Artists & Community Speaker Series with Daniel Gray-Kontar, Raymond Bobgan, and Uzuri Asad
2021-05-27 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis)
Join us for the second installment of this four part series developed with artists and neighbors who are doing work related to or influencing our thinking with the Artist and Public Life affordable artist housing residency in our neighborhood on the near Southside of Indianapolis.
This episode will include Executive Artistic Director of Twelve Literary Arts Daniel Gray-Kontar, Executive Artistic Director of the Cleveland Public Theater Raymond Bobgan, and APLR artist Uzuri Asad.

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Made possible by PNC Bank.

About Daniel Gray-Kontar
Daniel Gray-Kontar is a poet, teacher, youth mentor, rapper, journalist, and education activist. He has worked as an advocate for social transformation in the city of Cleveland for more than 25 years. Gray-Kontar is an education consultant for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; writer-in-residence at MOCA Cleveland; the former chair of the Literary Arts Department at the Cleveland School of the Arts; and a former graduate school fellow at UC Berkeley’s College of Education. His work in arts education has been showcased on PBS Newshour, The UK Guardian, NPR, and The Christian Science Monitor, among other news media outlets. Gray-Kontar has lectured at universities, public schools, arts organizations and scholarly conferences across the US. His Ted Talk discussing youth leadership in public school education has affected the ways public school administrators think about the inclusion of youth and their families in the process of re-making school cultures and curricula.

About Uzuri Asad
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Uzuri Asad now lives and works in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Indianapolis as part of Big Car Collaborative’s Artist in Public Life Residency program. She’s a singer, dancer, choreographer, and jewelry-maker. Formally trained in West African dance and contemporary movement, her art is guided by lived experiences and her cultural upbringing. Her style is a unique blend of fluid, free flowing, yet intentional movements. For Asad, dance is a sacred means of individual expression that lives and breathes through her.

Artists & Community Conversation Series- Cal Cullen, Allen Woods, Dr. Jarrod Dortch
2021-07-22 19:00 - 20:00
Join us for the third installment of this four part series developed with artists and neighbors who are doing work related to or influencing our thinking with the Artist and Public Life affordable artist housing residency in our neighborhood on the near Southside of Indianapolis.
This episode will include Executive Director of Wavepool Cal Cullen, Executive Director of Mortar Allen Woods, and APLR artist Dr. Jarrod Dortch
Made possible by PNC Bank.

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About Cal Cullen
Calcagno Cullen is a social practice artist, arts educator, and curator. She is founder and Executive Director of Wave Pool Arts Center, a gallery, studio space, and socially-engaged arts activator in Cincinnati, and the co-founder of The Welcome Project, a social-enterprise and makerspace for and by Cincinnati’s refugees and immigrants. She has previously worked in the education department of SFMOMA, the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, California and was the Director of Adobe Books Backroom Gallery in San Francisco,. She is a member of the women’s art collective The FemFour, and collaboratively organizes the traveling exhibition and catalog of Women’s March posters entitled ‘Still They Persist.’ She has also curated and organized a multitude of exhibitions including ‘Dial Collect’ in 2013 at SOMArts in San Francisco, ‘Social Medium’ at Wave Pool, a segment of ‘Bay Area NOW 7’ at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Survival Adaptations at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery. She has been artist in residence at The Center for Great Neighborhoods in Covington, KY, Lo Studio dei Nipoti in Calabria, Italy, Teple Misto in Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine, and in Sardegna, Italy. Her work has been shown in solo shows at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, and elsewhere. Her personal mission is to “create empathy and social change through contemporary art.”

About Allen Woods
Managing Partner & Creative Director of Mortar

Woods is a devoted husband, father and entrepreneur – in that order. A lifelong Midwesterner, he’s never allowed the size of a city to place a limit on the size of his dreams. Allen is the creative force behind the MORTAR brand, as well as a business consultant and training facilitator for incoming students.
His determination (or stubbornness – as his mom would call it) has allowed him to develop a resiliency that has grown with him on his entrepreneurial journey. Recognized as a 2016 Cincinnati Business Courier 40 under 40 Business Leader, 2017 John F. Barrett Entrepreneur Vision Award and 2017 Echoing Green BMA Fellow, Woods is also a sought-after public speaker who recently shined on the TEDx stage. As a brand strategist and designer, Allen assisted directly in the growth of hundreds of small businesses and personal brands across the globe.
When Allen isn’t at MORTAR, he’s probably somewhere with his wife, Kyla, planning or recording the next episode of their brand new marriage podcast, Permanent Plus One.

