Spirit & Place Festival
A celebration of the arts, humanities, and religion.The Spirit & Place Festival is a multi-day festival of events independently created and hosted by the community and supported by the Spirit & Place organization, which is housed on the campus of IU-Indianapolis.
The 2026 theme is CONNECTIONS and the festival will run from Nov. 5 – 15.
Looking for inspiration? Check out our Connections themed prompt sheet.
Visit our web calendar to register for upcoming info sessions this spring.
Chat with staff. Contact festival@iu.edu or leave a message at 317-274-2462.
Visit the Application Process webpage and review the application guidelines to apply by May 22!
How does the festival work? Spirit & Place provides a yearly theme to anchor events and provides staff support to help event creators think about audience, collaborative possibilities, event design, and promotions. Together, through creative collaborations, we leverage our strengths to unite Central Indiana residents through the power of the arts, humanities, and religion.
Annually, the festival brings together 100+ cultural organizations, congregations, artists, and other community partners to create 25-30+ events (exhibits, performances, panel discussions, workshops, and more) that inspire sustained conversation and reflection on a common theme.
*Spirit & Place does not exercise direct control over the implementation of event content, nor does content reflect the opinions or views of Spirit & Place and the IU community. We are a radical experiment in community trust — and it works!
About the Festival
From Remembering and Reconciling and Food for Thought to our more recent one-word themes such as Play, Risk, Home, and 2020’s Origins, we have used themes to create a time of focused reflection, fellowship, and conversation for the community.
Spirit & Place’s civic tools are the arts, humanities, and religion.
Engaging the ARTS opens our senses, liberates our imaginations, and unlocks fresh perspectives. Through the HUMANITIES—history, literature, philosophy, sociology, ethics, etc.—we can explore the complex interactions between people, place, and time. The world’s RELIGIOUS traditions invite us to examine what it means to be human and how to live in relationship to one another.
If you hope to propose festival event and want to dig a little deeper into how we hope festival event creators will engage with these tools, click here.
The 2026 festival will not be officially confirmed until the late summer.
Explore the 2025 festival event guide to to get a taste for what the Spirit & Place Festival can look like! Click here.
The application deadline for the 2026 Spirit & Place Festival is midnight on Friday, May 22.
Learn more about the application process by visiting the Festival Application Process page where you will find (past) application guidelines and other useful resources.
Prospective applicants are also encouraged to attend info sessions hosted by Spirit & Place and/or meet with staff in the spring to discuss ideas.
Organizations big and small – as well as creative individuals – are welcome to apply!
For 30 years, the Spirit & Place Festival has served as a platform for one-of-a-kind events and performances. We invite you to explore and celebrate our history!
Spirit & Place
Indiana University – Indianapolis
425 University Blvd., CA 003B
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317-274-2462
festival@iu.edu
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