What is Spirit & Place?
When is Spirit & Place?
How does Spirit & Place work?
What is the mission and vision for Spirit & Place?
What about the theme Living Generously?
What is the Public Conversation?
Who manages Spirit & Place?
What is The Polis Center?
How and when did Spirit & Place begin?
How is the festival funded?
Who are the festival partners?
What if my organization is interested in being a festival partner or donor?
What are the future Spirit & Place dates and themes?
Where can I get more information about the Festival?
What is Spirit & Place?Spirit & Place is an annual festival engaging arts, humanities, and religious organizations in collaborative action to promote civic engagement, respect for diversity, thoughtful reflection, public imagination, and enduring change in the communities where we live. These organizations collaborate to produce 17 days of events-dialogues, exhibits, performances, workship services, tours, and more-that create a citywide celebration and conversation.
The festival honors the places we call home and uses the traditions and creative capacities of individuals and organizations to help all citizens develop richer lives in community with each other.
When is Spirit & Place?The Spirit & Place festival events will be held from November 2 – 18, 2007. The signature event, the Public Conversation, will be held Sunday, November 4, 2007, at 2:00 p.m, at Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler University.
How does Spirit & Place work?Spirit & Place represents a collaboration of congregations, cultural institutions, universities and colleges, schools, civic groups, museums, etc. All partner organizations host or co-sponsor an event that invites audiences to interpret and engage with the theme, Living Generously. Events take place at venues around Central Indiana.
What is the mission and vision for Spirit & Place?Spirit & Place serves as a catalyst for civic engagement and enduring change through creative collaborations among the arts, humanities, and religion. It honors the places we call home and uses the traditions and creative capacities of individuals and organizations to help all citizens develop richer lives in community with each other.
We believe:
- that the arts, humanities, and religion awaken the spirit and exalt the sacred, sustain our intellectual and cultural inheritance, inspire imagination and creativity, and shape our community.
- that understanding and sharing each community’s interlinked narrative (historical, cultural, environmental, economic, and spiritual) creates a sense of place that binds and builds both our personal and collective lives.
- that a healthy community respects and values the traditions, convictions, and contributions of diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural groups.
- that working together enhances creativity, strengthens capacity, creates new opportunities for discovery, and multiplies community impact.
- that building bridges and fostering collaboration between diverse disciplines, traditions, ideas, and cultures requires thoughtful intention.
- in the power of imagination and trust the ability of our communities to develop creative solutions to the challenges that face us.
Our vision is to be a national model for engaging arts, humanities, and religion in collaborative action to promote civic engagement, respect for diversity, thoughtful reflection, public imagination, and enduring change in the communities where we live.
What about the theme Living Generously?The 2007 theme, Living Generously, allows festival event partners to examine philanthropy, abundance, hospitality, volunteerism, caregiving and other issues that explore the nature of living generously in our individual, institutional, and collective lives through exhibits, plays, panel discussions, concerts, dance, poetry readings, workshops, intergenerational gatherings, and more!
Consider the following: What does your community, neighborhood, organization, discipline, field, or congregation need to grapple with in this theme? What are the important conversations that need to occur? What does your community, neighborhood, or organization treasure? How do you define and share these treasures? How might exploration of this theme bring the diverse groups together? Different faiths? Different neighborhoods? Different cultures? How might exploration of this theme illuminate this special place where we live and work?
What is the Public Conversation?Our signature event, the Public Conversation, occurs on the opening weekend of the festival. Available to the public free of charge, this moderated dialogue explores the annual theme Living Generously(in 2007) through a spontaneous, on-stage exchange among three nationally known figures from the humanities, religion, and the arts.
The first Public Conversation, emerged when University. Engaged in a "public conversation” rather than a keynote speech, this lively presentation was augmented with ten other events designed to allow residents of Central Indiana to explore questions of community and identity. Community response was enthusiastic; the initial Public Conversation drew a standing room only crowd, the largest ever in the history of Clowes Memorial Hall.
Who manages Spirit & Place?The Polis Center at IUPUI manages Spirit & Place on behalf of the community with the guidance of an Advisory Board.
What is The Polis Center?The Polis Center is a multidisciplinary unit of the IU School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Polis has developed numerous ways to understand the communities where we live and to engage citizens in collaborative action. Its Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, frequently touted as a model for other cities, tapped community experts to produce one of the nation’s first urban encyclopedias. The books and videos produced through the center’s path-breaking Project on Religion and Urban Culture offer a wide range of information on the intersection of faith and community in Central Indiana. The SAVI Community Information System, the nation’s largest community information system of its type, is an interactive data and mapping resource for Central Indiana (www.savi.org).
Polis also works nationally and internationally to develop innovative ways to understand traditional subjects, especially through application of its expertise in digital technologies such as Geographic Information Systems. The Spirit & Place Festival, which developed from the center’s interest in creative collaborations, is an example of The Polis Center’s efforts to advance Central Indiana as a leading example of how communities can work together to promote civic engagement and positive change.
How and when did Spirit & Place begin?The Spirit & Place Festival grew out of a nationally prominent research project (the Polis Center's Project on Religion and Urban Culture) that examined the relationship between religion and community in Indianapolis. The notion of place shaping identity emerged when Indiana natives Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Wakefield, along with John Updike, were invited to speak at Clowes Memorial Hall in 1996 through a collaboration with Butler University. Engaged in a "public conversation” rather than a keynote speech, this lively presentation was augmented with ten other events designed to allow residents of Central Indiana to explore questions of community and identity. Spirit & Place has been an annual event since 1996.
How is the festival funded?The 2007 festival is generously underwritten by our theme partners, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and the Central Indiana Community Foundation, along with our major financial partners Lilly Endowment Inc.; Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Inc.; The Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation; Butler University; IUPUI/IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI; University of Indianapolis; and dozens of community partners including arts, civic, educational, and religious organizations as well as foundations, corporations, and individuals.
If you are interested in making a gift to the festival, please contact the Director Pam Blevins Hinkle at (317) 278-2644 or email pbhinkle@iupui.edu
Who are the festival partners?More than 150 arts, religious, and civic institutions collaborated to present 71 programs in the 2007 festival.
What if my organization is interested in being a festival partner or donor?Spirit & Place welcomes organizational partners—congregations, arts groups, schools, and civic groups—who are willing to collaborate, produce programs, or make a contribution to the festival. Click here to learn more.
What are the future Spirit & Place dates and themes?Oct. 31 - Nov. 16, 2008: Exploring Imagination
Nov. 6 - 22, 2009: Inspiring Places.
Where can I get more information about the Festival?For more information, or to be added to the Spirit & Place mailing list, call 317-278-3623 or email: festival@iupui.edu.