A celebration of the arts, humanities, and religion.

The Spirit & Place Festival is a multi-day festival of events independently created and hosted by the community and supported by the Spirit & Place organization, which is housed on the campus of IU-Indianapolis.

Festival Schedule:

Friday, November 1, 2024

11:00 am - 1:00 pm: In Gratitude: An Opening Celebration

Storytelling portion will have ASL Interpretation.

Celebrate the opening of the Spirit & Place Festival by letting us show you our gratitude with live music by Alexo Cazares and Eric Salazar, a storytelling performance by Sally Perkins, and artmaking activities led by the Ivy Tech Fine Arts Department! Art supplies and food are available while supplies last.

Location: Garfield Park Arts Center – Main Gallery, 2432 Conservatory Dr., Indianapolis, IN

Saturday, November 2, 2024

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm: Growing Gratitude: Celebrate, Connect, and Care for Creation

ASL & Spanish Language Interpreted.
ASL assistance provided by IUI’s Program in American Sign Language (ASL) and English Interpreting

Join in a joyful celebration to show our deep appreciation and connection with each other and Mother Earth. Listen and share stories and songs. Dance, breathe, move, create, and even cook in an expression of gratitude for the earth, skies, seas, and all living creatures.

Children, teens, and their families will enjoy a story with IndyPL library staff and also have an opportunity for creative expression and acts of service or advocacy with our event partners. Activities might include listening to and/or participating in songs, dance, artwork, planting seeds or harvesting from the gardens outside of the church. Attendees might make a refrigerator sign or discover cooking ideas to help prevent food waste. Families might even make treats for animals, engage in yoga, make a craft out of recyclable materials, write a thank you letter to the earth or an advocacy letter to an elected official.

Location: Friedens United Church of Christ, 8300 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis, 46217

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Adventures in Gratitude

Discovering new ways to express “thanks” can be an exciting adventure! This self-directed open-house event for all ages invites us to experience gratitude for small things and the big things using our bodies, minds, voices, and spirits.

This event recognizes gratitude is not just something we feel, but something we do—and it is something that multiplies when we share it with others. Join us and expand your toolbox for “doing” gratitude!

Upon arrival guests will receive a map containing descriptions of the event spaces open for exploration. Singing, moving, writing, visual art, and meditation—explore it all for as long (or little) as you wish! Each person or family group is invited to choose what calls to them. For example, creating gratitude-focused lyrics for simple call and response songs, writing or drawing a thank-you note, expressing thanks in movement, or sitting in peaceful quiet.

Location: Irvington Presbyterian Church, 55 Johnson Ave., Indianapolis, 46219

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm & 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Balsa Wood, a play by Lou Harry

On the road away from rather than toward anything, Robin finds refuge in the home of Carrie, an iconoclast with an open heart and an open door, who provides a place—without judgment—for human strays. An audience-inclusive discussion about unspoken gratitude will follow the performance.

Intimately staged for a limited number of audience members at each performance, Balsa Wood centers on characters struggling with their pasts and finding connection with those who, on the surface, are different from themselves. Yes, it has intense moments, but it also has humor and provides a chance to see through the surfaces of those who seem unfamiliar.

In a post-performance discussion, audience members are invited to become part of an open discussion about unspoken gratitude and people they’ve known or witnessed who have done something for others without expectation or acknowledgement.

Location: Super Tortas, 2641 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, 46222

Sunday, November 3, 2024

12:00 pm - 1:15 pm: Awe: A Spirit & Place Festival Book Discussion

Ahead of this year’s Public Conversation, take a deep dive into Dacher Keltner’s book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life. Join us for a cross-cultural, multi-generational dialogue as we explore how we might tap into the power of everyday awe. Book club-style conversation led by Dr. David Craig and artist Rachel Hellmann.

Dacher Keltner has spent his career studying emotions such happiness, gratitude, and awe. His research, and the research of others, shows how messy human emotions are, in fact, messy for a reason. Humans evolved a complex range of emotions — including gratitude and awe — to help us find connections that exist between our individual selves and our communities. As Keltner writes in The Gratitude Project, “Gratitude depends on the humble dependence on others.” And, in Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life, he writes, “Awe enables us to see the systems underlying the wonders of life and locate ourselves in relation to them.” This discussion invites attendees to explore these connections.

