Spirit & Place, IU Indianapolis

Spirit & Place Festival Applicant Meeting (Zoom)
2025-04-24 06:00 - 07:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis)
Whether you have pitched an event idea for the Spirit & Place Festival in the past or are new to the process, this informative 60-minute session will review what Spirit & Place is all about, how the festival application process works, and resources aimed to help you be successful!
Register by using the blue registration button below.

Big Tent Talks: Spirituality & Psychedelics with Jay Michaelson
2025-08-06 14:30 - 15:30 | Indiana Landmarks Center, 1201 Central Ave., Indianapolis, 46202, United States
In a unique twist on this year’s Spirit & Place theme of NATURE, we invite you hear from author, rabbi, and scholar at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality, Jay Michaelson, as part of our Big Tent Talks series.

Sacred Synergies: Nature, Faith, & Science with Katharine Hayhoe
2025-11-06 18:00 - 20:15 | Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, 6501 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, 46260, United States
ASL Interpreted
Attendance is virtual or in-person
ZOOM ATTENDEE NOTICE:
Virtual attendees must register via Zoom — not Eventbrite — to receive the Zoom link and passcode. Complete your ZOOM ATTENDANCE registration here:
https://iu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_T_9ygB1BQNK-7NeRfLe1Jw
How do we talk about climate change—across scientific, faith, and cultural divides?
Kick off this year’s Spirit & Place Festival with a virtual keynote and watch party featuring Katharine Hayhoe—Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy, evangelical Christian, and author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.
Embrace the spirit of community with food, fellowship, and the chance to connect with event partners at our in-person watch party or bring that spirit to your place by connecting virtually. After Hayhoe’s keynote, join IU experts—online or in person—for interactive workshops exploring how to navigate tough climate conversations through dialogue, science and policy communication, and improv.
Why a virtual keynote & watch party? To reduce her carbon footprint, Hayhoe presents virtually. We’re pleased to offer both a communal in-person experience at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and an online Zoom option. All attendees will have a chance to explore what it means to talk—and listen—across divides.
Questions: Contact 317-274-2462 or festival@iu.edu.
Event Organizers: presented by Spirit & Place, IU Environmental Resilience Institute, Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Indianapolis, IU Indianapolis Communicating Science Program, The Nature Conservancy in Indiana, Hoosier Environmental Council, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Indiana, and Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation.
Registration: Requested by Oct. 23. Register Here.
(NOTE: In person attendees will register via Eventbrite and virtual guests directly via Zoom.)
What to Know:

For online guests: While cameras won’t be on, you’ll have plenty of ways to join in! Use the Q&A function to engage with Katharine and then stick around afterwards for something special: a short, interactive session with a representative from the IUI O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at their Constructive Dialogue work—practical, proven strategies for talking through the tough stuff. Curious about how to keep conversations open instead of shutting them down? You’ll walk away with a tool designed exactly for “important, complicated issues that can divide people.”
For in-person guests: Arrive early at 5:30PM for heavy hors d’oeuvres, live viola music by Colette Abel, and a chance to mingle with our event partners before Katharine takes the virtual stage at 6PM. And don’t leave right after the talk—you’ll miss one of the evening’s most engaging experiences! Krista Longtin, IU communication expert and winner of Spirit & Place’s 2019 Award of Awesomeness (“A Faith Leader and a Scientist Walk into a Bar”), will lead a fun improv-based workshop that will get you laughing, connecting, and reflecting on how to ask questions from genuine curiosity. You’ll practice communication skills that help build bridges and common ground, something we all need more of.

The Nature of Us: Weaving Ourselves into the Natural World
2025-11-08 13:00 - 15:00 | Hornet Park, 5245 Hornet Ave., Beech Grove, 46107, United States
ASL Interpreted
Explore your place in and as part of nature through hands-on activities and thoughtful inquiry. Create your own art and contribute to a collaborative weaving project, both utilizing natural materials. Engage with neighbors in prompted conversations that invite curiosity, reflection, and remembering your place in the natural world.
Step into nature and explore your place within it through hands-on creativity and guided inquiry. At this interactive experience, participants will rotate through stations to engage in thinking routines that spark reflection, collaborate on a community weaving project using natural materials, and create take-home art inspired by the surrounding landscape. Through conversation, observation, and artistic expression, guests of all ages will deepen their curiosity, connect with the natural world, and consider how their presence shapes and is shaped by it.
Questions? Contact 463-241-6090 or darren@beechgrovewellness.com.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Beech Grove Wellness, Beech Grove Parks Foundation, Hornet Park Community Center, and local artist and gardener Lorie Ann Dillbeck-Bagby.
Registration: Click here to register.

