Artist Workshop with John Clark
2024-07-05 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | IN
Make Art and Write Poetry with John Clark!
Join Indianapolis-based visual artist, Big Car co-founder and writer John Clarke to make drawings, poems, and short stories…or a combination of all three! And we’ll also show you how to make zines, too!
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.
SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Wake Up Wednesday
2024-07-10 09:00 - 23:00, 2024-07-17 09:00 - 11:00, 2024-07-24 09:00 - 11:00, 2024-07-31 09:00 - 11:00 | Monument Circle, 50 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, 46204, United States
Join us at SPARK on the Circle at Wake Up Wednesday!
Pick up tinker coffee and Ohanalulu Donuts.
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.
SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Meet the City- Office of Sustainability
2024-07-10 10:30 - 11:30 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
The Indianapolis Office of Sustainability administers Thrive Indianapolis, the first sustainability and resiliency action plan in Indy’s history. As a division of the Department of Public Works, the Office of Sustainability promotes an environmentally sustainable city through various programs and partnerships that address the root causes of the climate crisis.
Thrive prioritizes community collaboration to achieve equity in policy, planning, and project implementation and guides the path to citywide carbon neutrality by 2050.
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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Lunch Break Live! With Fred Miller Presented by Lake City Bank
2024-07-10 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Fred Miller describes his music as, “the sound of sunlight through a dusty 70s rangefinder lens.” and will be joining SPARK for Lunch Break Live!
Presented by Lake City Bank

Learn more about his music and artwork on his Instagram: @mffred
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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

+ GOOGLE CALENDAR+ ICAL EXPORT

Drum Circles With The Percussive Arts Society And Rob Funkhouser
2024-07-12 12:00 - 13:00, 2024-07-26 12:00 - 13:00, 2024-08-09 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Come join the Percussive Arts Society with Rob Funkhouser at SPARK !

