INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One of the most notable music fans in Indiana is joining a longtime effort to honor the state’s musical legacy.

The Indiana Music History Project has landed a gift from the owner of the Indianapolis Colts.

“Jim Irsay has long amassed what they call ‘major moment’ musical instruments,” Rick Wilkerson, executive director of the Indiana Music History Project.

Wilkerson declined to share a dollar amount, explaining to News 8’s “Daybreak” that the level of involvement of Irsay and his collection is still taking shape. He is eager for anything and everything the partnership may offer. “As we do more events outside our confines or even inside, we hope to be able to collaborate with them on anything they see fit.”

The Indiana Music History Project is in its 10th year.

“It took six or seven years to really get going,” Wilkerson says about the Project’s growth to its current digs in the basement of the Flanner & Buchannan building at 1305 Broad Ripple Ave. “We have a public museum open 9-5, Monday through Friday, free. And we also have archives and workspace.”

The Project also has a traveling display at the Central Library in downtown Indianapolis.

“We’re in the Center for Black Literature and Culture and it is a wonderful space… We had Indiana Avenue Jazz and Soul earlier and now we have hip-hop and the Jackson 5 in there.”

When asked, Wilkerson agrees that Indiana has a wildly underrated musical legacy.

“We do, and we don’t know it. And that’s a sad thing,” he says. “But it’s also an opportunity for us to help people understand what has happened here. Not just Indiana Avenue Jazz, not just the Jackson 5, not just Mellencamp, but way more than that.”

As he put it during a recent visit with All Indiana, “Our mission is to change that perception by preserving these stories and artifacts—showcasing the resilience and creativity that define our state’s musical legacy.”

The Indiana Music History Project is the primary initiative of the Indiana Entertainment Foundation.