Attitude of gratitude: Spirit & Place Festival reflects on thankfulness

Now is the perfect time to think about gratitude.

At a hectic time a year, and with a seemingly constant stream of bad news saturating people, it’s important to stop and think about the positive aspects of the community that we are thankful for.

That was the challenge posed by organizers of the Spirit & Place Festival. And groups throughout central Indiana responded with an array of unique events and activities designed to focus on the theme of gratitude.

“One of the things we’ve picked up on over the past couple of years is apprehension going into the fall of 2024. It’s a hard time for a lot of people to feel gratitude right now,” said Erin Kelley, program director for Spirit & Place. “So we purposely chose the theme of gratitude for 2024 because what we were hearing and learning from the community is they neede spaces and places to slow down, to practice gratitude and look to see what’s good in the world.”

Spirit & Place will again take the region, with a variety of programs touching on the arts, religion, humanities and more from Friday to Nov. 10. Through storytelling, artistic creation, in-depth conversation and more, people will have the opportunity to delve more deeply into carving out time for gratitude.

Franklin College again is participating when it hosts “Sacred Steps: Interfaith Understanding through Dance.” Dance performances featuring Style Dance Academy, Natyalaya School of Arts and Iibada Dance Company will be followed by a brief conversation about dance, spirituality and gratitude.

“Through this event, we hope that community members will engage in reflection about the themes of gratitude and dance from not only their own perspective, but through the performances and perspectives of others,” said Rev. Hannah Adams Ingram, director of religious life and chaplain at Franklin College. “We are so excited that through our series, people don’t just listen to facts about others, but they are invited into cultural expressions of art.”

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.

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This is done through creative collaborations. Dozens of area organizations, agencies, churches and other groups work together 26 scheduled 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. Past festivals have looks at themes such as risk, play, identity and nourish.

This year, the festival was set on the concept of “gratitude.”

Through family activities, insightful lectures and workshops, a variety of performances, and transformative dialogues, this year’s festival invites the community to intentionally practice and reflect on gratitude as a way to take care of themselves and each other.

“I’m grateful that so many members of the community have picked up on it, creating events that really are focused on bringing people together and building bridges of understanding,” Kelley said.

Events during this year’s festival approach that theme in a variety of ways.

The festival will kick off on Friday with “In Gratitude: An Opening Celebration,” which will include live music, storytelling by locally renowned performer Sally Perkins, and art-making activities.

“We designed that as an afternoon event because we want to be sure everyone feels welcomed and included in the Spirit & Place Festival. So we’re intentionally starting with a daytime event,” Kelley said.

Lou Harry, an Indianapolis-based author, journalist and playwright, debuts a new play, “Balsa Wood,” with four performances.

“Serene NOW,” “Coloring & Conversations,” “Exploring Wellness through Card Making” and “The Testimony Service” will focus on slowing down and engaging in self care.

“A Cinematic Quest for Gratitude through Grief” and “Attitude of Gratitude” will provide a brave and caring space to think about gratitude and grief.

“It’s really been quite special to see so many people and groups step into the ‘gratitude’ space,” Kelley said. “So many of the events are about slowing down and taking care of yourself and others, intentionally finding moments to practice gratitude. And that’s been great to see.”

Franklin College has been a participant in Spirit & Place for a number of years, planning programs centering interfaith dynamics around the varying themes. Interfaith relationships have been a focus of Franklin for many years. In 2020, the college hosted its first annual Interfaith Understanding through the Arts event during the Spirit & Place Festival, with programs in recent years focused on storytelling, poetry and musical performance.

Last year’s program invited participants to a tasting reception featuring food from different faith traditions, from Tibetan dumplings called momos to challah bread integral to Jewish communities.

“Sacred Steps: Interfaith Understanding through Dance” was envisioned as an continuation of the interfaith programming, taken through a different lens that normal, Adams Ingram said.

“In a world where it seems like we are increasingly divided, events like these remind us of our shared humanity,” she said. “Learning more about other people helps us learn more about ourselves. And hopefully, learning more about others and ourselves help us to create more peace and beauty in a world that needs it.”

For Spirit & Place organizers, it was an exciting addition spotlighting an art form that sometimes gets overlooked.

“It’s dance — we love the fact that there’s a dance performance in the festival,” Kelley said. “The festival is a celebration of the arts, humanities and religion, and sometimes it can be really hard for the performing arts to find their way into the festival. It’s no small thing to put on a dance performance or a play.”

Spirit & Place closes with its annual Public Conversation on Nov. 10, with this year’s version featuring Dacher Keltner and Ebony Chappel. Keltner is the founder of the Greater Good Science Center and author of “Awe: The Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.” Chappel is an award-winning multimedia journalist, business owner and local community leader.

The conversation will be moderated by R. Eric Thomas, writer of the popular advice column, “Ask Eric,” on Nov. 10.

“I find it really fascinating when you put scientists and artists together to talk — you talk about two very different perspectives, but when you get them talking together, it can really lead to some illuminating moments. That’s what I hope happens here,” Kelley said.