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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Ink Artist Workshop with Brittany Fukushima
2024-07-12 17:00 - 19:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join SPARK artist in residence Brittany Fukushima for an all-levels ink painting workshop. In this workshop, you’ll learn basic ink techniques and how to paint intuitively using colors handmade by the artist. See the raw materials that go into ink-making and leave inspired to create your own. All materials are provided!
About:
Brittany Fukushima is an Indianapolis-based painter and teaching artist who uses their practice to interpret their environment. Drawing and painting become a means to investigate the natural world, express the intangible, and to present alternate ways of seeing. Recently, they have experimented with paint making using foraged pigments.
Teaching is an integral part of their process as it keeps them in community and provides fresh perspectives. Brittany currently teaches at the Indianapolis Art Center and is a graduate of Herron School of Art and Design. They have exhibited throughout Indianapolis and Chicago and their work has been featured by Butter, WFYI, and Pattern Magazine.
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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Escondidos y Americanos (Hidden and American)
2024-07-12 18:00 - 2024-07-21 21:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Guichelaar Gallery
July 12-21
Opening reception July 12, 6:9:30pm
“On this patriotic month help us spotlight the hidden American. Escondidos y Americanos (Hidden and American) is a space for artwork that challenges the colonial notion of the average US American. This exhibition aims to give first and second-generation immigrant Latino-Americans and all-generation Indigenous Americans their flowers. We recognize these communities as the foundation of this nation; we also acknowledge their creativity and cultural excellence in the contemporary and fine arts world. Join us in celebrating the artists and artwork that reveal the once-hidden American. May we never have to hide again.”—Curators Alejandra Carrillo and Leyda Melgar
“En este mes patriótico, ayúdenos a destacar al estadounidense oculto. Escondidos y Americanos es un espacio de arte que desafía la noción colonial del estadounidense ciudadano. Esta exposición tiene como objetivo destacar a los inmigrantes latinoamericanos de primera y segunda generación y a los indígenas americanos de todas las generaciones. Reconocemos a estas comunidades como la base de esta nación; también reconocemos su creatividad y excelencia cultural en el mundo de el arte. Únase con nosotros para celebrar a los artistas y obras de arte que revelan al estadounidense que alguna vez fue oculto. Que nunca más tengamos que escondernos”.—Curadoras Alejandra Carrillo y Leyda Melgar
About the curators
Leyda Melgar is Salvadoran-American artist and educator in Indianapolis. Her work centers themes of her mental health, experiences of assimilation, and her personality through sculptural and mixed-media works. She attended Herron School of Art and Design in which she graduated with a Bachelors of Art Education in 2022. Becoming a teacher, Leyda wanted to keep her artistic roots and continue to grow as an artist in the Indianapolis community. She recently completed the Latino Artist Mentorship Program in Indianapolis by participating in a group exhibition at Newfields. She is currently working towards developing a body of work and currently works as a high school digital art teacher.
Leyda Melgar es una artista y maestra salvadoreña-estadounidense en Indianápolis. Su trabajo artistico se enfoca en temas de su salud mental, experiencias de asimilación y su personalidad a través de obras escultóricas y de técnica mixta. Estudió en la Escuela de Arte y Diseño Herron, dónde ella se graduó con un bachillerato de Educación Artística en 2022. Al convertirse en maestra, Leyda quería mantener sus raíces artísticas y continuar creciendo como artista en la comunidad de Indianápolis. Recientemente completó el Programa de Mentoría de Artistas Latinos en Indianápolis al participar en una exposición colectiva en Newfields. En el momento está trabajando para desarrollar su trabajo artistico y trabaja como maestra de arte digital en una escuela secundaria.
Alejandra Carrillo is an Indy-based Chicana artist and muralist known for her multidisciplinary work focusing on the Mexican-American experience in the Midwest. Her printmaking work conveys narratives of displacement, decolonization, and activism. Carrillo aims to bridge together the imagery and stories of historical Mexican heritage, the contemporary Chicano experience, and the challenges undocumented Latine communities face in America today.Carrillo earned a double bachelor’s degree in Printmaking and Art Education from Indiana University in Indianapolis in 2023 and is now a multidisciplinary printmaking instructor at the Indy Art Center. Her work has been showcased locally, through Arte Mexicano en Indiana’s community events. Nationally, she has received juried show awards from the 2023 El Paso’s Print Pachanga, Once: Emerging Artist Exhibition at Cleve Carney Museum of Art, and the 2023 Manhattan Graphics Center National Print Exhibition.
Alejandra Carrillo es una artista y muralista chicana en Indianápolis, IN conocida por su trabajo multidisciplinario centrado en la experiencia mexicano-estadounidense en el Medio Oeste. Su trabajo de grabado transmite narrativas de desplazamiento, descolonización y activismo. Carrillo tiene como objetivo unir las imágenes y las historias de la herencia histórica mexicana, la experiencia chicana contemporánea y los desafíos que enfrentan las comunidades latinas indocumentadas en los Estados Unidos hoy.Carrillo obtuvo un doble bachillerato en Grabado y Educación Artística de la Universidad de Indiana en Indianápolis en 2023 y ahora es instructora multidisciplinaria de grabado en el Centro de Arte de Indianápolis. Su trabajo ha sido exhibido localmente, a través de los eventos comunitarios de Arte Mexicano en Indiana. A nivel nacional, ha recibido premios del jurado de Print Pachanga de El Paso 2023, Once: Exposición de artistas emergentes en el Museo de Arte Cleve Carney y la Exposición Nacional de Impresión del Manhattan Graphics Center 2023.