About Dr. Jarrod Dortch
Dr. Jarrod Nicholas Dortch is a Professor of Communication at Ivy Tech Community College in Muncie, Indiana. He also serves as the owner and operator of Solful Gardens, a local urban agriculture startup specializing in bringing Fresh.Urban.Natural produce to clients’ properties and working with community gardens. He has been affiliated with Big Car as a Community Artist and as Community Gardener at the Tube Factory artspace. He is currently working with Listen Hear and WQRT 99.1 FM. He enjoys bringing together art, education, and gardening to help to enrich the experiences of communities and their denizens.

Kelvin Burzon and Jenny Delfuego: Process/Progress
2022-03-04 18:00 - 2022-03-25 18:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Multi-genre visual artists Kelvin Burzon and Jenny Delfuego are creating movement-based work to accompany their visual art as part of a partnership between Big Car Collaborative and Indy Movement Arts.
In the fall of 2020, Indy Movement Arts began experimenting with small, digital fellowships as a small contribution towards the arts economy and keeping artistic production viable. The Process/Progress residency is the latest iteration of this experiment, paying intermedia artists to reflect on their creative process and how they incorporate movement into their practice.
The residency was conceived as a digital one but given that Indy Movement Arts is rooted in movement and dance, a discipline that often involves some immediate interchange between artist and audience, the artists were commissioned in partnership between the two organizations to make a new work involving such an interchange.

About the artists:
Kelvin Burzon’s recent work addresses, but does not attempt to resolve, the tension between religion and homosexuality. He examines religion’s traditions, imagery, theatricality, and psychological vestige. By appropriating religious imagery and language, the work is recontextualized by the insertion of LGBTQ members and activists. Burzon’s work has been exhibited abroad and all over the country and is part of several permanent collections including the Kinsey Institute and The Center for Photography at Woodstock.

Jenny Delfuego was born in Chicago to immigrant parents and has been exhibiting work under different monikers since the 90s. She examines ephemerality, light and shadow, and the edges of impermanence. The indications of our existence are often made and unmade in the time it takes to observe them. Her involvement with Indy Movement Arts has promoted experiments in communal conversation and collaboration. What marks, what indications do these conversations leave? Delfuego studied painting at Indiana University and her work is in private and corporate collections on five continents.

The exhibit is made possible by The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Performances will take place March 25th

pLopLop Vol. 14 Submission Form
2022-03-17 08:00 - 2022-08-01 17:00
Are you a writer? Have something to say? Want to put it in print? Submit your work to PLopLop! 100 word limit. Submissions are due by August 1.
pLOpLop is an “Antholozine” of Poetry, Prose and Artwork published by Indianapolis, IN based visual artist, Big Car co-founder and writer John Clark since 1992.
pLopLop has published the work of writers like Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Fielding Dawson, Eileen Myles, Gerald Locklin and more.
Influences: Surrealism, Dada, Henry Miller, Patchen, lo-fi indie rock, DIY activities, indie publishers and bookshops, British Invasion, mimeo-revolution, underground writers, garage rock and improvisation.

The Color of Pomegranates
2022-03-23 19:30 - 21:00 | Kan-Kan Cinema, 1258 Windsor St., Indianapolis, IN, 46201, United States
Join Kan-Kan Cinema and Big Car Collaborative for the screening of “The Color of Pomegranates” (Sayat Nova). The late Soviet director, Sergei Paradjanov, makes an earnest attempt to fuse poetry and film by seriously exploring the poetic potential of the cinema.
A breathtaking fusion of poetry, ethnography, and cinema, Sergei Parajanov’s masterwork overflows with unforgettable images and sounds. In a series of tableaux that blend the tactile with the abstract, “The Color of Pomegranates” revives the splendors of Armenian culture through the story of the eighteenth-century troubadour Sayat-Nova, charting his intellectual, artistic, and spiritual growth through iconographic compositions rather than traditional narrative. The film’s tapestry of folklore and metaphor departed from the realism that dominated the Soviet cinema of its era, leading authorities to block its distribution, with rare underground screenings presenting it in a restructured form. This edition features the cut closest to Parajanov’s original vision, in a restoration that brings new life to one of cinema’s most enigmatic meditations on art and beauty.
A deliriously beautiful film “The Color of Pomegranates” stays in the mind long after the film has run its course.
Big Car Co-founder & Director of Programming and Exhibitions, Shauta Marsh will host a discussion and Q&A post the film.

Frida Está Chida
2022-07-09 10:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
El 6 de Julio de 1907, en Coyoacán, México nació una pintora conocida por sus famosos autorretratos. Frida Kahlo se convirtió en una fuerza del movimiento surrealista al crear un estilo único mezclando elementos de la naturaleza y la identidad mexicana con aspectos de su vida.