Location: MTI School of Knowledge, 4950 W. 34th Street, Indianapolis, 46205

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm: The Cultural Construction of Gratitude

While the act of gratitude is universal, its expression is based on cultural norms. Our event invites you to learn about and explore how different cultures express gratitude through interactive vignettes and meaningful conversation.

“Gratitude” seems simple enough, but when you layer in different cultural interpretations, it becomes far more nuanced than one might expect. A politeness learned from an early age in one cultural setting may be seen as rudeness in another. In three short vignettes, audience members will experience scenes from different cultures illustrating various ways gratitude may be expressed. At one point the scene will freeze and a narrator will invite the audience into the scene, first by asking what they saw then by engaging the various actors (who will remain in character) in dialogue. The audience will have an opportunity to experience how different communities view gratitude and its expression while building their own cultural competencies.

Location: Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, 600 W. 70th Street, Indianapolis, 46260

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Balsa Wood, a play by Lou Harry

On the road away from rather than toward anything, Robin finds refuge in the home of Carrie, an iconoclast with an open heart and an open door, who provides a place—without judgment—for human strays. An audience-inclusive discussion about unspoken gratitude will follow the performance.

Intimately staged for a limited number of audience members at each performance, Balsa Wood centers on characters struggling with their pasts and finding connection with those who, on the surface, are different from themselves. Yes, it has intense moments, but it also has humor and provides a chance to see through the surfaces of those who seem unfamiliar.

In a post-performance discussion, audience members are invited to become part of an open discussion about unspoken gratitude and people they’ve known or witnessed who have done something for others without expectation or acknowledgement.

Location: Super Tortas, 2641 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, 46222

4:00 pm - 5:30 pm: A Blessing, not a Burden with Alex Kor and Graham Honaker

ASL provided by students in IUI’s Program in American Sign Language (ASL) and English Interpreting

By all accounts, Dr. Alex Kor’s life has been a miracle. The son of two Holocaust survivors, including the Mengel twin Eva Kor, Alex will discuss his book A Blessing, Not a Burden. Co-author Graham Honaker and Troy Fears of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center join the discussion.

Eva Kor, Alex Kor’s mother, was known for her controversial choice to forgive the Nazis. She did not forgive them on behalf of anyone but herself, and her choice to forgive was a way of giving herself peace and freedom from anger. During this event, Alex Kor will explore what it was like being raised by two Holocaust survivors who also experienced immigration to the United States, continued antisemitism, and post-traumatic stress. Through it all, Alex has retained a deep sense of gratitude for his upbringing and life’s journey.

Location: Arthur M Glick JCC – Laikin Auditorium, 6701 Hoover Rd., Indianapolis, IN

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Heiliger Dankgesang: Notes of Gratitude. Music by Biber, Clark, Haydn, and Beethoven

Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (ICO) musicians Alfred and Colette Abel will be joined by their children Benjamin and Clara for an afternoon of masterworks expressing gratitude through music. Join us in giving thanks for this sacred space, transcendent music, and life’s gifts.

Heiliger Dankgesang: Notes of Thanks is an exploration of gratitude through music by the Abel Family Quartet.

The cornerstone of the program is Beethoven’s String Quartet op. 132, of which the transcendent middle movement, “Holy Hymn of Thanksgiving” stands as the heart of the work. Written in the final years of his life, Beethoven grapples with his own mortality, ultimately finding joy and gratitude for the gifts of life and the return to health after a life-threatening illness. Complimenting this, the program will also include works by Biber, Haydn’s “Emperor” variations, and Richard Auldon Clark’s “Mabon.”

Location: Episcopal Church of All Saints, 1559 Central Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46202

Monday, November 4, 2024

12:00 pm - 3:30 pm: Serene — NOW!!

Step away from fuzzy brains and knotted shoulders and join us to experience an afternoon of centering a sense of gratitude and calm. Engage all your senses and look inward to look outward. Come-and-go style event!

