Join Monumental Gestures for the third public conversation of The Monument Knows, a public humanities and civic research project exploring the histories, meanings, and future possibilities of Monument Circle and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis. This event is free and open to the public.

Public Conversation No. 1 asked what a monument is. No. 2 asked how the Monument is used today and what it means to the people who gather there. Public Conversation No. 3 asks what is missing from this monument. Whose histories does the Monument hold, whose does it leave out, and what does it mean to care for a landmark as living heritage rather than as a finished object?

Rasul Mowatt, Department Head and Professor of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management in the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University, studies how cities produce public space and how race, memory, and power are written into it. He spent fifteen years on the faculty at Indiana University and serves as Research Director for The Monument Knows.

Tiffany Tolbert, Co-Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, helps lead the largest national effort to preserve places tied to Black history in the United States. She spent more than a decade at Indiana Landmarks before joining the National Trust and knows the Circle from both sides of that work.

Kyle Long, host and producer of Cultural Manifesto and Echoes of Indiana Avenue at WFYI Public Media, will moderate.

Developed by Monumental Gestures in partnership with Merritt Chase, The Monument Knows invites residents to engage with one of Indianapolis's most iconic public spaces through conversation, research, and storytelling. The project asks a simple but deep question: What does the monument know?

This event is the third in a four-part public conversation series. Thanks to a grant from the Mellon Foundation, we offer it without cost to you. Learn more at askthemonument.org. Register: The Monument Knows: Public Conversation No. 3 Tickets, Monday, November 2  •  5 PM - 6 PM | Eventbrite