Change is inevitable.
But how individuals, organizations and communities experience the evolution and revolution of the world around them is important to understand.
From the music of protest to the transformational summer of 1968 to intermingling of faith and science, big shifts in the world have grown from meager starts.
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To explore those concepts, the Spirit & Place Festival will feature community forums, interactive activities, performances and other events all aimed at fostering discussion and action. Participants will get to take part in a mystery scavenger hunt exploring the ideas of revolution and evolution, envision Biblical stories in new ways and learn about hip hop and art with the legendary creative director of Def Jam Recordings.
An improv act will navigate chasm between faith and science, set in the comfort of a southside tap room. People will get to discuss the challenges that formerly incarcerated women face, while sitting around a campfire and enjoying s’mores.
Tying the entire 10-day festival together will be an appearance by Nikole Hannah-Jones, an award-winning investigative reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine.
By bringing together arts, religion and the humanities, the hope is to unite people from all areas of the community to discuss, and act, on important issues.
“We believe the arts, humanities and religion are part of everybody’s lives, and we invite the community to bring those aspects to the front when they’re creating events for the festival,” said Erin Kelley, program director for the Spirit & Place Festival. “The community can use those three concepts to elicit some ideas to tackle some big issues like racism and food insecurity.”
Spirit & Place is a yearly event focused on helping grow the human spirit. Developed as a community project managed by The Polis Center at IUPUI, it was established in 1996 to be a catalyst for community engagement.
This is done through creative collaborations. Dozens of area organizations, agencies, churches and other groups work together to put on more than 30 individual events as part of the festival. Each year, a theme is chosen to tie the festival together. That central concept is broad enough to allow groups to interpret their own take on it, and submit proposed activities that can be featured during the festival.
“We create the opening-night event and the closing event, the Public Conversation. But everything in between is created by the community,” Kelley said. “We’re really a giant sandbox for central Indiana to be creative in.”
Past festivals have looks at themes such as risk, play, intersections and growing up. The idea to do revolution and evolution — expressed in throughout the festival as R/Evolution — was an extension of past themes providing more space to explore.
“Back in 2016, our theme was ‘home.’ Then we did ‘power,’ then ‘intersection.’ We felt that revolution was a natural progression of those ideas,” Kelley said. “It gives the community an opportunity to think about big ideas related to social justice.”
The activities that make up the bulk of the festival range from somber and serious to lighthearted and silly.
Gravitas was given to issues such as the enduring impact of antisemitism, and the fight for racial equity. A group of military veterans have been working on art express the progression of triumphs, hardships, and community that come with being a veteran.
At the Garfield Park Arts Center, people can view an exhibition titled, “Boycott! The Art of Economic Activism,” which showcases posters from more than 20 historical boycotts, from the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the 1960s and the United Farm Workers’ grape and lettuce boycott.
But people can also grab a pint while learning how to connect faith or science, or take part in a discussion religion and the search for extraterrestrial life.
“There’s no such thing as one audience for Spirit & Place. It’s a collection of diverse people and ideas, backgrounds and races and economic backgrounds. The festival is an array of all of that,” Kelley said. “So we have organizations and congregations exploring their journey in those areas.”
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Spirit & Place Festival
What: A celebration of the arts, humanities and religion that features special events and activities curated by community organizations to explore a central theme
Theme: R/Evolution
When: Through Nov. 10
Where: Various locations throughout Indianapolis
Information and full schedule: spiritandplace.org
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Here are four upcoming Spirit & Place events that shouldn’t be missed:
"A Faith Leader & a Scientist Walk into a Bar: Using Improv to Talk about Science and Faith"
When: 6 p.m. today
Where: Books & Brews South Indy, 3808 S. Shelby St., Indianapolis
What: Participants will learn the principles of applied improvisational theater and apply those to conversations about faith and science.
"Cey More with Art: Art in Cultural R/Evolution"
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where: Central Library Auditorium, 40 E. St. Clair St., Indianapolis
What: Visual artist and creative director of Def Jam Recordings, Cey Adams’ revolutionary career, unique vision, and creativity makes him the seminal iconographer for the visual history of hip hop. Adams will give a talk on his career, his contributions to the history of hip hop, and art as a catalyst for dialogue and change.
"The Art of Boycott: Speech, Resistance, and Revolution"
When: Event, 7 p.m. Thursday; exhibit Thursday through Nov. 21
Where: Garfield Park Arts Center, 2432 Conservatory Dr., Indianapolis
What: View the traveling exhibition, “Boycott! The Art of Economic Activism,” which features posters from more than 20 boycotts. A panel conversation the evening of November 7 will address theological and faith-based approaches to boycott
"Public Conversation featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones"
When: 4:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Shelton Auditorium on Butler’s South Campus, 1000 W. 42nd Street, Indianapolis
What: Nikole Hannah-Jones is an award-winning investigative reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine. A 2016 Peabody Award winner for her series on school segregation for “This American Life” and 2017 MacArthur Fellow, Hannah-Jones was most recently the lead journalist for The 1619 Project. She’ll use history, poetry, and music to anchor a conversation about why it is time to revolutionize the way we talk about our past.
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