Provocative Events Happening around Town this Summer
May 28 — John Clark on “Great Decisions indeed: Why Indianapolis needs its own foreign policy.” Consider the eight topics of the Great Decisions series: unending war in Iraq, the EU, grudging diplomatic discussions with our enemies, policy for an overstretched military, Latin America’s Leftists, undemocratic Russia and Putinism, trade with China, private philanthropy and foreign aid. All apparently disconnected from one another, all far away … but they all intimately touch Central Indiana, and we have a chance to contribute to solutions. If you missed this talk, don’t worry … you’ll have many chances to see it on cable-access in the middle of the night. And provocate.org will publish a copy here shortly. check it out
June 12 — Terrence McNally’s “Some Men” premieres (just in time for IndyPride). Just as the public debate over same-sex marriage heats up again, the Phoenix Theatre shows “Some Men,” a humorous examination of how gay men have viewed marriage and commitment over the past 80 years. A Culture Club recommendation … check it out
June 12 — Indianapolis International Film Festival shows “It’s Better if Gabriela Doesn’t Die” Catch the audience’s favorite movie from the recent Indianapolis International Film Festival under the stars. “It’s Better if Gabriela Doesn’t Die” is a satirical send-up of Mexican soap operas and the blurry line separating fiction from celebrity-obsessed reality. Get to Mass Ave Video’s Media Garden when it opens at 8:15, not just to reserve the best lawn chair … Mass Ave Wine Shop is offering a free tasting. The show is free, although the IIFF would appreciate any donation you can spare. A Culture Club recommendation … check it out
June 12 — Learn how to live greener with a green living guide Why don’t more of us live greener lives? It’s too expensive? We don’t know what impact our consumption has on the environment? We don’t know which local businesses are ecologically sound? John Steinbach will explain how a simple guide can answer these and many more questions. check it out
June 13 & 14 — Gregory Hancock Dance Company presents “Hooray for Bollywood” You can’t have an Indian movie without music and dancing. The Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre cuts out the movie and goes straight for the good stuff. check it out
June 13-15 — If jazz (and paying for tickets) is your idea of fun, head for the Indy Jazz Fest. There’s a lot more to it than jazz, some might say a bit too much. Provocate says check it out.
June 14 — Indy Pride Parade and Festival Be in the Mass Ave area when for one night it transforms into a rainbow rave. Scrunch up your eyes at when you attend the IndyPride’s parade — the party on wheels culminating Pride Week — and you might fool yourself into thinking you are in San Francisco. Open your eyes wide and beyond the drag queens throwing beads you’ll see that Indianapolis has a thriving GLBT community. It also has a lot of straight people committed to tolerance, diversity and serious dancing. A Culture Club recommendation … check it out
June 14 — If jazz (or paying for tickets) isn’t your idea of fun, head for Independent Music + Art Festival. Independent Music + Art Festival is a day long outdoor festival at the Harrison Center for the Arts featuring local musicians, visual artists, and other “independents,” a unique opportunity for interaction with other locals artists and the community. A Culture Club recommendation … check it out
June 14 & 15 — Talbot Street Art Fair Your grandfather might have attended the first Talbot Street Art Fair 53 years ago, when Herron Art School students tried to show off (and just maybe to sell) some of their works. Today it is one of the biggest neighborhood art fairs in the country, with more than 250 artists coming to Indianapolis from across North America to show off (and just maybe to sell) some of their works. Way bigger than in Grandpa’s day, but it costs the same for admission (zero) and it’s just as much fun. A Culture Club recommendation … check it out
June 15 — Footlite Musicals Silent Auction. It’s time to break out the top hat & black-tie and head back to Hedback Theatre for Footlite Musicals’s “A Night on Broadway.” check it out
June 17 — Provocate presents … A Debate over whether Tibetan independence is really such a good idea. We all know that the repression of Tibetan culture, religion and aspirations for independence is bad. Who wouldn’t thrill to the sight of the plucky Dalai Lama being greeted by throngs of cheering Tibetans and Chinese some day when he returns to a democratic Republic of Tibet? If any American would be able to claim a big share of credit for that happening some day, it would be Larry Gerstein, President of the International Tibetan Independence Movement. He’ll debate John Clark of Provocate, who willl explain why China and the US won’t allow that to happen … and together they will try to come up with ideas for how to move ahead. check it out
June 17 — Watch the Israeli comedy “Café Tales.” Newspapers and TV might lead us to think there is nothing in Israeli but terrorism and tragedy, oppression and resistance. Seeing a movie about a slice of Israeli life should be a way to correct this limited perspective. check it out
June 18 — Norbert Krapf shares “The Ripest Moments: A Southern Indiana Childhood”. Much of the creative career of poet Norbert Krapf has been exploring his family’s German roots .. with unexpected benefits for Indiana historians, the English language, German poetry, and our sense of Hoosier and American identity. All this from an Indiana-German community that Vonnegut thinks went into denial in 1917. Think how much creativity would be unleashed if we encourage our current newcomers to reimagine their roots. check it out
June 18 — Get Indy-Volved with Indy Hub Ever wanted to wander through the Children’s Museum when it is uncluttered by children? Maybe explore exciting new uses for caramel and alcohol while strolling through the Dinosphere? Indy Hub is putting together the best local social and civic organizations and grad schools to show young professionals Indy has to offer. Combine relaxed networking with free hors d’ouvres and complementary “turtletinis.” A Culture Club recommendation … check it out
June 18 — If jazz in a symphonic and poetic setting is your idea of fun, head for “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz,” presented by ISO, the Langston Hughes Project, and Ice-T! Grammy Award-wining gangster rap artist and lecturer Ice-T will join the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to provide dramatic narration as part of the world premiere of a fully orchestrated version of famed African-American poet Langston Hughes’ twelve-part masterwork titled “Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz.” This is the first time ever that Ice-T has performed with a symphony orchestra. A Culture Club recommendation, check it out.
