Spirit & Place, IU Indianapolis

Spirit & Place Festival Exhibits
2024-10-15 - 2024-10-26, 2024-10-16 - 2024-10-27, 2024-10-17 - 2024-10-28, 2024-10-18 - 2024-10-29, 2024-10-19 - 2024-10-30, 2024-10-20 - 2024-10-31, 2024-10-21 - 2024-11-01, 2024-10-22 - 2024-11-02 and 12 more dates
Image Credit: Marti LaMar by Kaila Austin
An exciting array of exhibits are included in this year’s festival! Information about exhibit hours are below. To check the festival programming tied to the events, return to the Event Page to search for the event. You must register for events separately.
Tearing Down Boxes and Embracing Change
Nov. 4-14, 1-4pm (Tues.-Fri.)
Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, 705 N. Illinois St.
Monumental Changes: History and Power in Public Art
Nov. 5-17, 10am-5pm (Tues.-Sat.)
Garfield Park Arts Center—Main Gallery, 2432 Conservatory Dr.
The Memory Keepers / Los Guardianes de Memorias
Nov. 4-14, click here to schedule a gallery visit
201 Studio, 201 S. Rural Ave.
The (W)hole in Our Hearts
Nov. 4-12, visit website for hours
Friday, Nov. 5, 5-9pm (First Friday extended hours)
Saturday, Nov. 6, 10am-12pm (Family Day activities)
Nov. 8-12, M-F, 9am-5pm
Circle City Industrial Complex—Stokol Gallery & Hallways, 1125 Brookside Ave.
Introduction to Black Hue-manity: Imagining Blackness Then and Now
Nov. 8-11. Public hours vary.
Eskenazi Fine Arts Center, 1410 Indiana Ave.
We Are the Change We’ve Been Waiting For
Nov. 10, 5:30-8:30pm
Indiana Interchurch Center, 1100 W. 42nd St.
Changing Direction: The Evolution of Treatment at Indiana’s State Psychiatric Hospitals
Nov. 4-14
Online Exhibit

In Gratitude: An Opening Celebration
2024-11-01 07:00 - 09:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | Garfield Park Arts Center – Main Gallery, 2432 Conservatory Dr., Indianapolis, IN, United States
Storytelling portion will have ASL Interpretation.
Celebrate the opening of the Spirit & Place Festival by letting us show you our gratitude with live music by Alexo Cazares and Eric Salazar, a storytelling performance by Sally Perkins, and artmaking activities led by the Ivy Tech Fine Arts Department! Art supplies and food are available while supplies last.
**Why a daytime opening event? Many of our longtime festival supporters have told us that going out in the evening is a challenge. We hope a daytime event filled with great music, food, stories, and artmaking will allow as many people as possible to enjoy the Spirit & Place Festival!**
Questions? Contact 317-274-2462 or festival@iu.edu.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Spirit & Place, Garfield Park Arts Center, and Ivy Tech Fine Arts Department.
Registration: Registration using the blue button below.

Ivy Tech Fine Arts Dept.

Sally Perkins

Growing Gratitude: Celebrate, Connect, and Care for Creation
2024-11-02 09:00 - 10:30 | Friedens United Church of Christ, 8300 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis, 46217, United States
ASL & Spanish Language Interpreted.
ASL assistance provided by IUI’s Program in American Sign Language (ASL) and English Interpreting

Join in a joyful celebration to show our deep appreciation and connection with each other and Mother Earth. Listen and share stories and songs. Dance, breathe, move, create, and even cook in an expression of gratitude for the earth, skies, seas, and all living creatures.
Children, teens, and their families will enjoy a story with IndyPL library staff and also have an opportunity for creative expression and acts of service or advocacy with our event partners. Activities might include listening to and/or participating in songs, dance, artwork, planting seeds or harvesting from the gardens outside of the church. Attendees might make a refrigerator sign or discover cooking ideas to help prevent food waste. Families might even make treats for animals, engage in yoga, make a craft out of recyclable materials, write a thank you letter to the earth or an advocacy letter to an elected official.
Questions?: Contact 317-709-5857 or pastorsarah.friedensucc@outlook.com.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Friedens United Church of Christ with Conscious Caring Community and Metamorphosis Friends, Perry Meridian Middle School Choir, Persimmon Herb School, Earth Charter Indiana, West Perry Library, Audubon Society, Community Food Box Project, Leo’s Plants and Love, and Soul Food Project’s Youth Grow Indy Team.
Registration: Walk-in guests are welcome, but registration is appreciated at https://forms.gle/TcXEy2QkPDjivzJq6.
Growing Gratitude