Elisa Harkins: Ekvnv (Land), the Sacred Mother from Which We Came
2024-07-12 18:00 - 2024-10-20 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
With this exhibit, Elisa Harkins looks at land in two different ways: a path toward healing due to the desecration of burial mounds in New Harmony, Indiana and how the Land Back movement addresses climate change. Harkins, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Tube Factory curator Shauta Marsh researched and worked on this exhibit for five years as part of Big Car Collaborative’s decade-long research project, Social Alchemy, that explores utopia and dystopia with an emphasis on the southern Indiana town of New Harmony that was twice the site of utopian experiments.
In the Main Gallery, Harkins draws attention to settler desecration of Indigenous mounds in the unmarked “Harmonist Cemetery” in New Harmony. When the Harmonists purchased the land in the early 1800s, they dug up the Indigenous burial mounds, collecting what they considered interesting items for their Cabinet of Curiosities. They then buried their dead over the native people’s remains. When the Harmonists sold the town to industrialist Robert Owen for his rationalist utopian attempt, the Harmonists took apart their church and used the brick to enclose the mounds with a wall. Today, the burial mounds are not acknowledged on signage for the cemetery.
Harkins brings light to this history and offers healing through the Spirit Houses. These are structures built that provide a protective shelter over the grave of their deceased relative. Harkins could not build them in the “Harmonist Cemetery.” So the photographic wall mural and Spirit Houses in the Main Gallery serve as a temporary monument to the native people buried there.
Through the 24 photographs on the wall surrounding the Spirit Houses,(also known as Grave Houses) Harkins tells the story of the mounds in New Harmony to demonstrate not only settler violence against Indigenous land and bodies but also the presence of multiple tribes at sacred burial sites across time. In examining multiple histories of mounds, Harkins interrogates whether Indigenous lands belong to one people alone, And her investigation prompts viewers to examine their own ties to land through time — in their lost ancestral cultures, as well as in contemporary society.
The Tear Dress on the north wall of the gallery is one Harkins wears in many photos and in her work in the video room. Cherokee women traditionally wore this dress in the Southeast in the early 1800s. Indian Removal began to take place during this time period in Indiana (land of the Indians). This is also around the time Harmonists sought to build a sort of religious utopia in the town they named New Harmony.
In the video room, Harkins shares a piece on the 200-year-old song,“Hesaketv Meset Likes or The One Who Gives us Breath.” Though the singing takes place in the present, Harkins seeks to move the audience through time, preserving culture by bringing this new knowledge of ourselves to the forefront.
Leading by example with her works, Harkins uses her Indigenous body as an extension of Ekvnv, the mother from which she came. This embodies critical reflection on deep human connections to ancestral lands across time and place. Her cultural references to ancient mounds with intersectional tribal histories — as well as contemporary tribally-specific structures such as Spirit Houses — probe the meanings of “Indigenous” identity and question whether individual tribal nations will participate in intersectional freedom for all Indigenous peoples.
In the Jeremy Efroymson Gallery, Elisa Harkins shares images, sound, and sculpture that invoke definitions of tribal sovereignty — centering land and its protection. Amid a contemporary Indigenous landscape in which tribal activities vary between cultural revitalization efforts and extractive practices at times complicit with capitalist structures, Harkins calls for land protection above all. This shows viewers that the return of Indigenous land protection practices, along with language and cultural revitalization, are inevitable outcomes on Turtle Island (some Indigenous American tribes refer to North America as Turtle Island).
Harkins often encounters tornado shelters for sale alongside the roads in Oklahoma. While dangerous tornadoes traditionally occur in the summer months, recent years have seen an alarming rise in winter tornadoes. By using the image of these Tornado Shelters, she aims to raise awareness about the increasing destruction and loss of life caused by climate change. The shelters, placed in the ground or Ekvnv, serve as a metaphor for the Muscogee origin story, symbolizing their emergence from the earth at the beginning of their civilization.
The light sculptures are in English, Cherokee, and Muscogee words:
ᎠᏴᏫᏯ ᎤᏤᎵᎪᎯ ᎦᏓ ᏤᏙᎢ
Este Cate Ekvnv Okharoces
You Are on Indian Land
The music playing in the Jeremy Efroymson Gallery, honors communities destroyed and lives lost through human created climate change. Harkins, in collaboration with Mark Kuykendall, composed this piece for the tornado shelter sculpture to serve as a poignant tribute to the lives lost, communities disrupted, and environmental imbalances exacerbated by human negligence.
“Land Back means all land back,” said Harkins, who sees Indigenous political projects such as language revitalization as, most of all, an empowering force for protecting Ekvnv (Land), the Sacred Mother from which we came. In Harkins’ works, she calls for definitions of tribal sovereignty which center land protection over individual political claims to place. She intervenes in narratives of singular or strongest connections of tribal claims to mounds in favor of historical narratives where tribal interrelations connect more peoples to more lands for the purpose of building solidarities of responsibility and care for Indigenous land.
In Ekvnv, Harkins calls for universal participation in and attention to the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous hands, inviting viewers to reckon with the power imbalances that continue between settler colonial structures and Indigenous historical worlds. To Harkins, sovereignty includes care for all–from health care to land protection that reaches worldwide, just as the Sacred Mother receives care from all.
The exhibition is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Efroymson Family Fund, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and a printing partnership with Aurora PhotoCenter.