June 19 — Public Forum about the IMA’s scaled-back plans for the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. The Indianapolis Museum of Art had plans for a unique art & nature park that could transform the way we think of museums, art, and nature. Now they have scaled back by half. Good news, bad news, or something else? The museum’s leaders explain their new and improved vision. check it out
June 20 — Provocate presents … World Refugee Day commemoration. Premise # 1: Central Indiana is receiving a grwoing number of refugees, which is a good thing but presents all of us with major challenges. Premise #2: At the same time, Hoosiers are working around the world with refugees and displaced persons. The conclusion from these two premises: We have a unique opportunity to help solve problems of poverty and social conflict globally and locally. check it out
June 21 — Exodus Refugee Immigration presents … “Indianapolis World Refugee Day” Give to a refugee and a refugee will return the favor. For instance, bring a dish of food to share at Exodus’s World Refugee Day celebration, and you can try some excellent food prepared by our newest Hoosiers. check it out
June 21 — IMA features “Mare Fecunditatis,” an inter-cultural celebration of Summer Solstice. Get your pagan groove going at the Museum with a celebration of the solstice that fuses East and West, the traditional and the novel … and features flying arrows! check it out
June 22 — Discuss the New Climate of Publishing with Indy writers. E-publishing to giant presses, query letters to multiple book deals – pre-published writers will sit equally with well-known published authors and talk about the pitfalls they have felt and the mountains they have overcome to seek and succeed at publication. check it out
June 24 — East and West: Centuries-old Japanese story-telling artform meets American stand-up comedy. What happens when Rakugo, a centuries old storytelling artform from Japan, meets US-style stand-up? We’ll have a chance to see when Katsura Kaishi comes to Carmel. check it out
June 26 — Opening of IMA’s “On the Road Again with Jack Kerouac and Robert Frank.” A scroll both holy and profane. Iconic photos that 50 years ago redefined how America sees itself. check it out
June 26 — Sagamore Institute presents the final installment of its study of immigration and education in Indiana. A year and a half in the making, so many numbers that will thrill autistic savants, sweeping predictions about the future of the Indiana economy, recommendations about new ways of thinking about trust and civil society … this will be big summer blockbuster for policy wonks. Check back here for sneak previews. check it out
June 26 - Experience a slice of soul at the Madame Walker Theatre Center. Together, Indiana Avenue and MLK Street carve out the triangular Madame Walker Theatre Center on the Indianapolis grid. It’s an intersection with a lot of soul. And together, the Madame Walker Theatre and Asante Children’s Theatre of Indianapolis will carve out a slice of soul to serve up to the public, starting June 26th with the dance musical titled “Soul Clap & Dance [Bodies in Motion, Words in Rhythm, Celebrating the Meaning of Soul].”check it out
June 28 — Gala Opening for “Two Worlds, One Language Through Art”. If you hang out around the art and cultural scene in Central Indiana the second half of 2008, you’ll be hearing a lot of Chinese. The Indiana Art Center kicks off this important period with “Two Worlds, One Language Through Art” … and for the right price, you can be part of the gala kick-off of the kick-off. check it out
June 29 — Opening of “Two Worlds, One Language Through Art” to friends (this means you). The Indianapolis Art Center presents two months of Chinese art, workshops, music, films, dancing, talks … perhaps it’s a great time to be Chinese living in Indiana, but it’s an even greater time to want to learn about China while living in Indiana. Be there from the beginning, and go back repeatedly. check it out
June 30 - July 1 — Discussions with faculty members of the Shandong College of Art. Talk with Chinese artists and teachers about aspects of art and culture … then look at the art in the Art Center and around the city with fresh eyes. check it out
July 2 — An evening of music and dance from all over China. Dragon and lion dancers, music from the Beijing opera, dynasty fashion show, Xinjiang Folk Dance … and as they say, much much more. check it out
July 8 — Watch one of the best Chinese films ever, “Raise the Red Lantern”. A subtle and complex examination of women and vulnerability in China in the 1920s … no wonder the Chinese censors had such a tough time deciding whether to squash or not. check it out