On July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico a painter was born, known for her famous selfportraits. Frida Kahlo became a force in the surrealist movement by creating a unique style mixing elements of nature and the Mexican identify and aspects of her life.

La imágen de Frida continua influyendo la cultura popular. El Festival İFrida está Chida! celebra la influencia de Frida Kahlo a nivel mundial atravesando fronteras, idiomas y tiempo.

Frida’s image continues influencing pop culture. The Frida está Chida! Festival celebrates Frida Kahlo’s influence worldwide piercing through borders, languages and time.
Con sus propias creaciones en honor a Frida, los artistas presentados en éste Festival muestran la fuerza de la imágen de la famosa pintora mexicana.

With their own creations in honor of Frida, the Festival’s artists showcase the famous Mexican painter’s force.

Este evento es familiar y abierto al publico. Están invitados a traer su mejor atuendo para celebrar a Frida porque….Frida está Chida!

This is a family event open to the public. You are invited to join the celebration by wearing your best Frida custom because…Frida está Chida!

Artistas y Vendors participating :
Monica Valadezza
K Cun Aragon
Luz Yoli Urquiza
Samuel Penaloza
Konny Rivera
Mary Mindola
Gissa Mur
Juan Gabriel Tiscareno
Gelone Broadnax’ Gelone’s Creations
Artesanias Mexicanas y Novedades
Alo Croschet
Sophia’s Bows
Maria Moreno
Esperanza Alonzo
Artesanias Ramirez
Comida/Food
Tortas Guicho Food Truck
Musica en Vivo:
Yuri Rodriguez, cantara canciones de Chavela Vargas

Image by: Mary Mindola

Carlie Foreman: Full Disclosure
2022-08-05 18:00 - 2022-09-18 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Full Disclosure’s mixed media works find inspiration in collective memory and how it’s intertwined with the natural world. Foreman looks at the relationship between symbolism in ancient sites, churches and secret societies. She also explores modern-day meme culture in relation to familiar patterns of sacred geometry and environmental symbols. She views the research, process, and creation of this work as a vehicle for spiritual transformation.
Foreman says: “A built network of beliefs becomes ingrained in the DNA of the land, a part of the vibrational fingerprint of the space and its history of culture, conflict, displacement, etc. Energetically, I seek connection and translation of ancestral knowledge to honor the work of those who came before us and to build upon it with the mission of progressing toward a safe and equitable environment.”
In this, her second solo exhibit, Foreman uses color, video, projection mapping, and interactive video to reflect on how the electromagnetic light spectrum and the vibration of sound create a network of living substances.“When you choose love, you’re lifted,” says Foreman. “Full Disclosure works to visualize a future where we feel a wholesome connection to the space around us — within, on earth and beyond. I hope we can start conversations about how our world is connected — energetically and geometrically. And talk about how we can feel empathy and responsibility for collective growth. Each of us is a pillar in the bridge that takes us from our past to our future. We’re a bridge to a different world. We got here just in time!”
About the artist
Carlie Foreman is a multi-disciplinary artist from Indianapolis and studied sculpture at Herron School of Art and Design — a school of Indiana University at IUPUI. Foreman lives in Garfield Park, serves as the director of operations for Big Car Collaborative, and is a board member with the Garfield Park Neighbors Association. With interest in work that focuses on vibration and connection, Foreman works in fine arts, public art, and place-based activation. Since July of 2018, Foreman has hosted Good Vibrations, an electronic radio show, on 99.1 WQRT LP Indianapolis.
This exhibition is made possible by The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Allen Whitehill Clowes Foundation.

Art is Around the Corner with Giselle Trujillo
2022-09-01 11:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Make something cool out of provided recyclables.
Co-presented by Arte Mexicano en Indiana.

About Giselle Trujillo
Trujillo is an art designer & producer who specialized murals, sculptures, illustrations, videos, staging, and more. Inside of me, like inside of everyone, there are many characters waiting to come out in order to be somehow present in this world. They come out from a pencil and play with papers, from our mind and play with our life.
“Once, when I was a child, I was close to the sea and I understood everything it said to me. then my hands made a face, a body; some faces, some bodies that watched me, touched me, and I watched them and touched them and then they abandoned me, leaving with the sea, melting themselves with all those characters who were born and going to be born from the sand and they had left with the breeze and with the sea (they are still my friends that I will never see again).
It happened the same with the mud, but the faces and the bodies wouldn’t leave. and here they were; I didn’t plan them, I didn’t make a sketch of them and they appeared. They wake me up any hour, any time talking to me, moving through my hands and when they say ” leave me like this ” I transform them in stone… …And my mind and my soul will rest in the stone, in the paper and in the sand, which had already gone.”–Trujillo

