This article was originally published in The Herald Bulletin by Howard Greninger. Rendering from Bondy Studio 18/provided by the Vigo County Capital Improvement Board.

Ravenswood Studio Inc., a Lincolnwood, Illinois-based custom fabrication company, was selected Wednesday by the Vigo County Capital Improvement Board as the display vendor for the Larry Bird Museum.

The board approved a resolution that allows the CIB’s museum committee to negotiate a final cost, including some value engineering that can bring the cost to within the board’s construction budget of $900,000.

The CIB has budgeted $1.5 million for the museum, slated to open in November or December. The display contract is to be finalized by March 10, with the final contract signed by the board’s president or vice president.

Board member Terri Conley, who served as the museum committee’s 2022 chair, said the committee interviewed two companies, with Ravenswood and Design Display, adding both companies had “excellent references.”

Board member Jon Marvel said Mark Mederski of Mederski Vintage Services, who acts as the CIB’s museum representative for the Larry Bird Museum, said Ravenswood Studio “tackled more complex projects and received very high marks from the companies that had used them. The company offered an audio-video media production firm in Boston. They can get rights and put it all together,” Marvel said. “Audio visual is the next thing coming down the line” for the museum, he said.

The CIB has not yet sought proposals for that audio/visual work.

The company, which has been in business since 1988, has built museum exhibits at venues such as the Chicago Sports Museum; Harley-Davidson Museum, Milwaukee, Wis.; Moonshot Museum, Pittsburg, Pa.; Ford House Visitors Center, Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.; Publishing House Experience, Boston, Mass; and The Cell, Denver, Colo.