July 10 — Launch Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration with Jesse Jackson leading an ecumenical service. Every year Indiana Black Expo starts with an ecumencal religious service. What better way to kick it all off than with joyful praise and worship? And this year, it is led by Rev. Jesse Jackson. Should be good for a thrill or more. check it out
July 10 — Poetry in the Gallery: American Motion. Local poets read work directly inspired by Robert Frank’s famous photographs, compiled into a 1958 book called The Americans. A mix of life-in-motion portraits and inconclusive scenes shot during an ambling U.S. tour in the mid-fifties, Frank’s influential photos catch Americans in all their cultural variety and mystery, from subway riders to politicians and cross-dressers. check it out
July 12 - Support Ambassadors For Children at the AFC Peace Award VIP reception and dinner. You may have to pay $150 a plate at the AFC Peace Award VIP reception and dinner, but it’s well worth it. Not only will you feast your palate on the delicious cuisine, your eyes on the international decor, and your ears on the delightful music, but you’ll also get to be a part of the humanitarian efforts the AFC’s Peace Award recognizes. check it out
July 13 — Living Forever in Ancient Egypt (or how 4000 year old practices illuminate our views of death today). Every person in ancient Egypt seemed obsessed with death and the life thereafter, but only a few could afford to turn themselves into mummies that would terrorize archaeologists in the 20th century. For ordinary Egyptians, the question was how much immortality they could afford. Attend the opening of IMA’s exhibition “To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum,” and hear how similar are our views today. check it out
July 17 — Kerouac Lives: A Visual Tribute. Check out the Midwest film premiere of On the Road Now: Artists and Writers Respond to Kerouac in the 21st Century, a reflection on the Kerouac beat legacy featuring Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Amiri Baraka, and others. Head conservator Jim Canary, curator of the scroll at Indiana University’s Lilly Library, will introduce the film and afterward, show images of the scroll’s own roadtrip across the world. check it out
July 18 — Statewide Forum to Promote Cultural Competence in Education. The Indiana Department of Education is partnering with Indiana Black Expo to figure out how to increase cross-cultural understanding and to help all children succeed in school. check it out
July 18 — Immortality in art, dance, and a mummy movie. Visualize the ancient Egyptian quest for eternal life. Feel the press of the gods’ judgments and witness the elaborate journey toward divinity. Performance, dance music and language meld in this one-time presentation by NoExit Performance, Inc., inspired by To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum. Then see a screening of the latest film version of “The Mummy.” check it out
July 23 — WEB DuBois & the Encyclopedia Africana by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is one of the few American scholars who can match the breadth of expertise and the passionate commitment to justice of W.E.B. Du Bois. That must be why he is the Director of W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard. In fact, his career parallels that of Du Bois in many ways, including efforts by both to create comprehensive encyclopedia of Africans and African Diaspora. Hear Gates discuss the Du Bois, the history of Africans in the world (and the impact of the world on Africans) … and his experiences with Oprah. check it out
July 24 — Phoenix Theatre opens “Love Person,” a play about misinterpretation (and performed in American Sign Language, Sanskrit, spoken English, and projected e-mail). Love Person intertwines language and love in a poetic and feverish game of deception as it explores the boundaries of language and how we interpret (literally and figuratively) the people around us. Two couples, four people, three cultures, and four relationships blossom, break, sustain, repair, and flourish in this polyglot play. A modern-day, multimedia Cyrano DeBergerac.
check it out
July 26 — Experience cycling as it was meant to be: from the comfort of a lawn chair check it out
July 26 & 27 — Just when you thought it was safe to go to a Baroque concert …” Says the Pittsburgh Gazette: “If the Rolling Stones played recorder, violin, cello and harpsichord and their genre was 17th-century music, they would be the band called Red Priest.” check it out
August 5 — View the powerful Chinese film, “Still Life.” The Three Gorges Dam in China is perhaps the greatest feat of concrete engineering in human history and the worst environmental disaster in the history of a civilization that has made many. in addition to its grand macro-consequences, the dam affects the intimate lives of individuals … the theme of the critically acclaimed Chinese film, “Still Life.” check it out
