Sanders Building and Belonging’ theme of annual community-building event; IUB author Scott Sanders to moderate ‘public conversation.

The “public conversation,” considered the centerpiece of the festival, will be held at 4:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 7, at Clowes Memorial Hall. Speakers will be Howard Gardner, author of 18 books and several hundred articles on his theory of multiple intelligences; Andre Dubus III, teacher and author of House of Sand and Fog; and Renita Weems, elder in the African Methodist Episcopal tradition, teacher and spiritual writer.

Author Scott Sanders, an IU Distinguished Professor emeritus of English, will moderate. The conversation is free of charge, but tickets, available at the Clowes Hall box office after Sept. 20, are required.

“Building and Belonging” is the theme for the capitol city’s largest collaborative festival. Building on the many traditions of Central Indiana is the focus of all events held as part of this two-week festival celebrating the arts, humanities and religion. Nearly 75 workshops, exhibits, concerts and other community programs are part of this year’s festival, which is managed by the Polis Center, a division of the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.

“Gardner, Dubus and Weems were selected for the Public Conversation because their experiences and approach to the ‘Building and Belonging’ theme have resonance with multiple perspectives: education, social justice, literature, history, politics and ethics,” said Judi Ryan, festival manager.

Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. Currently the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor in cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he holds numerous honors and in 2000 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Before finding his calling as a writer, Dubus worked briefly as a bounty hunter, private investigator, carpenter, bartender, actor and teacher. His first book, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories, was published in 1989. House of Sand and Fog , a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award for Fiction and an Oprah Book Club Selection, was made into an Academy Award-winning motion picture in 2002.

A former contributing editor to Essence magazine, Weems is the author of several widely acclaimed books on women’s spirituality and wholeness. She serves as 2003-2005 William and Camille Cosby Professor of humanities at Spelman College in Atlanta.

Her electronic newsletter, “Something Within” ( http://www.somethingwithin.com ) allows her to keep in touch with readers interested in exploring women’s values and interests in conversations about faith, love and inner wisdom.

“Spirit & Place is another good example of cross-cultural civic engagement,” said Rabbi Sandy Sasso, chair of the advisory board for the festival. “We are grateful for all of the organizations that choose to support this community building process through programming.”

The Polis Center initiated the Spirit & Place Festival in 1996 as part of its Project on Religion and Urban Culture. Spirit & Place has become the city’s largest collaborative effort, and has built participation among hundreds of organizations, including churches, arts groups, universities, schools, museums and civic groups, who present individual events.

The official Web site will be active after Sept. 1.
http://www.spiritandplace.org