Circle SPARK brings you activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. It is located on Monument Circle in the southwest quad. Hours: Mondays – Thursdays 11 am to 2 pm | Wednesdays 5-9 pm | and Fridays 11 am to 9 pm. SPARK is a project of Big Car, Downtown Indy, and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Lunch Break Live-Emma Peridot
2022-09-06 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Emma Peridot is driven to create music that will capture the hearts of masses, all the while remaining unapologetic about who she is. Her alt-pop sound blends elements of pop-rock and electropop, and her lyrical content examines traditional themes of love, lust, angst and heartbreak, while also getting vulnerable about anxiety, self-doubt, and insecurity.
Her beginnings are humble; during her college years she began releasing music on Soundcloud and performing in small clubs and dive bars around Indianapolis and other nearby cities. But after securing an opening slot for Quinn XCII at Butler University, a confidence was ignited in her that she has something special. Fans have witnessed her hustle since then, and she shows no signs of stopping. As a young, LGBTQ+ pop artist, it’s all about the journey of documenting her experiences in a way that resonates with all those who feel misunderstood. She states, “If my music impacts any number of people in a meaningful way, that’s all I need to feel like I’m fulfilling my purpose.”
​

Made possible by Lake City Bank

WALKING WEDNESDAYS-Indy’s German Heritage
2022-09-07 18:00 - 20:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
This week explore Indianapolis German American History with architectural historian Bill Selm. You don’t need to be German to take the tour…just interested in knowing more about this particular history of Indianapolis. Cosponsored by IUPUI Interior Design Technology & Indiana German Heritage Society.
ALL TOURS MEET at the trailer on the southwest quad of Monument Circle. Expect to walk between a half-mile and 2 miles total. In case of bad weather, cancellation decisions will be made by 3 p.m. Check SPARK social media or website for updates.
* FREE *

What’s This?
We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based from the southwest quadrant in front of the Emmis.

Dear You, Love Home with Brandon Schaaf
2022-09-08 11:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Where did you live that you miss the most? Where did you live that you hated? Who lives there now? What would you say to them? Are there secrets to reveal? Artist Brandon Schaaf will bring stationary and help you write the perfect letter to the current inhabitant.
About BRANDON SCHAAF is a visual and performance artist in Indianapolis, Indiana and a founding member of collaborative artist collective Know No Stranger since 2009.
Schaaf’s visual work includes character design, 2D animation, and illustration.
His performance work includes writing, music, singing, and acting.
His karaoke go-tos include Come Sail Away by Styx, Just A Gigolo by Louis Prima, and War by Edwin Starr.
What is this?
Circle SPARK brings you activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. It is located on Monument Circle in the southwest quad. Hours: Mondays – Thursdays 11 am to 2 pm | Wednesdays 5-9 pm | and Fridays 11 am to 9 pm. SPARK is a project of Big Car, Downtown Indy, and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Thursdays on the Mall Film Series-Rocky IV
2022-09-08 19:00 - 23:00 | 55 E Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
The Indiana War Memorials Foundation in partnership with Indy Film Fest and us at Big Car invite everyone to gather in Indy’s backyard, American Legion Mall (700 N. Pennsylvania St.) for a summer evening and free movie screening of Rocky IV on July 7. Enjoy food trucks, beer from Sun King Brewing, popcorn, Spark games from us at Big Car, and more. Bring a lawn chair or blanket, soak in city views, and spend time with your neighbors. The fun kicks off at 7 pm, movie starts at dusk!
Rocky Balboa (Stallone) holds the world heavyweight championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky’s training regimen takes him to Siberia, where he prepares for a globally televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him what he’s about to face — a fight to the finish, in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honor of his country!
This event is outdoors. Check back on the Indiana War Memorials Foundation page for weather updates.

WALKING WEDNESDAYS-The Circle City’s Namesake Landmark
2022-09-14 18:00 - 20:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
With this Walking Wednesday you can gain deeper appreciation for Indianapolis’s symbolic heart by exploring the history and architecture of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument and the buildings that encircle it. Tours presented by Indiana Landmarks.
ALL TOURS MEET at the trailer on the southwest quad of Monument Circle. Expect to walk between a half-mile and 2 miles total. In case of bad weather, cancellation decisions will be made by 3 p.m. Check SPARK social media or website for updates.
* FREE *
What’s This?
We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based from the southwest quadrant in front of the Emmis.