Adventures in Gratitude
2024-11-02 11:00 - 13:00 | Irvington Presbyterian Church, 55 Johnson Ave., Indianapolis, 46219, United States
Discovering new ways to express “thanks” can be an exciting adventure! This self-directed open-house event for all ages invites us to experience gratitude for small things and the big things using our bodies, minds, voices, and spirits.
This event recognizes gratitude is not just something we feel, but something we do—and it is something that multiplies when we share it with others. Join us and expand your toolbox for “doing” gratitude!
Upon arrival guests will receive a map containing descriptions of the event spaces open for exploration. Singing, moving, writing, visual art, and meditation—explore it all for as long (or little) as you wish! Each person or family group is invited to choose what calls to them. For example, creating gratitude-focused lyrics for simple call and response songs, writing or drawing a thank-you note, expressing thanks in movement, or sitting in peaceful quiet.
Questions?: Contact 317-682-4946 or info@indianapoliswomenschorus.org.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Indianapolis Women’s Chorus, Irvington Arts Collective, and Irvington Presbyterian Church.
Registration: Walk-in guests are welcome, but registration greatly appreciated. Use the blue button below to register.

Balsa Wood, a play by Lou Harry
2024-11-02 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-11-02 15:00 - 17:00 | Super Tortas, 2641 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, 46222, United States
On the road away from rather than toward anything, Robin finds refuge in the home of Carrie, an iconoclast with an open heart and an open door, who provides a place—without judgment—for human strays. An audience-inclusive discussion about unspoken gratitude will follow the performance.
Intimately staged for a limited number of audience members at each performance, Balsa Wood centers on characters struggling with their pasts and finding connection with those who, on the surface, are different from themselves. Yes, it has intense moments, but it also has humor and provides a chance to see through the surfaces of those who seem unfamiliar.
In a post-performance discussion, audience members are invited to become part of an open discussion about unspoken gratitude and people they’ve known or witnessed who have done something for others without expectation or acknowledgement.
Dates & Times: Saturday, Nov. 2 at 3PM & 7PM and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 3PM.
Questions?: Contact 317-990-1698 or caitlin@indyconvergence.org.
Event Organizers: A play by Lou Harry produced by Indy Convergence.
Registration: Limited seating. Tickets $15 in advance/$20 at the door. Use the blue button below to register.

Awe: A Spirit & Place Festival Book Discussion
2024-11-03 07:00 - 08:15 | MTI School of Knowledge, 4950 W. 34th Street, Indianapolis, 46205, United States
Ahead of this year’s Public Conversation, take a deep dive into Dacher Keltner’s book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life. Join us for a cross-cultural, multi-generational dialogue as we explore how we might tap into the power of everyday awe. Book club-style conversation led by Dr. David Craig and artist Rachel Hellmann.
Dacher Keltner has spent his career studying emotions such happiness, gratitude, and awe. His research, and the research of others, shows how messy human emotions are, in fact, messy for a reason. Humans evolved a complex range of emotions — including gratitude and awe — to help us find connections that exist between our individual selves and our communities. As Keltner writes in The Gratitude Project, “Gratitude depends on the humble dependence on others.” And, in Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life, he writes, “Awe enables us to see the systems underlying the wonders of life and locate ourselves in relation to them.” This discussion invites attendees to explore these connections.
Questions?: Contact 317-274-2426 or festival@iu.edu.
Event Organizers: A partnership between IU Indianapolis Department of Religious Studies, Senior Academy of IU Indianapolis, and Indianapolis Muslim Community Association.
Registration: Register by using the blue button below.

The Cultural Construction of Gratitude
2024-11-03 08:30 - 10:00 | Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, 600 W. 70th Street, Indianapolis, 46260, United States
While the act of gratitude is universal, its expression is based on cultural norms. Our event invites you to learn about and explore how different cultures express gratitude through interactive vignettes and meaningful conversation.
“Gratitude” seems simple enough, but when you layer in different cultural interpretations, it becomes far more nuanced than one might expect. A politeness learned from an early age in one cultural setting may be seen as rudeness in another. In three short vignettes, audience members will experience scenes from different cultures illustrating various ways gratitude may be expressed. At one point the scene will freeze and a narrator will invite the audience into the scene, first by asking what they saw then by engaging the various actors (who will remain in character) in dialogue. The audience will have an opportunity to experience how different communities view gratitude and its expression while building their own cultural competencies.
Questions?: Contact 317-531-6299 or gkelley@bez613.org.
Event Organizers: A partnership between Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, IU Indianapolis Department of World Languages and Cultures, and Alley Theatre Company.
Registration: Walk-in guests are welcome, but registration is encouraged. Use the blue button below.

