‘Illuminate the Arts’: New Film Marks Dual Anniversaries for Cornerstone and Muncie’s Masonic Temple

 

A Ball State professor with a fascination for local history has finished a new documentary featuring one of Muncie's most intriguing landmarks—¬the city's downtown Masonic Temple, built 100 years ago this year.

Chris Flook, a senior lecturer in the Department of Media and historian at the Delaware County Historical Society, has written books including “Native Americans of East-Central Indiana” and “Lost Towns of Delaware County.” He also writes the ByGone Muncie column for The Star Press. 

His new film, “Illuminate the Arts” is about the 20-year anniversary of Cornerstone Center for the Arts and the 100-year anniversary of the building in which Cornerstone is located, the historic Masonic Temple, built in 1926 on Main Street.

The documentary will be premiered at Cornerstone’s annual fundraiser on March 19. The center offers educational programs, arts and other enrichment opportunities, and hosts a range of community events from performances and proms, to wedding receptions. 

“What's really great about Cornerstone is that it is arts for all,” Flook says. “It is open to everybody. You have young people there, old people… you go there and you get a little bit of everybody experiencing the arts.”

His wife, Kourtney McCauliff, is chair of the center’s board. When she suggested a video to commemorate the dual anniversaries of the center and its historic home, Flook, a lifelong Muncie resident, was an eager volunteer.

“It’s about the history of the building, its impact in Muncie, and just how it came to be,” he said of the film. He hopes to encourage others to support the center—and through it, the preservation of a historic landmark.

“Supporting Cornerstone is absolutely critical to maintain the mission, their arts programming, but also to maintain the building,” he said. “Funding helps to keep the lights on—helps to repair the elevator, to do the brick-and-mortar kind of things as well as to celebrate the arts.” 

Cornerstone anchors that end of downtown, Flook said, part of the arts corridor taking shape that includes the growing Muncie Civic Theatre and the MadJax maker space. 

“That part of Main Street is becoming an art center,” he said. “You’re going to meet people from all over the community. It’s a place that physically brings people together for the arts and other events.”

- John Strauss

Whipped-cream fundraiser on campus benefits ARF and its rescue mission

 Warm spring weather on the last day of winter lured Ball State students outside for a fundraiser at the center of campus to benefit a local animal shelter.

In return for donations, members of the Sigma Nu fraternity and Phi Mu sorority took whipped cream pies in the face on Thursday (3/19/26) to benefit the Animal Rescue Fund, ARF.

"Basically, you just pay a little bit of money, and you can come over and pop us in the face with a plate of whipped cream," said Kaiser Daeger, a freshman kinesiology major from North Vernon, Indiana.

When paying donors weren't around, the students, garbed in trash bags to protect their clothes, slapped each other with the pies.

"It's kind of scary, I'm not going to lie," said one woman, wiping the whipped cream from her eyes. "You don't know when you're about to get it. And it's very sticky when it gets in your hair."

But the cause was worth it, she said: "All of our money is going to the ARF Foundation for the puppies and kittens."

Daeger said he is a dog owner but loves all animals. Ball State students regularly volunteer at the shelter, assisting with tasks such as cleaning, grounds maintenance, and working in the clinic, while also organizing donation drives for supplies to help the foster-based animal rescue.

ARF did 583 pet adoptions last year

"Our mission is to promote our promise to love and protect dogs and cats by providing shelter, nourishment, medical care and placement for them," the group said.

- John Strauss