Check out the variety of exhibitions included in this year's festival! Past is Present: Black Artists Respond to the Complicated Histories of Slavery (Looking Forward exhibit) Sept. 28 – Jan. 15 Herron School of Art + Design – Basile Auditorium, 735 W. New York St. Holy Sparks: Celebrating 50 Years of Women Rabbinate Nov. 1—30 […]
Kick-off the 27th annual Spirit & Place Festival with a showcase of events featuring local poet and spoken word artist Manon Voice and photographer Wildstyle Paschall. Want to learn more about this year’s festival and its exciting mix of exhibits, community conversations, performances, workshops, and more? Sit back in the comfort of your own home […]
This bilingual celebration explores the cultural, spiritual, and intergenerational significance of Día de los Muertos. Author Selene Dávila will share El esqueleto que ama bailar (The Skeleton that Loves to Dance) and families will be invited to participate in art-making activities. This event will be a bilingual story time that will engage child and parent participants […]
Exhibit showcasing the work of two fiber art guilds and their creativity to express the stories and identities of individuals leaving incarceration, fighting homelessness, aging out of foster care, and facing other challenges. We make a lot of assumptions about people. Depending on their personal backgrounds, economic status, gender expression, skin color, and even life […]
What happens when you leave behind everything that created your sense of identity and start over? How do you explore and express those feelings? When words fail, art steps in to help. Share in the stories of Christ Church Cathedral’s immigrant congregants through visual and performing arts. When leaving behind the touchstones of family and […]
Discover how being a part of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program challenged participants to re-think their ideas of “identity” and the need to challenge the use of labels that often divide us. How we each identify, and how we are identified by others, are often not the same. The practice of bringing together incarcerated (inside) […]
During this all-ages event, guests will explore interactive arts activities designed to help the community look past differences and discover commonalities. View the Ivy Tech student-created exhibit, “I Am Unique,” while engaging in art activities designed to help participants draw connections between their similarities and the importance of creating interconnected and supportive environments where both […]
This exhibit and panel discussion address the long-lasting impact of African American enslavement on our shared history and sense of identity. These offerings provide a space to delve into complicated histories by focusing on Indianapolis artists and how identity creates the context for telling stories. Artwork in the exhibition Past is Present: Black Artists Respond […]
Experience foods and flavors from Yemen, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Palestine and more while meeting the people who have prepared those foods. Learn about each other while exploring how what we eat is tightly bound to our identity. In the documentary High on the Hog, Yoruba artist Romuald Hazoumè repeats a local saying to Stephen Satterfield, telling […]
As with many political and socially sensitive topics, SciFi has long created a safe space to fully explore one’s identity. Hear from SciFi fans who have explored – and embraced – their gender and sexual identities through the art and power of science fiction. This inclusive and welcoming event features a moderated discussion with SciFi […]
What are the unique ways we can persuade Hoosiers to identify as voters? Together we will explore what shapes our personal identities as voters and how we can influence others to embrace the statement, “I am a voter!” Focusing on individual and collective identity, this event will engage guests on the history of voting in […]
Explore how one’s sense of identity affects emotional/behavioral health of Black and Brown people through an interactive TED Talk-like presentation, audience activities, and conversations with local health-focused organizations. Food will be served. This multi-faceted event invites the public to explore the importance of conscious identity labeling in healthcare situations. Through a short TED Talk-like presentation, […]
After viewing the exhibit, “Holy Sparks: Celebrating 50 Years of Women Rabbinate,” guests are invited to explore the feminine influences on religious traditions and faith journeys by hearing from a panel of diverse religious leaders as well as a poet, sculptor, and musician. Too often, people are not as aware of the deep and profound […]
Enjoy cider, snacks, and stories while listening, reflecting, and vibing about how we shape food and how it shapes us. How have your tastes been shaped by your community and/or family of origin? How do you use food to connect with new acquaintances and old friends? How might food open new spaces for community, connection, […]
Join us as we explore the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, a resource that helps to define, create, and enhance identity for Indianapolis. Learn how the encyclopedia can be a powerful tool for helping citizens participate effectively in the community. The digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (EOI) provides a home for knowledge about Indianapolis’ past and present. Its entries, timelines, an […]
Through an art exhibit and panel discussion, learn how people living with HIV and their allies are working to end HIV stigma by modernizing Indiana’s outdated HIV criminal laws. People living with HIV often face stigma and discrimination related to Indiana laws that criminalize them due to their positive HIV status. This event features speakers […]