Evening Embers: Ambient Music with Clare Longendyke
2022-09-14 18:30 - 19:30 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Pianist Clare Longendyke’s dazzling musicianship and colorful interpretations delight audiences wherever she performs. Critics have lauded her “artistic ferocity that captivated and astonished listeners,” (Waverly Newspapers), her “great virtuosity and delicacy,” and the “loving attention” she pays to the music she performs (Hyde Park Herald). Recognized as a firebrand in the classical music field for the expressive energy and originality she brings to new and traditional repertoire, the effervescent soloist and chamber musician aspires to foster interpersonal connections between people from diverse backgrounds to catalyze conversation and the exchange of unique perspectives through music performance.
Set apart by her inspiring touch and mesmerizing way of sharing music, Longendyke is a sought-after soloist, performing over 50 concerts a year in North America and Europe. Recent orchestral partners include the Federal Way Symphony Orchestra of Washington, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra of Minnesota, and the Mississippi Valley Orchestra.
Longendyke’s appeal has earned her performances as a featured soloist in notable concert series such as The University of Chicago Presents, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, the Fazioli Piano Series in Los Angeles, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ SoundBites Series. She has also performed at renowned festivals, including the Alba Music Festival of Italy, the European American Musical Alliance of France, the New Music on the Point Festival, and the Mostly Modern Festival.
Longendyke blends a passion for music’s classical tradition with an infectious commitment to what she calls “the music of our time.” Her advocacy for innovative music and programming are evident through Music in Bloom, a new music festival she founded in 2019.
In the last decade, she has premiered over 150 new compositions and performed the music of today’s most exciting living composers—Joan Tower, Shawn Okpebholo, Mason Bates, Vivian Fung, Gabriela Lena Frank, Amy Williams, and others. Recent recordings include Homage to Nadia Boulanger: Works for Viola and Piano with Rose Wollman, and In the City, new works for Saxophone and Piano with Andrew Harrison. Her debut solo CD featuring works by Claude Debussy, Amy Williams, and Anthony R. Green is planned for release in early 2023.
Before earning master’s and doctoral degrees at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Longendyke completed degrees at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, and the École Normale de Musique in Paris. The ardent Francophile and French-speaking pianist received the Fulbright-Harriet Hale Woolley Award in the Arts to study music in Paris as an undergraduate.
​A dedicated educator, Longendyke is equally passionate about helping young creators develop their musical skills as she is preparing them to become ambassadors of classical and contemporary music in their communities. She has led workshops and masterclasses at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the State University of New York at Fredonia, the University of Kansas, the University of Northern Iowa, and Wartburg College. Hailed as “a sparkling pianist” by the Hyde Park Herald, Longendyke is on track for a transcendent musical career.

Block Printing with Jane Sun Kim & Yeabsera Tabb
2022-09-16 11:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Winter is coming, make your own dainty hankie! Artists Jane Sun Kim and Yeabsera Tabb worked together to research connective patterns, created a woodblock and will demonstrate the printmaking process on vintage hankies.
Yeabsera Tabb is an interdisciplinary visual artist with a focus in printmaking and textiles. Her work explores the intersectionalities and liminal space contained within one’s personal identity.
Yeabsera was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and came to America at the age of 13. Her work addresses her lived experience inhabiting multiple identities both as a Black woman in America and as an immigrant.
Free
Circle SPARK brings you activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. It is located on Monument Circle in the southwest quad. Hours: Mondays – Thursdays 11 am to 2 pm | Wednesdays 5-9 pm | and Fridays 11 am to 9 pm. SPARK is a project of Big Car, Downtown Indy, and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

WALKING WEDNESDAYS-Haiku Hike
2022-09-21 18:00 - 20:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Learn about the art of haiku observation and try your hand at some in-the-moment, 3-line poems led by poet, Big Car executive director and SPARK lead artist Jim Walker. Co-create a linked group haiku (renga) with your fellow walkers. And we’ll record haiku to air on WQRT FM. Everyone gets a free little notebook.
ALL TOURS MEET at the trailer on the southwest quad of Monument Circle. Expect to walk between a half-mile and 2 miles total. In case of bad weather, cancellation decisions will be made by 3 p.m. Check SPARK social media or website for updates.
Free
What’s This?
We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based from the southwest quadrant in front of the Emmis.

Evening Embers: Ambient Music with Landon Caldwell
2022-09-21 18:30 - 19:30 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Landon Caldwell is a composer and multi-disciplinary artist in Indianapolis whose work examines environment, family, & class through the language of intuition and other hidden layers of reality.
He has toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe and is regularly engaged with artists and musicians across the Midwest and beyond. Since 2016 he has co-operated Medium Sound, producing a number of the label’s releases.
From 2017 to 2020 he was a co-owner/operator of A-Space, a community-focused audio workspace. Since 2020 his work with sound has ventured into conceptual, performative, and installation based work.
His collaborative work expands into multi-disciplinary fields, working with film, visual arts, sculpture, poetry, dance, and more.