Youth Rising for Nature: Getting Community in Action through Service & Advocacy
2025-11-09 14:00 - 17:00 | Frederick Douglass Park Family Center, 1616 E. 25th St., Indianapolis, 46218, United States
Community Forum & River Clean Up. Attend one or both gatherings.
Join Sea Scope’s youth Eco-Warriors for a two-part event exploring environmental justice, community dialogue, and a Fall Creek cleanup. Facilitated by local experts and inspired by Laudato Si, this experience blends spiritual reflection and action. Connect with neighbors of Martindale-Brightwood and our living earth—come for one or both days!
This two-part experience (attending both Saturdays is optional) connects storytelling, faith, Martindale-Brightwood neighbors, and environmental action. The first session features an expert and youth-led community forum exploring local ecological challenges and reflections inspired by Laudato Si’ – a 2015 papal encyclical focused on environmental stewardship, climate change, and ecological responsibility, emphasizing the moral and spiritual dimensions of caring for the Earth. A week later, participants engage in a hands-on cleanup along Fall Creek restoring natural spaces in disinvested communities while learning how local actions connect to global environmental issues. Through dialogue, reflection, and collective action, attendees will deepen their understanding of stewardship, equity, and the sacred responsibility to care for our shared planet.
Questions? Contact 317-203-9397 or seascopeincindy@gmail.com.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Sea Scope Inc., Earth Charter Indiana, Indiana Conservation Voters, The Garden Community Church, and Indy Parks and Recreation.
Registration: Click here to register for the Nov. 9 community forum.
Community Forum Details (Nov. 9): Doors open at 2PM for fellowship and the forum starting at 2:45PM. All are welcome, especially Martindale-Brightwood neighbors wanting to exercise their neighborhood voice and power!
River Clean Up Details (Nov. 16): See Nov. 16 event listing.

The Nature of Belief: How Translation of Sacred Text Decides Meaning
2025-11-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Arthur M Glick JCC – Laikin Auditorium, 6701 Hoover Rd., Indianapolis, IN, United States
Translation is never neutral, and it shapes more than words. In fact, it shapes the very nature of belief. Compare different English translations of sacred texts in small groups and how they have influenced understanding and belief across time, cultures, and communities. Participants will be challenged to rethink the meaning of well-known verses and how different meanings can reconstruct our thoughts.
Through small-group conversations, participants will explore how translations of sacred texts shape meaning and influence cultural understanding. Beginning with a brief introduction and examples of shifting translations over time, the event invites guests to compare different versions of ancient writings used across faith communities. By treating sacred texts as both poetry and philosophy, participants will consider how language, art, and interpretation influence belief, and how translation itself shapes the very nature of religious understanding.
Questions? Contact 317-531-6299 or gkelley@bez613.org.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, Northminster Presbyterian Church, and JCC Indianapolis’s Ann Katz Festival of Books.
Registration: Click here to register.

Fear, Mercy, and the Nature of Us
2025-11-14 18:30 - 20:00 | 1000 Words Gallery, 3328 E. 10th St., Indianapolis, 46201, United States
Limited capacity. Registration encouraged.
Inspired by the poems Allowables by Nikki Giovanni and Mercy by Rudy Francisco this event explores the roots of our fears and the quiet, transformative power of mercy. Facilitated by Deborah Asante, participants will engage in guided writing, creative reflection, and optional group sharing in a safe and supportive environment.
Through the power of poetry and writing, this event examines and explores how the nature of fear and mercy shape us as individuals and a society. Engage in guided conversation about how we respond to what we do not understand. Write short reflections, letters, or poems and contribute a word or phrase to a collaborative community art piece called the Web of Mercy. Set in a calm and creative space, the program offers time for meaningful dialogue, quiet reflection, and artistic expression, leaving participants with a deeper sense of how the sacred choice of mercy can shape both our inner lives and our relationships with others.
Questions? Contact 317-274-2462 or info@blackworldschoolers.com.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore and Imani Willis-Henderson.
Registration: Click here to register.

