Spirit & Place Festival
A celebration of the arts, humanities, and religion.The line-up of 2024 Spirit & Place Festival events can be found on our event calendar at spiritandplace.org/events.
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 year’s festival is from Nov. 1-10, 2024 and explores the theme of GRATITUDE.
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.
The 2023 Spirit & Place Festival featured 25 events with 40 occurrences happening across Marion, Hamilton, and Johnson counties! What kind of events?
- 4 film screenings
- 6 community meals/food samplings/cooking demos
- 3 musical, 4 theatrical, 2 spoken word spoken word performances
- Plus civically-engaged workshops, art-making, exhibits, and outdoor walks!
Check out last year’s festival by visiting the event calendar including 28th annual “Public Conversation” featuring culinary historian Michael Twitty.
Event information about the 2024 festival will be posted in September.
The application deadline for the Spirit & Place Festival is May 17, 2024 at 5pm.
Learn more about the application process and GRATITUDE theme by visiting the Festival Application Process page and/or downloading the festival guidelines as a Word doc or PDF.
Prospective applicants are also encouraged to attend one of four info sessions hosted this March & April.
Organizations big and small – as well as creative individuals – are welcome to apply!
For more than 25 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!
Questions
Erin Kelley
A native Hoosier, Kelley completed her bachelor’s degree in sociology and history from Ball State University and earned her master’s degree in public history from IUPUI. As the Program Director for Spirit & Place, she oversees the annual Spirit & Place Festival by working with 100 ...
Spirit & Place
Indiana University – Indianapolis
425 University Blvd., CA 003B
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317-274-2462
festival@iu.edu
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