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Come join the residents of the Indianapolis Peace House on Wednesday, July 30 for a gathering of our neighbors. Stop in any time from 5 to 8 pm to enjoy free entertainment, live music, food, and the company of the Indianapolis community. The house is located at 1421 Central Avenue, Indianapolis IN 46202.

What: Open House @ Indianapolis Peace House
When: 5-8 pm, July 30th
Where: 1421 Central Ave.
Cost: Free
Info: peacehouse.info@gmail.com

The Peace House is a program of the Indianapolis Peace Institute, founded by the Plowshares Collaborative of Goshen, Manchester, and Earlham, Indiana’s historic peace colleges.

There are 13 college students living at the Peace House, from 9 different colleges and universities and pursuing studies in everything from Art Therapy and English to Criminal Justice and Theology. The goal is to learn peace through action.

Each of the students is a full-time intern for local organization promoting peace in Indianapolis. And there are some awesome internships: working at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Exodus Refugee Center, and Big Car Gallery, to name a few. One of them is even working here at Provocate.org writing these event blurbs.

The philosophy behind this open house is that community is a lot bigger than the 13 people in the house. It’s about friends, neighbors, co-workers, people you meet at Kroger, and people you don’t know at all. It’s about the people who inspire you and teach you. And it’s about people outside your demographic—people who challenge your ideas.

That’s why the Peace House has invited the whole city of Indianapolis to their open house. They declare:

“You are our friends, neighbors, co-workers, random acquaintances, and even a few friends we haven’t met yet. You’re people we admire, people who believe in peace, and people who challenge us. In short, you are our community. When we get to know you, we create a space for peace.”

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Fifty years ago, the Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank transformed the way we see ourselves with his book Les Americains (The Americans), a photographic portrait of the United States. Then he decided to do the same for film. (more…)

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The Encyclopedia Britannica describes Frank Bidart as an “American poet whose introspective verse, notably dramatic monologues by troubled characters, deal with personal guilt, family life, and madness. His unconventional punctuation and typography give his colloquial and economical style an added emphasis.” (more…)

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ArtSparkle, the Indianapolis Art Center’s main fundraiser, will conclude the IAC’s excellent “Two Worlds, One Language through Art” exhibitions, and will be an excellent way to learn more about the city’s continuing engagement with Chinese culture in the autumn. (more…)

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How cool is it that Indiana has a Poet Laureate? Back in 2005, Mitch Daniels put his stamp of approval on a bill to create the position, with the intent of “increasing the awareness of poetry and the power of written and spoken verse” and probably also creating some good publicity for himself.

Nevertheless, the existence of a people’s poet in Indiana speaks volumes about the importance of the arts in culture. This month, Indiana inaugurated its newest Poet Laureate, Norbert Krapf. To celebrate, there’s a Poet Laureate Party at the American Cabaret Theatre where the public gets to wax poetic with Mr. Krapf (or schmooze, if you prefer).

Bonus: light refreshments catered by Kaffeeklatsch maven Jeannette Footman. And jazz with Monika Herzig on piano, Carolyn Dutton on violin, and Peter Kienle on bass. And that means the kind of jazz that Norbert gets to read his poetry with. (Cue fingersnaps.)

Where: The American Cabaret Theatre, the Athenaeum, 401 E Michigan Street, Indianapolis.
When: Sunday, July 27, starting at 5:30
Cost: Free
What the heck a Poet Laureate does: (officially) “represents the State of Indiana and the art of poetry through the development and implementation of programming to the education community and general public.” Thanks, Norbert!

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An artistic celebration of peace, nonviolence, and social justice. Saturday, August 9th, at 7 p.m. at the Bean Cup Coffee Shop, 8908 St. Peter St. (more…)

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It’s the Fourth of July! Why should you be spending your time hearing music, watching theatre, and seeing art?

Because supporting your community supports your country, without residual political guilt and without resort to the glorification of redemptive violence.

The Teen Arts and Music Festival gives rising artists a little space and time to share their music with the community. A more youthful counterpart to June’s Independent Music and Art Festival, but the idea remains the same: a day of free music, theatre, and art, with lots of the warm, fuzzy feelings one gets from supporting local, independent artists and not military might.

An all-day affair. Go to the MySpace page for the line-up (15 bands of teenagers), or the event website for contact information.

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Pulitzer Prize nominee Norbert Krapf reads the story of his German ancestors in Jasper at that masterpiece of Teutonic architecture, the Athenaeum. Join him at the Stammtisch, the elevated table where serious German men discuss elevated topics.

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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. (more…)

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A scroll both holy and profane. Iconic photos that 50 years ago redefined how America sees itself. (more…)

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