The artist wishes to thank:
Ian Byers-Gamber
Mark Kuykendall
Don Tiger
Brose Partington
About Harkins
Elisa Harkins is a Native American (Cherokee/Muscogee) artist, singer, electronic music composer, and curator based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her work is concerned with translation, language preservation, and Indigenous musicology. Harkins uses the Cherokee and Mvskoke languages, electronic music, sculpture, and the body as her tools. She is the first person to sing a contemporary song in the Cherokee language. Harkins received a BA from Columbia College, Chicago, and an MFA from CalArts. She has since continued her education at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has exhibited her work at Crystal Bridges, documenta 14, The Hammer Museum, The Heard Museum, and MoMA.
In 2020, she created the Indigenous concert series 6 Moons and published a CD of Muscogee/Seminole Hymns. She is also the DJ of Mvhayv (ma-hi-ya) Radio, an Indigenous radio show on 99.1FM in Indianapolis, IN. Radio III / ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏦᎢ (ga-wo-ni-s-gi tso-i) is a dance performance that features music and choreography by Harkins. With support from PICA and Western Front, songs from the performance have been collected into a double LP, which can be found on Harkins’ Bandcamp. Harkins resides on the Muscogee Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Nation.
About Tube Factory artspace: Tube Factory is a contemporary art campus and community center. There are four galleries on the campus, two are commissioning galleries. Admission is free. It’s also home base for Big Car Collaborative’s work across Indianapolis and beyond. Tube Factory features rotating exhibits, interactive projects, community space, a reference library, an outdoor gathering space, and much more to find through exploring. Tube Factory is an independent, noncommercial, nonprofit public place. Big Car Collaborative brings art to people and people to art, sparking creativity in lives to support communities. As an artist-run nonprofit organization, we utilize tools of culture and creativity to build community and social cohesion — connecting people as a way to boost quality of life. We support our community by supporting artists.
Much of our work happens on a single block where we own or co-own more than 20 properties — including a long-term affordable housing program for artists and Tube Factory — a contemporary art museum with a cafe, studios, and community space. At our campus of adaptive reuse buildings and public greenspace, we host community and cultural programs to promote social connectivity, cooperation, and creativity.
We also facilitate people-focused placemaking and place keeping projects across the city and beyond through Spark. Tune in to our experimental, community-focused radio station, WQRT 99.1 FM — also streaming at wqrt.org.
About Social Alchemy:With this multifaceted, multiyear project, Indianapolis-based arts organization Big Car Collaborative — with our partners, the University of Southern Indiana, Historic New Harmony, the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and others –– have created a series of radio shows, exhibits, and conversations exploring, learning, and sharing how utopia has informed places and pursuits over time.
Conceived by Big Car co-founders Shauta Marsh and Jim Walker and artist and philanthropist Jeremy Efroymson, Social Alchemy explores historical and contemporary examples of utopian experiments, fictional utopias and dystopias, and social and cooperative-living design projects (linking back to our affordable artist housing program on our block in Indianapolis). Through a variety of public programs — first made possible with support from Indiana Humanities and Efroymson Family Fund — it offers a deeper understanding of the relationship between the built environment and social good. We all grapple with divides in society and real-life examples of dystopia (shootings, mass incarceration, ecological degradation) and utopia (experiments such as co-living communities that make people demonstrably happier). This project is about exploring historical and contemporary real-world examples of utopian experiments and social design projects as well as theoretical and fictional utopias and dystopias. Our goal is for the impact of Social Alchemy to be a deeper understanding — via history, literature, and the philosophy of art, design, and architecture — of the relationship between the built environment and social good.
About Indiana and Tribal Land (from the Indiana.Gov website)
There are two tribes that have land in Indiana. However there are many other tribal members of other federally recognized tribes that live in Indiana, approximately, 25,000.
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi receive a small portion of their land back from their removal in Indiana. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi is a federally recognized tribe. It is one of 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States. The Bureau of Indian Affairs contacted Chairman John Warren to state that their tribe, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi had been approved on November 18, 2016 to receive 166 acres of land in trust in South Bend, Indiana. The tribe successfully put a few housing units and tribal government buildings to assist their tribal members living in Indiana. It also built a 175,000 square foot and 1,800 Class II gaming devices, four restaurants, a player’s lounge, a coffee shop, two bars, a retail outlet and approximately 4,500 parking spaces including an enclosed parking structure. For more information, visit: http://www.pokagon.com/government/indiana-land-restoration
The second tribe that has land in Indiana is the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. The tribe was given land to put a Cultural Extension Office for their tribal members living in Indiana to attend specific gatherings, ceremonies and education events at this office located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For more information, visit: http://miamination.com/thpo
Please note that many other tribal members from other federally recognized tribes living in Indiana such as Apache, Cherokee, Navajo, Comanche, Lakota Sioux, etc.