Join us for this profound discussion as individuals from the book Heart Guide share how identity changes after the death of a loved one: such as reevaluating career choices or forging new life paths after losing a child, spouse, parent, or other loved one. Moderated by Award-Winning Author Diana Ensign. Tackling the topic of death […]
A screening of the WFYI film "When Kids Wrote the Headlines," a story of local student journalists, with a panel discussion on how those experiences shaped their identities and their role in our civic life. This event showcases the film "When Children Wrote the Headlines," which is the story of a news bureau – Children’s […]
Hear from local writers, poets, and spoken word artists as they share brief and engaging stories of change centered around how they identify and how their sense of identity has shaped their lives and art. How do the arts, humanities, and religion help identify the truth of who we are? How have identities changed over […]
Hear from students themselves on the ways in which their identities are being policed in schools, specifically related to race, sexual orientation, and gender. Students have been the target of state legislatures across the country, including Indiana, in recent years. From bans on trans athletes and classroom censorship bills to dress codes that disproportionally affected […]
Artist, activist, and owner/founder of Thunderbird Rising Studios in Indianapolis, Stephanie Big Eagle will talk about the traditional Indigenous practice of hand poked tattooing and how both the practice of tattooing and the tattoo itself shape and reflect cultural identity. Tattoos are inherently tied to identity as one is choosing to permanently adorn their body […]
With performances representing different religious traditions and opportunities for participation, attendees will explore how music conveys who we are as individuals, groups, and cultures throughout time. Music is an especially powerful way to express identity in a pluralistic world. Musicians performing across faith traditions and genres will engage participants in a broader conversation about how […]
Where we went to high school tells a lot about how we see ourselves and how others see us. Join a session where you and other local grads are challenged to understand identity by analyzing a century-old IPS high school pyramid of caste, power, and prestige through art, poetry, and conversation. Though we might not […]
Through live letter readings and community discussion, The Sisters Are Alright Weekend: A Celebration of the Black Femme Experience amplifies how Black women identify their true selves separate from poisoned narrative. Two gatherings, two venues, one awesome time! ($10 per person/per show.) For centuries, Black American women have been forced to reckon with negative stereotypes rooted in […]
This interactive on-the-go event introduces participants to the places and people who help shape and share the various ways we identify with ourselves and one another in our community. Spirited Chase is a unique event that offers participants the opportunity to renew the spirit through discovering new people and places in our community. Each mystery partner organization […]
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE. During this half-day workshop, we will explore how the small African American community of Norwood was able to mobilize their family history to protect their community from unwelcome change. This hands-on program will allow us to help participants organize their family stories into community […]
Let’s write! Hear from local authors on what inspires them to write and share their stories. Attendees will be shown creative examples, provided simple writing tools, and encouraged to write on their own. Featured authors include Rosemary Featherstone Turentine, Linda Lewis-Everett, Phyllis Cotton, Gloria Lewis Vaughn, Melva Scott, and Wynesia Jackson. Inspired by the Bible […]
The Testimony Service seeks to bring people together—regardless of faith affiliation—to fellowship and celebrate the good news about what’s going on in their lives and communities through music, personal testimony and a shared meal. To identify means to recognize the existence of a thing. This event, which is rooted in the testimony tradition of the Black church, invites the […]
Through live letter readings and community discussion, The Sisters Are Alright Weekend: A Celebration of the Black Femme Experience amplifies how Black women identify their true selves separate from poisoned narrative. Two gatherings, two venues, one awesome time! ($10 per person/per show.) For centuries, Black American women have been forced to reckon with negative stereotypes rooted in […]
Through performance art, conversation, and Q&A, attendees will explore sacred stories of identity, challenge, and transformation during this creative and thought-provoking event featuring Indian Jewish artist Siona Benjamin and Rabbi Sandy Sasso. Centering the sacred storytelling of the midrash, Siona Benjamin – a trans-cultural Jewish artist who grew up in Hindu and Muslim societies while […]
How have the ways in which Americans identify been shaped by race, religion, region, and gender? What other forces have shaped our individual and collective sense of identity? Can we even speak of a singular "American identity?" This year’s Public Conversation invites historian Kathleen Belew (Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary […]
Powerful Conversations on Race is a monthly community dialogue series exploring topics around race and racism and the resulting impact. Powerful Conversations on Race is a way for us to get comfortable talking about uncomfortable histories and is, therefore, rooted in historical documents and subject matter. This IS NOT a lecture or book club, but […]