Guests will be welcomed into a largely silent space – at least very quiet! They will be greeted, offered an event map, learn to say please, thank you, hello, and other words via ASL interpreters, and be encouraged to explore ways of finding calm and deep gratitude in a hectic and stress-filled world.  As they visit different stations, they will be able to create/color mandalas, read and reflect on passages from sacred texts and literature, be invited to respond to writing prompts for a group poetry creation or personal journaling, and create a gratitude/neighborly chain with Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood tools.  Guests may also listen to a curated contemplative playlist, walk a labyrinth, read articles on mental health wellness and gratitude practices, engage in meditation and sun salutations, and learn about ways they can give back to the community. There will be guides at each station, and guests can visit all or one. Each station will be appropriate for children and adults, and many will include take-home tools, too.

Location: St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W. 86th St., Indianapolis, IN 46260

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm: A Cinematic Quest for Gratitude Through Grief

Enjoy a screening of “The Secret Art of Human Flight” – a film offering both an absurd and poignant reflection on mourning – and then unpack the ways grief and gratitude co-mingle in a  community conversation facilitated by Indianapolis Queer Grief Community. All are welcome!

In “The Secret Art of Human Flight” (a 2023 Heartland International Film Festival selection), Ben Grady goes through an extreme mourning process. He discovers a mysterious self-help book on the dark web, written by an enigmatic guru named “Mealworm” who claims to have harnessed the power to fly. The book arrives . . . and so does Mealworm, forcing Ben to navigate his family life, accusations of foul play, and the bizarre rituals laid before him by his new mentor, in the hopes of healing and ultimately achieving human flight.

After the credits roll, audience members are invited to share their thoughts in discussion on grief and gratitude facilitated by Indianapolis Queer Grief Community.

Location: Heartland Film, 8950 Otis Ave., Indianapolis, 46216

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm: The Legacies We Hold: A Celebration of Our Ancestral Communities

Sharing one’s legacy is one of the biggest forms of gratitude we can display. Explore this act by voicing your appreciation for a loved one, adding to the gratitude garden, or experiencing “Unveiling a Forgotten Legacy” an homage to the Black communities that brought Indiana Avenue to life.

The foundation of this event is the photography exhibition, “Unveiling a Forgotten Legacy” which aims to bring awareness to the Black neighborhoods displaced by IUPUI’s expansion. Not only does the exhibit explore themes of gentrification, redlining, and the value or marginalized voices, it embodies the practice of Ubuntu: “I am because we are.” This event invites all of us to honor our family legacies and stories and welcomes all ages to share gratitude for their ancestors through interactive elements, conversation prompts, and more.

Location: Madam Walker Legacy Center, 617 Indiana Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46202

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Notes of Thanks: A Paperless Music Celebration

It’s Election Day. So, let’s sing! Let’s take a break from the news, cultivate community, and unite your voice in song to foster a sense of gratitude for – and belonging with – one another.

Order some snacks and a drink – it’s a pub, yes, you may order a beer! – and then be present with others on what is sure to be a long night. Offer hospitality and encouragement to each other by working with a music leader to collaborate on the joyous act of making music. It’s okay to feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, but we promise by taking a (low hanging!) risk of singing with strangers you will feel better about the civic bonds we are capable of creating with our friends and neighbors.

Location: Green Street Pub, 911 N. Green St., Brownsburg, 46112

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Driven by Gratitude

Meet the artists and enjoy a fiber art exhibit by INfiber inspired by reflections on gratitude from the staff and clients of Sheltering Wings. Be inspired to manifest more gratitude in your life. Come-and-go style gathering.

INfiber, a fiber arts group with a long history in the Spirit & Place Festival, knew they wanted to collaborate with a community partner whose message they could help amplify during the festival’s GRATITUDE year. When they discovered Sheltering Wings, a domestic violence shelter in Hendricks County, was focusing on their own theme of “driven by gratitude,” they knew they had found a perfect match.

Fiber artists began working with Sheltering Wings to thoughtfully gather ideas on gratitude generated by prompts presented to both staff and clients of the agency. This exhibit transforms their words and emotions into fiber art pieces for attendees to consider. Exhibit attendees are invited to find their own inspiration from these pieces and then create a “mini” art piece that the fiber artists will combine with the Sheltering Wings logo to create a larger artwork that will be donated to Sheltering Wings.

Location: Hendricks Live!, 200 W. Main St., Plainfield, 46168

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Exploring Wellness through Card Making

Create a thank-you card with the assistance of the Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center team. We’ll explore how our design choices echo the reflections we undergo in determining how best to express gratitude toward one another. Open to all ages!

