manager for the Commission’s Public Art Program.