Arts, Community & Place: A Collaborative Workshop

Join us for a virtual speaker series like no other. Encompassing more than five disciplines, each speaker will present on a topic related to Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Sponsored by Hafer.

Two hundred years of art and literature in Indiana, from T.C. Steele to George Ade, Gene Stratton-Porter to Robert Indiana, Mari Evans to John Green and Adrian Matejka, serve as a jumping-off point for Kevin’s discussion of Indiana’s rural townships, towns, suburbs, and cities. Place is central to our identity and culture in Indiana, and Kevin’s discussion will evolve into a collaborative workshop to identify historical or cultural assets in your area and brainstorm ways to use contemporary arts, literature, and humanities to directly engage and strengthen local communities. Attendees will leave with ideas and plans for socially engaged art, cultural programs, community engagement, and placemaking and placekeeping.

Kevin is place-based writer, poet, designer, and social practice artist. His poetry book, Dream Wilderness, was published last year, and another book, Indiana Nocturnes, written with Curtis Crisler, will be published this year. He is at work on a novel and regularly completes workshops, art installations, and placemaking projects around Indiana. At University of Indianapolis, he serves as associate professor in the English Department and as director of the university’s Masters in Social Practice of Art program. Kevin grew up on the edge of a corn field near Lebanon, Indiana, and attended DePauw University and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Kevin’s presentation is sponsored by the Mason-Nordgauer Fine Arts Gallery.

Please register in advance for this program. To do so visit usi.edu/crossroadsspeakers. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.