BBB4E Celebrates First 25 Years of Community Programming

Ian Brundige, Communication Manager. Email, Give@bbb4e.org.

BBB4E Families, Alumni, Sponsors, and Community Leaders gathered on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, to celebrate 25 years of BBB4E programs. 

The Indiana Welcome Center hosted the In the Making Benefit and 25th Anniversary Exhibit. For the first time, art projects and stories accomplished by BBB4E since 2000 were presented in a comprehensive display. Text panels, objects, and artwork filled the exhibit hall, tracing the organization's history from its first school-wide literary and visual arts-themed project, Books Uncovered: Treasures & Triumphs, to the most recent Block Party at the Merge Building. 

The Summer Midwest Youth and Adult Choirs, directed by Bob Milligan and Susan Van Kley, respectively, completed their 8-week session with a performance for the sold-out event. 

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Thank you to Indiana Representative Frank Mrvan and former Hammond Mayor Duane Dedelow for sharing remarks at BBB4E's 25th Birthday Benefit, In the Making. Your leadership and support over the years have made BBB4E's important community work possible. Sean Egan, Vice Chair of the Legacy Foundation Board, also closed the evening with a toast for the future of the arts in NWI.

Billy Foster & Friends provided music throughout the evening, and Barb Hargrove was honored as a founding board member.

As we prepare for Fall Choir to begin and Read Across the Region 2026 in February, our connection to NWI continues to drive our mission to create opportunities for families to experience the arts.

This is a great time to get involved in the fun! Enrollment for the 2025-26 Choir programs is open now at BBB4E.org/classes. Join us for an Open House at the Hammond Public Library, 564 State St., Hammond, on Monday, Oct. 6, and save $10 on your Choir tuition.

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Earlier that week, the public at large was invited to celebrate at BBB4E’s 25th Birthday Block Party. Live music filled the Merge building parking as the community gathered, and free books were given away by the Book Brigade. The Midwest Youth Choir performed their summer repertoire, and the Midwest Adult Choir joined for a group song.

Participants were invited to add a page to Handbook: A Gift for the Future. As a full-circle project from the first Hand Project, when students, teachers, and staff at Kenwood each created a 3D mold of their hand. For this version, guests traced their hands and drew illustrations of what they hope for the future of BBB4E and the NWI community as a whole. 

Hammond Chief of Staff, Scott Miller, delivered remarks. “On behalf of Mayor McDermott and the entire City of Hammond, thank you for everything you’ve done and everything you continue to do. Congratulations on this remarkable milestone — and may Books, Brushes & Bands continue to flourish for our children and our community for many more years to come!”