WALKING WEDNESDAY-Ugly Ducklings
2022-09-28 18:00 - 20:00
Join historians Jordan Ryan and Callie McCune for a look at the hidden tales and amazing stories behind buildings you might love to hate: City-County Building, the Gold Building, the former Anthem building on Monument Circle, and others. You may even learn to love some of Indy’s most unseemly architecture.
ALL TOURS MEET at the trailer on the southwest quad of Monument Circle. Expect to walk between a half-mile and 2 miles total. In case of bad weather, cancellation decisions will be made by 3 p.m. Check SPARK social media or website for updates.

* FREE *

What’s This?
We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based from the southwest quadrant in front of the Emmis.

Evening Embers: Ambient Music with Michael Raintree
2022-09-28 18:30 - 19:30 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Michael Raintree is one of the alter music egos of Sean describes his music as “experimental R&B.” He’s created a unique soundscape for the project, featuring distorted layers of synthesizers and drum machines with heavily-processed vocals.

Sean Oreo Jones is an artist currently residing in Indianapolis. With his original focus on hip-hop culture, Jones has sharpened his craft as a musician touring around the country. Since 2010, Oreo Jones has released over 9 studio albums, participated in artist residencies, and received awards for his work in the hip-hop community.
As a community organizer with an artistic purpose, Sean founded “Chreece,” one of the Midwest’s largest hip-hop festivals.

Color Readings with Carlie Foreman
2022-09-29 11:00 - 13:00
Colors are vibrations of light. As vibrational beings, we resonate with different colors at different times.
There are literally thousands of life color variations. Foreman will be able to tell you more about yourself based off colors you pick.

About the artist
Carlie Foreman is a multi-disciplinary artist from Indianapolis and studied sculpture at Herron School of Art and Design — a school of Indiana University at IUPUI. Foreman lives in Garfield Park, serves as the director of operations for Big Car Collaborative, and is a board member with the Garfield Park Neighbors Association. With interest in work that focuses on vibration and connection, Foreman works in fine arts, public art, and place-based activation. Since July of 2018, Foreman has hosted Good Vibrations, an electronic radio show, on 99.1 WQRT LP Indianapolis.

WALKING WEDNESDAYS-Magical History Tour
2022-10-05 18:00 - 20:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Artist, scavenger, and raconteur Kipp Normand guides you on a stroll through the oddities of Indianapolis history and spaces. Get ready for weird.
ALL TOURS MEET at the trailer on the southwest quad of Monument Circle. Expect to walk between a half-mile and 2 miles total. In case of bad weather, cancellation decisions will be made by 3 p.m. Check SPARK social media or website for updates.
* FREE *
What’s This?
We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based from the southwest quadrant in front of the Emmis

Evening Embers: Ambient Music with Dj Little Town
2022-10-05 18:30 - 20:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Indianapolis born with dual citizenship belonging to Brazil, Little Town began collecting vinyl records at the age of 12 with great influence from her older sister who worked at a record store. From there, she learned to mix on vinyl and gradually entered the MP3 mixing world. Her first major performances include; CultureShock Festival 2015, Chreece Festival 2016, Bloco do Rodrigo S Block Party 2017, Body Mechanics (Residency) at the Root Cellar 2017, Soul’d Out All Vinyl Dance Party (Residency) at Square Cat Vinyl, and Low Pone Queer Dance Party (Residency since 2017).

What’s this?

Big Car Collaborative and Downtown Indy are teaming up with the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place.
Everything is free for people to enjoy.

WALKING WEDNESDAYS-Public Art Crawl
2022-10-19 18:00 - 20:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
What is public art? An expression of currency, an economic generator, and a judgment about the common good. Inspired by the recent Public Art Census produced by Rokh – a cultural equity research & design studio – take an artist-led tour highlighting Downtown’s public works by artists of the global majority (Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, Indigenous).
ALL TOURS MEET at the trailer on the southwest quad of Monument Circle. Expect to walk between a half-mile and 2 miles total. In case of bad weather, cancellation decisions will be made by 3 p.m. Check SPARK social media or website for updates.
* FREE *
What’s This?
We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based from the southwest quadrant in front of the Emmis.

Mina Keohane- Lunch Break Live Tuesdays presented by Lake City Bank
2023-05-02 11:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join us for the soft return of SPARK Monument Circle with live music from Mina Keohane! Food trucks, Bearded Bagel and Treats by Fee, will be onsite starting at 11am. Music performance 12-1pm.