Indy Marketers Events
2024-07-16 16:00 - 19:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join SPARK and Indy Marketers for the Indy Marketers Summer Celebration! We know and love Indianapolis, so let’s celebrate our city!
Indy Marketers is joining forces with Downtown Indy, Inc., Visit Indy and Indiana Sports Corp to learn more about how our city markets itself to residents and visitors. Following an exciting conversation, we’ll gather outside with a Happy Hour at SPARK on Monument Circle.
Register Here! : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indy-marketers-summer-celebration-tickets-888036610407
Featured Guests:

Sarah Myer, Chief of Staff & Strategy at Indiana Sports Corp
Taylor Schaffer, President & CEO at Downtown Indy, Inc.
Christine Zetzl, Associate Director of Marketing at Visit Indy

Join us for our signature summer event to celebrate all things Indy!

Lunch Break Live! With Allison Victoria Presented by Lake City Bank
2024-07-17 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join SPARK for a Lunch Break concert from local musician Allison Victoria!
Presented by Lake City Bank
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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Cyanotype Workshop With Aurora PhotoCenter
2024-07-19 11:00 - 15:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Cyanotype is a camera-less photography made out in the sun, rather than in a darkroom. You place objects — such as plants — on top of a piece of photo-treated paper, and then use the sun to expose the paper. The result is an image that is an exact outline of the object. It’s a fun and magical way to engage photography! Although it may be new to modern people, cyanotype has been around since photography was invented in the 1800s.
Come explore the creative possibilities of this fascinating process!
We will have some objects on hand to experiment with, but feel free to bring your own objects. Flat items usually work best, and cyanotype can be messy, so precious things like family heirlooms should probably stay at home. All other necessary materials will be provided free at the workshop.
In partnership with Aurora PhotoCenter for SPARK on the Circle.
This activity is best suited for artists 7+ years old; minors must be accompanied by an adult.
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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Artist Workshop With Mary Jo Bayliss
2024-07-19 17:00 - 19:00, 2024-08-02 17:00 - 19:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
A gathering where knitting and graffiti collide! Simultaneously inspired by traditional knitting and graffiti, this ever-evolving piece combines fiber adjacent activities, coloring sheets derived from graffiti and knitting motifs, and opportunities for participants to share their creative path stories.
You are invited to come join the fun, because without YOU, Boo, this project can’t happen.
About the artist:
Mary Jo Bayliss specializes in creating environments that help people feel at ease using space, light and color to achieve these goals.
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.

Lunch Break Live! With Yuri Rodríguez Presented By Lake City Bank
2024-07-24 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Costa Rican soprano, artist and educator Yuriria Rodríguez holds the rare privilege of being able to sing in both classical and popular styles with great professionalism, expression, and accuracy of style. Reviews have praised Ms. Rodríguez as a singer “with a beautiful voice which recalls a force of nature” (Herald Times, Bloomington, IN), and as “The real deal” (Fanfare , November 2011, USA). In 2006, she sang the role of Maria in the tango-operita by A. Piazzolla and H.Ferrer, Maria de Buenos Aires, at the Buskirk- Chumley Theater, receiving a standing ovation in a sold out performance. In the classical realm, Ms. Rodríguez also successfully performed known roles such as
Most recently, Yuri sang the role of Sombra, in the world premiere and +20 performances of Gabriela Ortiz’s Ana y su Sombra, commissioned by Reimagining Opera for Kids, a local Opera Company that Yuriria is proudly part of, and that performs all year round. In 2016, Yuri was called to be the cover for the role of Mimi in Costa Rica’s National Lyric Opera Production of La Bohème.
Currently, Yuri works as Associate Director of Hispanic Music at Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis, where she conducts the Coro Latinoamericano and develops a bilingual choral program for early music learners. Occasionally, she can be heard singing as a guest soloist for the Choir of Adult and Choristers of Christ Church. She is a guest artist for the Indiana University Latin Jazz Ensemble.
Come Join Yuriria Rodríguez at SPARK during Lunch Break Live Presented by Lake City Bank!
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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Artist Workshop With Christina Hollering
2024-07-26 17:00 - 19:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join artist Christina Hollering in an all-ages cut paper collage workshop celebrating the creative possibilities of paper. Learn how to intuitively create compelling compositions using the principles of design. All materials are provided; just come prepared to cut, paste, and play!
Christina Hollering is a cut paper artist and associate professor at Herron School of Art and Design. Her artwork centers around themes of biology, the environment, and the interplay between art and science, inspiring viewers to contemplate their relationship with nature.
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.

