HOPE — Matt Lee, lead singer of the Night Owl Country Band, has been selected by the Main Street of Hope board as its new executive director.
Lee will start in the role on June 1, taking over for Susan Thayer Fye, who has been director for the past four years.
He graduated from Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School in Hope in 1995 and has experience in running a small business and promoting events.
In addition to performing with the Night Owl Country Band, Lee also does promotion for the band for events and venues and is used to working with budgets and scheduling.
He also is a CNC (computer numerical control) programmer for Christopher Stephens Corp., which is the process used to create program instructions for computers to control machine and tooling equipment.
Main Street of Hope is a not-for-profit and operates under the umbrella of Heritage of Hope. It is an accredited member of the Indiana Main Street organization, which encourages community-driven revitalization of downtown areas in Indiana cities and towns.
This can include storytelling, preserving historic structures, civic engagement and marketing.
Main Street of Hope recently collaborated to complete the Hope Town Square Project, which included new historic streetlights, pathways, benches, planters, signage and artistic Historic District signs on State Road 9.
Funding for the project was provided by Indiana Main Street, The Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, The Custer and Nugent Foundations, Columbus Visitors Center and EDIT funds from the Hope Town Council.
In-kind service donations were provided by Joe Dodd, Hauser graduate and landscape architect working in San Diego, California, Rhett Whittington, Hauser graduate local Hope artist and Strand Associates, Columbus.