“…full of surprises. She possesses a songbird’s voice, a wisdom beyond her years and a delightfully smooth way of gliding across the piano keys. Everything from mournful sonic sculptures to crisp, lightweight ballads carried the day — always in celebration of the moment, whether it be the memory of something long gone or the freshness of something new.” –Nuvo Newsweekly
Mina Keohane is an Indianapolis based composer/performer. Her music is a piano-driven cross-pollination of singer-songwriter, indie rock and a hint of jazz using lush chords and impulsive lines to create a distinctive sound. Her songs have been described as “if Joni Mitchell and Aimee Mann had a baby with Charles Mingus.” She spends most of her time writing music for commercials and short films, as well as playing keyboards and accordion with Public Universal Friend, Sarah Grain & the Billions of Stars, Nashville-based recording artist Brandon Whyde, The Dopacetics, Teresa Reynolds and the Slicktones, and her own band Mina & the Wondrous Flying Machine. She has had the opportunity and privilege of opening for many wonderful artists including Becca Stevens, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Nightsweats, Blues Traveler, Dwight Yoakam, Esme Patterson & Robby Krieger.

We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based in the southwest quadrant.

Liz Gomez-Lunch Break Live Tuesdays presented by Lake City Bank
2023-05-09 11:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join us for the soft return of SPARK Monument Circle with live music from Colombian singer and guitarist, Liz Gomez.

Food Trucks, Chef Dan’s & Paul’s Kitchen, will be onsite starting at 11am.
Music performance 12-1pm in the SW Quad of Monument Circle.

We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based in the southwest quadrant.

Women's Assembly for Production & Sound
2023-05-12 19:00 - 22:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
The event will begin with a Q&A panel moderated by DJ Space Bunz. Our panelists include, Lex the curator of No Rap on Sunday, DJ Gabby Luv, DJ Jess Little Town, DJ Annie D, and DJ Non-Compliant. All of these women are leaders in the local music scene in Indianapolis and seasoned in their craft. Following the Q&A, each panelist will break off into their own station and participants will be able to visit each station and get their hands on gear! The idea is to lower the barrier of entry for DJing and allow participants to experience all different types of DJing gear including CDJ’s, Turtables, Controllers, and production software. Participants will have an opportunity to learn from our panelists and network. Following the break out, there will be a quick Back-To-Back DJing session from our panel of DJ’s and guests will be encouraged to dance!
The event will be broadcast on Listen Hear Radio WQRT 99.1 and is in collaboration with Tube Factory Art Space, Red Bull, Deckademics, Girls Rock Indianapolis and Indy.fm.
The event is 18+ and beverages will be available for purchase for the 21+ crowd.
We are excited for you to join us!
Below you will find more information about our moderator and each of our panelists!
DJ Space Bunz @brianachele: DJ Space Bunz is 5 years in the craft. She currently spins an open music format at various clubs and events in the city & is a part of a local DJ collective, Club Plex. She believes that music has the power & potential to transform the energetic field of any environment.
DJ Little Town @djlittletown: Indianapolis born with dual citizenship belonging to Brazil, Little Town is an eclectic music selector that has been DJing for nearly a decade around the world. She is highly adaptive to her audience; playing multi-genre dance parties, Top-40 venues across the city, underground techno clubs, all vinyl DJ nights, and private events.
DJ Annie D @anniedulhanty: A true open format DJ, Annie D has cultivated a brand based on her love for all music genres, her western and edgy style, and her motivation and passion to maintain the party at any venue. Her ability to weave through and touch all genres of music during her party driven sets has molded her club/event driven career. DJ Annie D has residencies at Metro Nite Club and Tini on Mass Ave, Burn by Rocky Patel, and Union 50 to name a few – and has played events including Bi/Pan Pride and Chicken and Beer Fest.
DJ Gabby Love @djgabbylove: DJ Gabby Love is Indianapolis-based & has become one of the most sought after DJs for Clubs and Events in the city. She has played club gigs & festivals in NYC, London (UK), Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Louisville, Denver. She has DJ’d prestigious events for clients such as Gatorade, Sak’s 5th Ave., Heineken, Red Bull, and the Indiana Pacers. Her passion & knowledge of the craft can be heard & felt in her sets, filled with seamless blends & creative lyric/sample associations that get the party going!
Lex @ibetuwanta_lexus: As a girl growing up, I would sing in church & a part of choirs. Singing never was my true passion, although I loved music, bringing ppl together has always been my strongest gift so that’s why I started No Rap On Sunday! In the beginning it was just a hashtag I used on Twitter! Every Sunday I would do the hashtag & ask ppl what they were listening to! That started in 2015 & I slowly turned it into an event that I host on the last Sunday of the month during the summer! It was organic & something that I dreamt about constantly, so to see it come into fruition is a blessing.
DJ Non-Compliant @_noncompliant_: Raised in small town Indiana on a musical diet of 80s synth pop and punk rock, Noncompliant soon found barnyard raves and warehouse techno parties and (as DJ Shiva) quickly became a fixture of the fabled 90s Midwest USA rave scene.
Two decades and a name change later, she is at the top of her techno game. Mixmag named her one of 2017’s Top 20 Breakthrough DJs. She owned a packed and sweaty Boiler Room during Movement Detroit, turned in mindblowing mixes for Slam Radio, Discwoman, and Resident Advisor, and quaked some of the world’s most respected dance floors like Smartbar Chicago, Amsterdam’s DeSchool, Concrete in Paris, and Berlin’s legendary Berghain. Her festival appearances include Unsound, Red Bull Music Festival Paris, Movement Detroit, and Whole United Queer Festival.
As a producer, her releases and remixes on labels like Valence, Argot, Flash, and Dark Entries have pounded sound systems worldwide, with her tune “Women’s Work” landing on Fiedel’s official Berghain 08 mix and on his label Fiedeltwo.

