Past Festivals
See links at right to view past festivals events.
Past Festival Themes / Public Conversationalists
2011: The Body - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball icon; Anita Diamant, author; Thomas Lynch, poet.
2010: Food for Thought - Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power; Frances Moore Lappe, author; Harrell Flectcher, gardner/international artist.
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 - “Confluence”
Aaron Spiegel, Rabbi, Information Technology Director, Indianapolis Center for Congregations - “Sanctuary"
Essays on the 2008 festival theme: Exploring Imagination
Jon Adland, Senior Rabbi, Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation - “The Next Place on the Journey”
Maxwell L. Anderson, President and CEO, Indianapolis Museum of Art - “Active Imagination”
Frank Basile, Professional speaker, author, and philanthropist - “Achieving What I Imagined”
Jeanne Farah, Principal Consultant, Excelleration, Inc. - “Cultivating Imagination: Embracing Your Possibilites”
Carolyn Hadlock, Creative Director, Young & Laramore Advertising - “Someplace Pure”
Eric M. Meslin, PhD, Director, Indiana University Center for Bioethics - “Bioethics and Imagination”
Betty Perry, Founder and Director, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra - “The Mustard Grain”
JoEllen Florio Rossebo, President and CEO, Young Audiences of Indiana - “Catching the Big Fish”
Kanwal Prakash “KP” Singh, Architectural artist, author, and public speaker - “A Gateway to Wonder and the Unknown”
George Srour, Director, Building Tomorrow, Inc. - “$1.81”