Concrete—and fun — steps we can take to express appreciation can be difficult. Building off the Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center’s card-making workshop for patients, guests of all ages, from children to elders, are invited to artistically express their gratitude while reflecting on their design and word choices; colors, styles, and fonts; and how past expressions of gratitude have made them feel.

Location: Phoenix Theater Cultural Center, 705 N. Illinois Street, Indianapolis, IN

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: The Testimony Service: Gratitude Tea

Featuring a DIY tea-bar, a sound bath meditation, and curated testimonies from local voices, this event centers on the importance of practicing gratitude and love towards ourselves and the collective.

Whether you are new to the practice of gratitude or looking to deepen your understanding, our Gratitude Tea offers a welcoming space for personal growth and exploration. Indulge your senses at a DIY (herbal) tea bar before a lineup of local speakers share their inspiring stories and insights on the importance of gratitude in cultivating resilience, fostering positive relationships, and enhancing overall well-being. Our gathering will conclude with a rejuvenating sound bath meditation led by experienced practitioners.

Location: Broadway United Methodist Church, 609 E. 29th St., Indianapolis, IN 46205

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Gratitude in the Greatest Novel: Anna Karenina

Much is at stake in whether we go through our days feeling resentful or with a sense of gratitude. Fortunately, the “world’s greatest novel” offers deep insights into these matters, deepening our understanding of the many blessings of gratitude and its transformative power in our lives.

Gratitude seems like something we all learn as small children, when our parents tell us to say thank you. In fact, it is a great deal richer and more complex, and it should be a topic of life-long learning. If we lead thankless lives, we suffer, but if we can learn to cultivate our powers of gratitude, going forward with a sense of abundance instead of scarcity, we enrich both our own lives and those of others. This presentation will explore the complexities of gratitude by centering Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina – a book some of dubbed the “world’s greatest novel.” By contrasting the lives of characters who go through life resentfully, feeling they have nothing for which to feel grateful, to those who recognize and savor their many blessings, attendees will be encouraged to follow their own gratitude path.

Location: Zionsville Christian Church, 120 N. 9th St., Zionsville, 46077

Thursday, November 7, 2024

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm: Attitude of Gratitude: Finding Gratitude in Times of Loss

How do you maintain a sense of gratitude during times of loss? Panelists from diverse faith and belief backgrounds, as well as the Threshold Choir, will share their experiences and invite participants to also share.

Sharing from their sacred texts, music, theology, sacred art, photography, and personal lives, panelists will explore what their faith or belief communities have taught them about finding gratitude during times of loss. Created as a reflective and interactive experience, attendees will be given the opportunity to not only ask the panelists questions, but also reflect on select question prompts and listen to (and sing with!) the Threshold Choir.

Panelists in include Nabiha Mahmood, vice principal of the MTI School of Knowledge; Rev. Dr. Lynn Martin, chaplain and former pastor at Light of the World Christian Church; and Connor Bomar, Ayurvedic and yoga practitioner. Threshold Choir International has over 200 chapters and thousands of singers in several countries with a repertoire of almost 600 songs. Chapters send trios of singers sharing gentle songs of comfort in a cappella harmonies to homes, hospitals, and hospices.

Location: Indiana Interchurch Center – Krannert Hall, 1100 W. 42nd St., Indianapolis, IN 46208

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm: Sacred Steps: Interfaith Understanding through Dance

Join us for an engaging evening of dance, fellowship, and exploration around how different faiths express gratitude through movement. We hope you learn more about others and yourself through this performance-based event and reception.

Before the performance, enjoy a reception with the artists and local community partners where you’ll also be given a chance to reflect on the role gratitude has had in your life and how it might connect to a spiritual or faith tradition. Following the reception period, at least three dance performances will be featured. Each performance will include a brief narrative from the performers exploring how that group’s faith traditions are expressed and celebrated through dance.

Location: Franklin College, Old Main – Custer Theater, 101 Branigan Blvd., Franklin, 46131

Friday, November 8, 2024

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Coloring and Conversations

Cultivate a richer sense of gratitude—whether experiencing happiness or grief—through the mindfulness and creative expression generated through the simple act of coloring.