World Collage Day
2023-05-13 11:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
World Collage Day is an annual, international celebration of collage on the Second Saturday of May. Join artist Beth Hall in making collages in Indianapolis!
Initiated by Kolaj Magazine in 2018, we invited artists and art venues to hold events on that day to celebrate collage. World Collage Day is about artists connecting across borders against a global context of entrenchment and separation. And the day is about an art medium that excels at bringing different things together to create new forms and new ways of thinking. Ric Kasini Kadour, the editor of Kolaj Magazine, writes, “We created World Collage Day because we wanted to honour this community of artists and to remind the world what a spirit of cooperation, mutual support, and creativity can look like.”

African Dance with Uzuri
2023-05-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join Uzuri Asad, artist in Big Car’s Public Life Residency, for a dose of culture, self-care, and community as we explore rhythms from West Africa and other parts of the Diaspora. Give your body and soul a moment to reflect and progress all at once, meet Asad on the floor!
$10

Lunch at Lockerbie featuring Live Performance by Kristen Bales
2023-05-18 11:30 - 13:30 | Lockerbie Marketplace, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, United States
Join us on Thursday at Lockerbie Marketplace — a lovely downtown greenspace next to Needler’s Fresh Market. Ping pong, foosball, and giant Jenga are always available for additional entertainment.
This week enjoy live music by Kristen Bales, Numerology readings by Ellen Robinson, and wood-fired cuts of meat, poultry, seafood & vegetables by Guacho Fire.

About Kristen Bales
Kristen Bales is an indie-alternative/rock artist out of Indianapolis, Indiana. With a voice that at times appears relaxed and pristine, like the sweet crooning of Norah Jones, but at times crashes against the heavy, soul-filled tones of Janis Joplin, Kristen turns to roots of jazz to exemplify genres of blues, rock, and soul.
About Ellen Robinson
I am an Indiana native and started painting in 2007 when my business coach at the time handed me canvas, paints and brush and said: PAINT. I initially resisted, saying to my coach: I DON’T PAINT. After a few minutes I realized I was not getting off the hook and so I begrudgingly began to paint. I felt a feeling that was unfamiliar at the time … the feeling I know now to be FREE. I’ve been painting ever since.
I believe we are all uniquely wired to live our true expression in the world. Me for me and you for you. And that THIS is the greatest act of service. I do not paint a specific thing or have a specific technique. I paint when I have something to say. Sometimes this is literally with words and sometimes not. All of it is me expressing my lifeforce energy on canvas.
Each piece I paint is for someone, whether I know who that is at the time I paint it, or not. I love when people ask me to paint something just for them and I also love it when someone sees as piece of mine online or at a show and feel so drawn to it, that they know they must have it. I think this is the best way to buy anything, including art, if it feels good in your bones, it’s for YOU.

All events are free at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail.

Jay Elliot-Lunch Break Live Tuesdays presented by Lake City Bank
2023-05-30 11:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join us for the soft return of SPARK Monument Circle with live music from Jay Elliot! Food trucks, Gauchos Fire and Wild Boar BBQ, will be onsite starting at 11am. Music performance 12-1pm.

Since fronting acclaimed Indianapolis-based rock outfit Stereo Deluxe, J. Elliott has become known for his riveting and dynamic solo live performances, both with just acoustic guitar and full band. With the release of his new single, “How To Be A Man”, he is again revealing to the world his ability to deftly create smart, insightful songs about his life and observations… while growing a devoted audience that is fully aware of how special and unique his voice and songs truly are.

We at Big Car are teaming up with Downtown Indy and the City of Indianapolis — with support from the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana War Memorials Commission— to spark Monument Circle with human-scale activities like games, live music, artmaking, and socializing in a comfortable place. We’re based in the southwest quadrant.