Balsa Wood, a play by Lou Harry
2024-11-03 10:00 - 12:00 | Super Tortas, 2641 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, 46222, United States
On the road away from rather than toward anything, Robin finds refuge in the home of Carrie, an iconoclast with an open heart and an open door, who provides a place—without judgment—for human strays. An audience-inclusive discussion about unspoken gratitude will follow the performance.
Intimately staged for a limited number of audience members at each performance, Balsa Wood centers on characters struggling with their pasts and finding connection with those who, on the surface, are different from themselves. Yes, it has intense moments, but it also has humor and provides a chance to see through the surfaces of those who seem unfamiliar.
In a post-performance discussion, audience members are invited to become part of an open discussion about unspoken gratitude and people they’ve known or witnessed who have done something for others without expectation or acknowledgement.
Dates & Times: Saturday, Nov. 2 at 3PM & 7PM and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 3PM.
Questions?: Contact 317-990-1698 or caitlin@indyconvergence.org.
Event Organizers: A play by Lou Harry produced by Indy Convergence.
Tickets/Registration: Limited seating. Tickets $15 in advance & $20 at the door. Use the blue button below to register.

A Blessing, not a Burden with Alex Kor and Graham Honaker
2024-11-03 11:00 - 12:30 | Arthur M Glick JCC – Laikin Auditorium, 6701 Hoover Rd., Indianapolis, IN, United States
ASL provided by students in IUI’s Program in American Sign Language (ASL) and English Interpreting
By all accounts, Dr. Alex Kor’s life has been a miracle. The son of two Holocaust survivors, including the Mengel twin Eva Kor, Alex will discuss his book A Blessing, Not a Burden. Co-author Graham Honaker and Troy Fears of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center join the discussion.
Eva Kor, Alex Kor’s mother, was known for her controversial choice to forgive the Nazis. She did not forgive them on behalf of anyone but herself, and her choice to forgive was a way of giving herself peace and freedom from anger. During this event, Alex Kor will explore what it was like being raised by two Holocaust survivors who also experienced immigration to the United States, continued antisemitism, and post-traumatic stress. Through it all, Alex has retained a deep sense of gratitude for his upbringing and life’s journey.
Questions?: Contact 317-715-9240 or carnett@jccindy.org.
Event Organizers: A partnership between JCC Indianapolis, CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, and Hooverwood Living.
Registration: Registration is encouraged. Use the blue button below.
Book Cover Courtesy of Pediment Publishing.

Image Courtesy of Pediment Publishing

Heiliger Dankgesang: Notes of Gratitude. Music by Biber, Clark, Haydn, and Beethoven
2024-11-03 12:00 - 14:00 | Episcopal Church of All Saints, 1559 Central Ave., Indianapolis, IN, 46202, United States
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (ICO) musicians Alfred and Colette Abel will be joined by their children Benjamin and Clara for an afternoon of masterworks expressing gratitude through music. Join us in giving thanks for this sacred space, transcendent music, and life’s gifts.
Heiliger Dankgesang: Notes of Thanks is an exploration of gratitude through music by the Abel Family Quartet.
The cornerstone of the program is Beethoven’s String Quartet op. 132, of which the transcendent middle movement, “Holy Hymn of Thanksgiving” stands as the heart of the work. Written in the final years of his life, Beethoven grapples with his own mortality, ultimately finding joy and gratitude for the gifts of life and the return to health after a life-threatening illness. Complimenting this, the program will also include works by Biber, Haydn’s “Emperor” variations, and Richard Auldon Clark’s “Mabon.”
Questions? Contact 317-635-2538 or admin@allsaintsindy.org.
Event Organizers: A partnership between musician Colette Abel, Episcopal Church of All Saints, and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.
Registration: Registration is encouraged. Use the blue “registration” button below.
About The Artists: Alfred Abel, violin, is Concertmaster of the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Instructor of Violin and Viola at Wabash College, and Conductor of the Wabash College Orchestra. Violinist, Benjamin Abel, is a dynamic chamber musician championing works by living composers and is pursuing a doctorate at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Clara Abel, cellist, made her New York concerto debut in 2015 and later received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Juilliard studying under Joel Krosnick and Phoebe Carrai. Colette Abel, viola and violin, is a founding member of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Principal Violist of the Marion Philharmonic, recently named Orchestra Indiana. She has performed throughout the Midwest and East Coast with Trio Amabile, the Abel Family String Quartet, and Cosmopolitan Chamber Players.

Musicians rehearse before a performance during the Water into Wine, Bread into Cake; a Musical Feast – a part of the Spirt and Place celebrations
at Episcopal Church of All Saints on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (Photo by Wendi Chitwood/Indiana University)