This 90-minute self-care workshop will introduce participants to practical tools for cultivating gratitude no matter the situation through guided conversation and the creative expression of coloring. Yes, coloring! Join us in this welcoming and accessible gathering that promotes social wellness and connection, grounding, and self-compassion.

Location: Indiana Interchurch Center – Room 226, 1100 W. 42nd St., Indianapolis, 46208

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Souls of the Seasoned Saints: An Exploration and Exhibition of Aging Bodies

Aging bodies have a wealth of knowledge to share with the world – their experiences, courage, triumphs, failures, and redirection. This exhibit highlights seasoned bodies to reclaim and uplift the
narratives and journeys of our elders. Exhibit opens at 6PM with the panel discussion beginning at 7PM.

We only get one body and the journey that body takes is filled with amazing life lessons. Yet, an obsession of appearing young permeates society. This photo exhibition— built around questions such as, “What advice would you give your younger self about the aging journey?”— aims to highlight seasoned bodies (55+) and encourage deep gratitude for the bodies we have. Too often we run away from the idea of getting older. We complain about changes with skin, firmness, attractiveness, and hope to distract the world from our “imperfections.”  However, if blessed, we all will age, shift, and change. This opportunity will remind attendees that aging is a gift, one that we are not all fortunate to receive. Join us in a spirit of for the bodies that come before us and the bodies we will one day leave behind.

Location: Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, 3535 W. Kessler Blvd. N. Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46222

Saturday, November 9, 2024

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Ordinary Joy

This family-friendly event will feature a variety of activities allowing participants to reflect on and explore the joy that can be found in ordinary routines of daily life.

During this come-and-go style/self-directed gathering, families will be engaged with activities ranging from printmaking to collaging, visual poetry, and more! In addition to hands-on art activities, assorted stations exploring “ordinary joys” such as gardening and auto maintenance will be available.

Location: Ivy Tech Community College – Lawrence Fairbanks Campus, 9301 E. 59th St., Indianapolis, 46216

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Walks & Arts

Participate in a guided and reflective walk through scenic Eagle Creek Park followed by creative opportunities to honor and express gratitude including a sound bath, visual art, poetry, and movement.

Upon arrival participants will be led on a gratitude walk through scenic Eagle Creek Park. (Gratitude walks will depart at multiple times during the event’s 3-hour window.) Afterwards, attendees will be invited to express their gratitude with a range of options including writing stations, dance and movement instruction, sound/listening areas, and visual arts. A joyous but reflective event, we recognize some participants may find themselves grateful for the memories of a passed loved one. There will also be a listening circle for anyone dealing with grief. Truly, all are welcome!

Location: Peace Learning Center at Eagle Creek Park, 6040 DeLong Rd., Indianapolis, 46254

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Having Our Stories Told: Preserving LGBTQ+ History

Remembrance is a gratitude that honors our past and propels us forward with love and knowledge. Join LGBTQ+ organizations from across Indianapolis for a community discussion and behind-the-scenes tour of the Indiana Historical Society LGBTQ collection.

Attendees are invited to explore holding of the IHS archives and engage in small group conversations examining the theme of gratitude as well as queer recognition, forgetting, agency, and storytelling. Guests will reflect on how these acts of acknowledgement, or lack of, influence understanding of queer communities and identity. Tour and talk with others to find new connections while delving into the IHS’s LGBTQ collection and deepen your sense of gratitude for past generations and the stories they’ve shared.

Location: Eugene and Marily Glick Indiana History Center, 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, 46202

Sunday, November 10, 2024

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm: 29th Annual Public Conversation featuring Dacher Keltner & Ebony Chappel moderated by R. Eric Thomas

What might a psychology scholar, local creative, and best-selling author and storyteller have to say about GRATITUDE? Join us and find out!

This year’s Public Conversation features Dacher Keltner who 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 and award-winning multimedia journalist, business owner and local community leader,  Ebony Chappel.  Moderated by R. Eric Thomas – best-selling author of Here for It, or, How to Save your Soul in America and Congratulations, The Best is Over! – we are sure this year’s conversation will be filled with some amazing (and affirming) twists and turns!

Location: Visionloft at the Stutz, 1060 N. Capitol Ave., Indianapolis, 46202

Fest Date: November 1 - 10, 2024

Location: Various Locations in Indianapolis, IN

Click here for more information.