Hatis Noit at Tube Factory artspace
2024-07-29 20:00 - 21:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
“Words cannot describe everything we feel. How can one accurately verbalise the sensation we feel when we’re a newborn and our mother holds us in her arms, and we feel her skin on our cheek. We clearly feel her warmth and humidity, some feeling of love from her, but it’s tough to verbalise it perfectly. Music is a language that can translate that sensation, feeling, the memory of love.” — Hatis Noit
There isn’t a more unique entry into a musical journey than that of Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit. Her musical awakening took place at the tender age of sixteen during a trek to Buddha’s birthplace in Nepal. One morning when staying at a women’s temple she came across a female monk singing Buddhist chants whose otherworldly sounds moved her so intensely that she was instantly aware of the visceral power of the human voice; a primal and instinctive instrument that connects us to the very essence of humanity, nature and our universe. From that moment she knew singing was her calling.
Her newest album, Aura was inspired by the German philosopher Walter Benjamin who used this term to describe the fundamental essence of art, which he believed is strongest in its original form, only happening once. Hatis agrees with this particular aspect as she realised, “during the pandemic, I really struggled. As a singer, I’m not very good at working on the computer. I much prefer doing live performances in physical spaces. Being with people, sharing the same space with them and feeling the atmosphere and energy of that moment, inspires me every time. To me art is that — that shared moment.”
The gravitas of the pandemic caused Noit to look inwards and reflect. This resulted in the album becoming a remedy for what was going on in the world and ultimately to remember the joys and richness of life. Hatis adds to this sentiment, “we cannot live forever, do everything or be everywhere. But that makes our lives unique and invaluable. I wanted to be focused on our limitations and show how precious life is.”
The name Hatis Noit itself is taken from Japanese folklore, meaning the stem of the lotus flower. The lotus represents the living world, while its root represents the spirit world, therefore Hatis Noit is what connects the two. For Hatis, music represents the same netherworld with its ability to move and transport us to the other side; the past, a memory, our subconscious.
Through the opening piece ‘Aura’, which shares its title with the album, she evokes a haunting memory of getting lost in a forest in her birthplace Shiretoko, Hokkaido. “I felt as if I was close to my death, I could feel myself dissolving into and becoming a part of nature rather than just being an individual. This sense of awe and peace found there is always the place where I start making music from,” she remembers.
Years of perfecting her craft via live performances led her to the creation of this debut album which follows on from the introductory 2018 EP, Illogical Dance. An autodidact with an impressive range, Noit is inspired by Gagaku — Japanese classical music — folk music, operatic styles, Bulgarian and Gregorian chanting, as well as avant-garde and pop vocalists to create her inimitable style. Hatis creates wordless music, unique song worlds with transcendent vocal interpretations of epic proportions — most evident on ‘Jomon’ where she channels the fierce, dynamic energy and power of prehistoric culture during Japan’s Jomon period.
Astonishingly all songs on this record were created using her voice only. The single exception being ‘Inori’ for which she took a field recording of the ocean only one kilometre away from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Hatis Noit had been invited there for a memorial ceremony which marked the re-opening of the area for local people to return to their homes. The emotive and compassionate song is dedicated to the lives lost due to 2011’s tsunami, but equally to the many beautiful memories people have of their hometown.
The album was recorded in Berlin where Noit laid down her vocals in just eight hours, before the pandemic forced her and producer Robert Raths to stay local and mix it in East London, which led to working with a new collaborator: engineer Marta Salogni. Between lockdowns it was decided to take the recordings and reamplify them in a local church to bring them closer to that moment of live performance.
“It was almost like a miracle when Robert came up with the idea. That was the moment that changed everything for the album as the physical space with its organic ambience brought everything to life,” Hatis Noit recalls.
An important part of her practice and something she missed dearly during lockdown, her impressive live performances have included headline and festival shows across Europe, including a sold-out London show accompanied by the London Contemporary Orchestra at Southbank Centre, a special live performance at Milan Fashion Week and she was also invited by the revered director David Lynch to perform at his Manchester International Festival takeover in 2019. Her collaborations have seen her work with Kevin Richard Martin aka The Bug, the NYX Electronic Drone Choir and she appeared on recordings by fellow countryman Masayoshi Fujita as well as Ukrainian pianist and Continuous Music pioneer Lubomyr Melnyk.
Previous press:
“One to watch: Hatis Noit — with her ethereal crossover of mystical and modern,
this Japanese artist has been moving audiences to tears” — The Guardian
“Mixes childlike purity and digital pointillism” — The New York Times
“Truly extraordinary… An exquisite piece of work” — Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC 6 Music
“Words don’t really do it justice — an extraordinary piece of music” — Clash
“The magic in ‘Illogical Dance’ lies squarely in the human voice itself; Hatis Noit bends her vocals into so many shapes that other instruments simply seem redundant” — Drowned In Sound
“The voice is capable of incredible nuance. Case studies: Björk’s Medulla, Tanya Tagaq’s Inuit throat nsinging, Janis Joplin. Add Hatis Noit to the list” — Tiny Mix Tapes
“Our perception has been altered” — A Closer Listen
“Astonishing” — Uncut

