Over the past decade, Spirit & Place has grown far beyond its annual Festival—developing year-round programming in deep partnership with organizations across Indianapolis. From public scholarship and policy conversations to storytelling, workshops, and new performance series, this work reflects a shared commitment to civic engagement, creative expression, and community dialogue.

In 2015, Spirit & Place collaborated with the IUPUI Department of History, Indiana Landmarks, and the IU School of Liberal Arts to launch History Talks!, featuring historian James H. Madison. That same year, Talking About Freedoms without Freaking Out—developed with the IUPUI Office of Community Engagement, Indiana Humanities, IU McKinney School of Law, the Center for Interfaith Cooperation, and the Center for Civic Literacy—brought legal scholars and community members together to explore the First Amendment through accessible, community-centered formats.

In 2016, Spirit & Place partnered with the IU School of Nursing to co-create the nation’s first Before I Die Festival, engaging nearly 800 participants through conversations, art, and performance. The organization also launched the Civic Challenge with Indiana Humanities to support nonpartisan voter engagement, and worked alongside the Kheprw Institute on Gentrify: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, a dialogue series examining the complexities of neighborhood change. That same year, Spirit & Place joined the Harrison Center and City Gallery for City Suppers, encouraging neighbors to build relationships through shared meals and conversation.

In 2017, Spirit & Place deepened its partnership with the Kheprw Institute through Equity in Action, a sustained series addressing issues of justice and inclusion across sectors. The organization also supported a wide range of collaborative programs: Birds of Longing: Exile and Memory at the Indiana Interchurch Center; the Joseph T. Taylor Symposium with the IU School of Liberal Arts; public lectures through History Talks! with the IUPUI Department of History and IU School of Medicine; film screenings and conversations with the Center for Interfaith Cooperation; and artistic and civic programming with partners including St. Luke’s United Methodist Church and local theatre practitioners. Workshops on accessibility and event design further reflected collaboration with Indiana Disability Rights and community-based artists.

In 2018, Spirit & Place’s role as a convener expanded significantly. The organization helped launch Powerful Conversations on Race and Civic Saturday, while participating in a Community Innovation Lab with EMCArts, Kheprw Institute, and Groundwork Indy. That year also included collaborations with the IUPUI Department of Anthropology and School of Liberal Arts, the Eiteljorg Museum, IUPUI American Indian Programs, student organizations across campus, speculative fiction conference Mo*Con (led by Maurice Broaddus), and community partners such as Broadway United Methodist Church—demonstrating a broad, cross-sector approach to civic and cultural engagement.

In 2019 and 2020, Spirit & Place continued its partnership with Storytelling Arts of Indiana and the Madam Walker Legacy Center on programs like Unspoken History and Growing up Black and White in America, centering personal narrative as a tool for reflection and reconciliation. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Spirit & Place launched Corona Dialogues, working with writer Maurice Broaddus and community participants to facilitate virtual conversations and collaborative “world-building,” ultimately leading to a shared “Pandemic Plan for Community Change.”

In 2021, partnerships remained central. Unpacking “The Hill We Climb” was presented with The Church Within, while Living Stories brought together collaborators including the Community for Contemplation and Justice at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, the IUPUI Senior Academy, and the IU School of Liberal Arts, featuring Elaine Pagels in conversation. Additional collaboration with Storytelling Arts of Indiana supported workshops like Story Mindset, equipping participants with tools for more intentional storytelling and event design.

That same year, Spirit & Place released its 2021 Equity Report (click here to read)—a reflective milestone that documented learnings, surfaced challenges, and articulated commitments emerging from this body of work. The report served as both an internal assessment and a public-facing record of the organization’s ongoing efforts to engage race and equity with intention and accountability.

In 2022, Spirit & Place partnered with the Central Library and national performers for the Laugh in Peace Comedy Tour, bringing together interfaith voices through humor and shared experience.

In 2023, Spirit & Place deepened its work in civic practice through Civic Saturday and Civic Circles, drawing on national civic reflection frameworks while engaging local participants, partners, and facilitators in conversations about identity, pluralism, and democratic responsibility.

In 2024, Spirit & Place expanded its collaborative model through Spirit & Place Presents and the launch of Big Tent Talks. Programs included My Black Country: An Evening of Story and Song with Alice Randall and Leyla McCalla, as well as a Big Tent Talk featuring Nadia Bolz-Weber—each made possible through partnerships with local venues, artists, and community organizations.

In 2025, Big Tent Talks continued with Jay Michaelson, building on this growing network of collaborators to explore spirituality, culture, and contemporary questions through public dialogue.

