INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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SPIRIT & PLACE FESTIVAL WINS INDIANA ACHIEVEMENT INNOVATION AWARD

INDIANAPOLIS - The Spirit & Place Festival, a collaborative effort managed by The Polis Center at IUPUI, won a prestigious 2001 Indiana Achievement Award for innovation.

Established in 1999 by a coalition of foundations, educational centers, businesses and individuals desiring to create a healthier nonprofit sector in Indiana, the Indiana Achievement Awards recognize, reward, and encourage outstanding business practices among Indiana's nonprofit organizations.

Awards are presented to a large budget nonprofit and a small budget nonprofit in each of three categories: innovation, efficiency, and sustainability. The Spirit & Place Festival was selected as the winner of the large budget innovation award, sponsored by Lilly Endowment, Inc. The innovation category recognizes the organization's ability to break cultural barriers, to do things in new and different ways, to take advantage of new opportunities, and/or deal with new threats. Innovation results in serving new clients, delivering new services, collaborating with other organizations, or developing new structures.

Award winners receive a prize of $10,000 and a professionally produced short documentary of the winning programs.

An annual civic festival of the arts, humanities and religion, Sprit & Place consists of dozens of programs such concerts, plays, readings, discussions and films that add up to a citywide conversation about the spirit and identity of the place Indianapolis area residents call home. The festival engages 60 diverse organizations, 80 local artists and thinkers and thousands of individuals.

The first Spirit & Place Festival was held in 1996 when Indiana natives Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Wakefield participated.

Since its inception, The Polis Center has gained national recognition for its collaborative capacity and technological expertise with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and community asset analysis. The Center helps its partners build systems, analyze data and apply knowledge to improve infrastructure and services, enhancing community quality of life.

David J. Bodenhamer, Ph.d., director of The Polis Center, says the festival aims for diversity, inclusiveness and bringing people into conversations with each other. The theme of the 2001 Spirit & Place is Crossing Boundaries. The festival will be held Nov. 2-13.

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