Lunch Break Live! With Chreece Producer Hour Presented By Lake City Bank
2024-07-31 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join us at SPARK for a preview show of Indianapolis’s own hip-hop festival, Chreece!
Chreece Producer Hour at Spark is an engaging DJ set showcasing some of the very talented local producers playing Chreece Hip Hop Festival on August 24th. The Fountain Square Plaza stage has been a staple free community stage since 2015 and features over 15 different DJs and producers in the city fest.
State Street Beats producers David Peck, JAWNSKI & DEFAME will be giving you a preview of their music!
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.

Rob Funkhouser, Justin Cooper, and Landon Caldwell: Sound Field
2024-08-02 18:00 - 2024-09-06 22:00 | Guichelaar Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Guichelaar Gallery
1135 Cruft St, Indianapolis, IN 46203
Aug. 2 – Sept. 6, 2024
Opening reception: Aug. 2, 6-10pm
Sound Field is a new body of work by Rob Funkhouser, Justin Cooper, and Landon Caldwell exploring the intersection between simple forms and wide possibility. Comprised of a set of three large wooden lattices with embedded electronics, the pieces serve both as physical sculptures and sonic canvases with the sound coming directly from the wooden panels of the sculpture. The centerpiece of this trio is a 20 foot long lattice that will be projecting 48 channel works composed specifically for this show. This is the first project for this team as a trio, bringing together Funkhouser’s mad scientist leanings, Cooper’s sage visual style, and Caldwell’s immersive sound practice.
This exhibit is supported by Efroymson Family Fund.

About the artists:

Rob Funkhouser
As a composer, performer, and instrument maker, Funkhouser channels the wonders of the world through his inquisitive and revelatory works. Originally from Richmond, Indiana, Funkhouser is obsessed with the concept of timelessness within his musical practices. His work is a unique extension of classical and electronic music. Exploring the world of recursion, manipulation, and translation, he draws inspiration from nature, design, and systems of thought. He also builds instruments as a creative act itself. Formally trained on percussion with both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Composition, he makes music not only for himself, but also approaches it on a macro level by thinking about the spaces, audiences, and community he’s situated in and attracted to.

