Past Festivals
See links at right to view festival events from 2008 and 2007.
Past Festival Themes / Public Conversationalists
- 2009: Inspiring Places - Former Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut III, and Braddock, Pennsylvania Mayor John Fetterman.
- 2008: Exploring Imagination - Producer, writer, and director Julie Dash; author, songwriter, and pastor Brian D. McLaren; and essayist and journalist Richard Rodriguez.
- 2007: Living Generously - Patty Stonesifer, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nathan Dungan, president and founder of Share Save Spend; and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, singer, composer, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock.
- 2006: Tradition & Innovation - Author and human rights activist Sr. Joan Chittister, author and scholar Manning Marable, and Hoosier film writer/producer Angelo Pizzo.
- 2005: Moving & Staying - Poet and novelist Wendell Berry, writer and humorist Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, and award-winning journalist A'Lelia Bundles.
- 2004: Building and Belonging - Author Andre Dubus III, educational reformer and psychologist Howard Gardner, and theologian Renita Weems.
- 2003: Remembering and Reconciling - Editor Jim Wallis, author Charles Johnson, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams.
- 2002: Breaking Silence - Novelist Mary Gordon, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, and critic bell hooks.
- 2001: Crossing Boundaries - Scholar Cornel West, novelist Jane Smiley, and author Rabbi Harold Kushner.
- 2000: Growing Up - Jonathan Kozol, Terry Tempest Williams, and Martin E. Marty.
- 1999: Changing Landscapes - Barry Lopez, Sister Helen Prejean, and Kathleen Norris.
- 1998: A Gathering of Voices - Peter Matthiessen, Reynolds Price, and Maxine Hong Kingston.
- 1997: Leaving and Returning - Thomas Keneally, Clifton Taulbert, and Joy Harjo.
- 1996: Thinking Out Loud about Indianapolis - Kurt Vonnegut, Dan Wakefield, and John Updike.
Essays on the 2009 theme Inspiring Places
Maurice Broaddus, Horror and Fantasy Writer
“The Oddest Places”
Gloria Gaither, Gaither Family Resources and Gaither Music Company
“Michigan”
Edgar Huang, Associate Professor, IUPUI School of Informatics
“Serendipity”
Meghan McCormick, Co-Founder, Green Piece Indy
“Bloom Where You're Planted”
Kevin McKelvey, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Indianapolis; Board of Directors, Second Story
“Barns”
Vop Osili, Architect, Founding Partner and Principal, A2SO4
“Asa Dam”
Brian Payne, President, Central Indiana Community Foundation and The Indianapolis Foundation
“A Long Steep Hill”
Rob Smith, President, Eli Lilly and Company Foundation
"Cosmos, Consciousness, and Community"
Joyce A. Sommers, President Emeritus, Indianapolis Art Center Aaron Spiegel, Rabbi, Information Technology Director, Indianapolis Center for Congregations Jon Adland, Senior Rabbi, Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation Maxwell L. Anderson, President and CEO, Indianapolis Museum of Art Frank Basile, Professional speaker, author, and philanthropist Jeanne Farah, Principal Consultant, Excelleration, Inc. Carolyn Hadlock, Creative Director, Young & Laramore Advertising Eric M. Meslin, PhD, Director, Indiana University Center for Bioethics Betty Perry, Founder and Director, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra JoEllen Florio Rossebo, President and CEO, Young Audiences of Indiana Kanwal Prakash “KP” Singh, Architectural artist, author, and public speaker George Srour, Director, Building Tomorrow, Inc.
“Confluence”
“Sanctuary"
Essays on the 2008 festival theme: Exploring Imagination
“The Next Place on the Journey”
“Active Imagination”
“Achieving What I Imagined”
“Cultivating Imagination: Embracing Your Possibilites”
“Someplace Pure”
“Bioethics and Imagination”
“The Mustard Grain”
“Catching the Big Fish”
“A Gateway to Wonder and the Unknown”
“$1.81”