Hopecraft: Cultivating Possibility in the Climate Crisis
2025-11-14 18:30 - 20:00 | Ujamaa Community Bookstore, 2424 Dr. MLK Jr. St., Indianapolis, IN, 46208, United States
Discover Hopecraft! Part conversation, part hands-on art workshop—“hope crafting” invites those grappling with climate despair to connect through reflection, visual expression, and writing to explore climate hope through the resilient perspectives of Black, Brown, and Indigenous thinkers.
Hopecraft invites participants into a hands-on, heart-centered exploration of hope as both a personal practice and a community tool. Through guided reflection, creative exercises, and conversation, this interactive workshop will help you identify where hope shows up in your life and how it can be nurtured, shared, and sustained. Whether you arrive feeling weary or inspired, Hopecraft offers space to craft tangible practices of resilience and imagination that strengthen both self and community.
Questions? Contact 317-274-2462 or klynnkamara@gmail.com.
Event Organizers: A partnership Kiara Kamara and Ujamaa Community Bookstore.
Registration: Click here to register.

Connections Lessons
2026-02-19 10:30 - 11:30
Virtual
What did Connections reveal about what our community is longing for right now?
In this Zoom session, Spirit & Place will share highlights from the 2025 Festival survey and explore patterns, interests, and lessons that can inspire meaningful proposals for the 2026 Festival.
If you’re just getting started in thinking about this year’s festival and simply want to explore the Connections theme, this will be a great info session to attend!
Use the link below to register and receive a Zoom link to join in.
https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/p9JBFyuFQKKZgDpNsKkY8Q

Spirit & Place Festival Application Info Session (10:30AM)
2026-03-26 10:30 - 11:30 | College Avenue Branch LIbrary, 4180 N. College Ave., Indianapolis, IN, 46205, United States
Session Offered 2X on March 26!
This group information session is open to anyone interested in applying to the 2026 Spirit & Place Festival. Spirit & Place staff will provide an overview of the Festival, the theme, the application process, selection criteria, collaboration expectations, and funding ideas.
The same information will be presented at the 10:30AM and 3:30PM sessions at the College Ave. branch library.
Just use the link below to register for the time that best works for you!
https://forms.gle/rrGGbZD8pdBMSA4Z7

Spirit & Place Festival Application Info Session (3:30PM)
2026-03-26 15:30 - 16:30 | College Avenue Branch LIbrary, 4180 N. College Ave., Indianapolis, IN, 46205, United States

Spirit & Place Festival Info Session (Virtual)
2026-04-15 10:00 - 11:00
Join us via Zoom in this group information session — open to anyone interested in applying to the 2026 Spirit & Place Festival!
Spirit & Place staff will provide an overview of the Festival, the theme, the application process, selection criteria, collaboration expectations, and funding ideas.
Sign up for the date and time that works for you!
April 15 Info Session (Zoom – 10AM)
https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/RW-PyFi4RZC5qGo7umYt3Q
April 16 Info Session (Zoom – 11:30AM)
https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/1gyaYDJJTympksjrxFlkQQ
April 21 Info Session (Zoom – 3:30PM)
https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/hENCWYoOSUuM0UQcN97FsQ

Spirit & Place Festival Info Session (Virtual)
2026-04-16 11:30 - 12:30
Join us via Zoom in this group information session — open to anyone interested in applying to the 2026 Spirit & Place Festival!
Spirit & Place staff will provide an overview of the Festival, the theme, the application process, selection criteria, collaboration expectations, and funding ideas.
Sign up for the date and time that works for you!
April 16 Info Session (Zoom – 11:30AM)
https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/1gyaYDJJTympksjrxFlkQQ
April 21 Info Session (Zoom – 3:30PM)
https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/hENCWYoOSUuM0UQcN97FsQ

Spirit & Place Festival Info Session (Virtual)
2026-04-21 15:30 - 16:30
Join us via Zoom in this group information session — open to anyone interested in applying to the 2026 Spirit & Place Festival!
Spirit & Place staff will provide an overview of the Festival, the theme, the application process, selection criteria, collaboration expectations, and funding ideas.
April 21 Info Session (Zoom – 3:30PM)
https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/hENCWYoOSUuM0UQcN97FsQ