Justin Cooper
Justin Cooper is primarily a self-taught, Indianapolis-based visual artist. Over 20 years of independently developing his artistic voice as well as relationships formed with fellow artists he connected with through artist communities such as the Murphy Art Center, Wheeler arts Community and Big Car Collaborative’s artist in residency program have been central to his evolution as an artist. Cooper employs a variety of mediums to his pieces such as graphite illustration, oil painting, digital design, pyrography, and gilding. His main inspirations stem from observations of nature, art history and architecture. Cooper is fascinated by the geometric formations, patterns, and the underlying structural arrangements found within nature.

Landon Caldwell
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. Through sound, words, color and other materials, his work creates environments that redirect attention to the present and open new realities through the minutiae of the everyday.
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. He has toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe and is regularly engaged with artists and musicians across the Midwest and beyond. His collaborative work expands into multi-disciplinary fields, working with film, visual arts, sculpture, poetry, dance, and more.

No Rap Sundays with Chreece
2024-08-04 17:00 - 19:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join the Hip-Hop Festival and Cultural Organization Chreece at SPARK for an evening concert set!
Chreece is kicking off August with No Rap On Sunday at Spark on the Monument Circle! Join us Sunday, August 4th 6-8pm with your one of the city’s finest female curated R&B kickbacks with DJs Annie D & Sounds by Sasha at the Spark lovely green space.FREE & All Ages!Chreece Producer Hour at Spark is an engaging DJ set showcasing some of the very talented local producers playing Chreece Hip Hop Festival on August 24th. The Fountain Square Plaza stage has been a staple free community stage since 2015 and features over 15 different DJs and producers in the city fest.
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.

Citizens Energy Group + Big Car's DigIndy Art Project @ Bean Creek Neighborhood Association's National Night Out
2024-08-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Villa Baptist Church, 2650 Villa Ave, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Tuesday, Aug. 6, 6-7:30pm, Villa Baptist Church, 2650 Villa Avenue
Need another reason to attend Bean Creek’s National Night Out on August 6? Citizens Energy Group and Big Car Collaborative will be hosting a community art station at the event, inviting YOU to help paint local artist and APLR resident Justin Cooper’s work onto sewer manhole covers which will beautify our streets and sidewalks. Big Car will work with local artists to create an original piece of art inspired by the impact of the DigIndy Tunnel System project to improve the quality of our local waterways. The Big Car team will then transpose the piece onto the manhole cover so that participants at National Night Out can paint the work, fully bringing it to life so it can be displayed in our community for years to come.
See previous versions of the DigIndy Art Project here.
Find more about Justin Cooper’s work here.
We need painters! Bring your neighbors and the whole family to participate in this opportunity to beautify our neighborhood.

Lunch Break Live! With Rob Funkhouser Presented By Lake City Bank
2024-08-07 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Come join Rob Funkhouser for a lunchtime concert on the circle!
Lunch Break Live! is presented by Lake City Bank
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.

SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

Big Gay Market
2024-08-11 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-08-12 11:00 - 15:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Come Join SPARK at Monument Circle for this 2-day long event!
Learn more here!: https://www.indygaymarket.com/

SPARK is a partnership with Downtown Indy @downtownindy the City of Indianapolis @indy_dmd and the Indiana War Memorials Commission – and funded by the Capital Improvements Board. It is a continuation of our work last year and in 2015 on the Circle.
At Big Car, we approach our work at the Circle as a site- and community-specific socially engaged art and creative placemaking project. The SPARK on the Circle pop-up park was collaboratively designed with Indianapolis-based Merritt Chase to be a restorative public place where people of all walks of life can relax, play, socialize, and engage with art and artists in the heart of our city.

Lunch Break Live! With Chreece Producer Hour Presented By Lake City Bank
2024-08-14 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join us at SPARK for a preview show of Indianapolis’s own hip-hop festival, Chreece!
Chreece Producer Hour at Spark is an engaging DJ set showcasing some of the very talented local producers playing Chreece Hip Hop Festival on August 24th. The Fountain Square Plaza stage has been a staple free community stage since 2015 and features over 15 different DJs and producers in the city fest.
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.

Artist Workshop With Rob Funkhouser and Landon Caldwell
2024-08-16 17:00 - 19:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join sound artists and musicians Rob Funkhouser and Landon Caldwell for an interactive workshop that is FREE to all!
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.