Taken together, this work reflects Spirit & Place’s ongoing evolution as a deeply collaborative civic and cultural force. Across a decade of partnerships—with universities, arts organizations, faith communities, nonprofits, and independent artists—the throughline remains clear: meaningful community impact is created together.

From 2017–2025, Spirit & Place led a sustained body of work focused on race, equity, and civic dialogue—developed in deep partnership with community organizations, facilitators, and scholars. These efforts created space for honest, often difficult conversations and helped build the skills and relationships necessary for meaningful community engagement.

At the center of this work was Powerful Conversations on Race (PCR), launched in 2017 as Spirit & Place’s first major Civic Reflection Dialogue (CRD) initiative. Grounded in arts- and humanities-based materials—poetry, visual art, music, film, and text—PCR convened monthly, facilitated dialogues that invited participants to reflect, listen, and engage across difference. These were not lectures, but shared inquiries into how race and racism shape individual lives and collective systems.

PCR was informed by a broader body of scholarship and public humanities practice. Early sessions drew from the Charleston Syllabus, developed in response to the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church and edited by Chad Williams, Kidada E. Williams, and Keisha N. Blain. This grounding situated the series within a lineage of Black scholarship examining the historical and ongoing realities of racial violence and injustice. This work also unfolded during a period of national reckoning on race and racial justice. In that context, Spirit & Place articulated its commitments publicly, including a statement affirming the value of Black lives. (Click here.)

Over eight years, PCR engaged approximately 1,500–1,700 participants and trained more than 50 community facilitators across sectors including education, nonprofits, government, and the arts. This distributed facilitator model—developed under the leadership of former Community Engagement Director LaShawnda Crowe Storm—extended the reach of the work, as facilitators carried dialogue practices into their own institutions and communities.

Building on PCR, Spirit & Place developed Dialogues on IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility), a multi-session series designed to help organizations examine contested language, reflect on lived experience, and strengthen their capacity for meaningful dialogue. Using the Civic Reflection Dialogue method pioneered by the Center for Civic Reflection, these sessions emphasized listening and reflection as essential groundwork for institutional change.

This work was deeply collaborative. Spirit & Place partnered with the Kheprw Institute on multi-year dialogue series exploring gentrification and equity, and joined with EmcArts, Kheprw Institute and Groundwork Indy on the Indy Community Innovation Lab. This national pilot project embedded artists in community problem-solving and generated creative, community-based responses to challenges facing formerly incarcerated individuals and youth aging out of foster care.

Spirit & Place also shared this dialogue model with broader fields of practice through partnerships and presentations with organizations such as Imagining America and the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, contributing to national conversations on public scholarship and civic engagement.

Across these efforts, participant feedback consistently reflected increased empathy, deeper self-understanding, and strengthened capacity to communicate across difference. This work demonstrated that dialogue—when thoughtfully designed and facilitated—can shift not only individual perspectives, but also the culture of institutions and communities.

While these programs have since concluded, their impact continues through the people, practices, and partnerships they helped shape. Spirit & Place remains deeply grateful to the many collaborators, facilitators, and participants who made this work possible.

Spirit & Place’s civic gatherings are rooted in the belief that democracy is not just a system of government, but a shared practice—one that requires reflection, relationship, and regular participation. Drawing on the arts, humanities, and religion, these offerings create space for people to come together, wrestle with big questions, and engage across difference.

A cornerstone of this work has been Civic Saturdays, spirited, ritual-inspired gatherings originally developed by Citizen University. Designed as a “civic analogue” to a faith gathering, Civic Saturdays brought people together through poetry, music, shared readings, and a reflective civic sermon—blending inspiration with participation. Spirit & Place’s Erin Kelley was part of the inaugural cohort trained to lead these gatherings, helping bring this model to Indianapolis.

Building on this foundation, Spirit & Place introduced Civic Circles—smaller, more intimate gatherings grounded in dialogue. Using facilitated conversation and carefully curated texts, Civic Circles invited participants to reflect on identity, belonging, and the responsibilities of civic life, creating space for deeper listening and shared inquiry.

Underlying both formats is the practice of Civic Reflection Dialogue (CRD), a method that centers arts- and humanities-based materials as a starting point for conversation. Rather than debate or instruction, CRD emphasizes reflection, interpretation, and connection—helping participants build the skills needed to engage thoughtfully with one another and with the world around them.

While Civic Saturdays are not currently being scheduled, this work continues to evolve. Spirit & Place is actively exploring new ways to bring CRD into campus and community settings—adapting these practices for students, faculty, and partners seeking meaningful, dialogue-based engagement.

Explore past civic gatherings—including sermons, reflections, and dialogue experiences—below.