With 28 years of nonprofit management experience and 18 years as a choral conductor, Pam has lived her life at the intersection of the arts, religion, and civic life.
A graduate of Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts (arts administration), Pam has worked for cultural and historical institutions in Indiana and Pennsylvania including Sweetwater Art Center (Sewickly, PA), Western Pennsylvania Historical Society (Pittsburgh, PA), Indianapolis Art Center, and Butler University. For eight years, she owned and managed The Hinkle Group, a consulting practice which provided grants development and strategic planning services to nonprofit institutions working in health/human service, higher education, religion, arts/culture, and social service.
Pam is also an instrumentalist, choral conductor, songwriter, and workshop leader. In 2003 she received a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis through which she studied drumming (with ethnomusicologist Sally Childs-Helton), music improvisation (with cellist David Darling), as well as chant and ritual song. She has served as choral director for college, church, and commmunity choirs, including 13 years as artistic director of the Indianapolis Women‘s Chorus, and 12 years as choir director at the Midwest Unitarian Universalist Summer Assembly. Pam has led workshops in creativity, chant, and music improvisation for numerous community organizations and she presently teaches at the Indiana Women's Prison.
She is also a member of the Board of Visitors for Butler University's Jordan College of Fine Arts, as well as the Cultural Advisory Board of the Landmarks Center.
Jennifer Gilles, Program Coordinator
gillesj@iupui.edu
317-278-3623
As Program Coordinator for the Spirit & Place Festival, Jennifer draws on more than two decades of experience in the geotechnical engineering field. She grew up in Evansville, Indiana, graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, and spent her career as a professional geologist for consulting firms in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Jennifer joined Spirit & Place in 2006. Her responsibilities include working with the festival director to cultivate and sustain relationships with festival partners, to develop appropriate public programs and facilitate collaborations, as well as acting as liaison to external contractors, volunteers, and the internal support team at The Polis Center.