Art & Soul Indianapolis (2027 Edition — Date TBA)

A 30-year Indianapolis tradition that turns Black History Month into a citywide celebration of Black art, music, and public creativity — here's what to know before you plan a visit (2027 dates: TBA).

Introduction

Every February, Indianapolis does something most cities don't: it hands its public spaces, galleries, and stages over to Black artists for an entire month — and then keeps the celebration going well beyond it. Art & Soul, presented by the Indy Arts Council, is the city's signature Black History Month program, pairing visual artists, musicians, dancers, and writers with venues across downtown Indianapolis for a season of free and low-cost public art experiences. It is not a single ticketed festival day — it's a citywide, month-spanning (and increasingly year-spanning) program that has quietly become one of the most significant platforms for Black creative talent in the Midwest. In 2026, Art & Soul marked its 30th anniversary, and the milestone year offers a real preview of what a visit could look like whenever the next edition is confirmed.

A note on timing: Because the 2027 edition of Art & Soul has not yet been officially announced, this guide is written as a bookmark-and-check-back resource. We're using the verified, real 2026 30th-anniversary program as an illustrative example of what to expect — not as a confirmed schedule for next year. Save this page and check back as Indy Arts Council releases new dates.

Program at a Glance

• Program: Art & Soul (2027 Edition — Date TBA)
• Presented By: Indy Arts Council
• City: Indianapolis, Indiana
• Traditional Timing: Kicks off around Black History Month (February); the 30th-anniversary edition expanded into a citywide celebration running from February into the fall
• Anchor Venue: Indianapolis Artsgarden, 924 N. Pennsylvania St., Indianapolis, IN 46204
• Cost: Free and low-cost — most core programming, including "Art & Soul Sundays," is free and open to the public
• Best For: Art lovers, culture travelers, families, solo travelers, and anyone building a Black History Month itinerary around the Midwest
• Key Partners: Lilly Endowment Inc. (annual supporter) and the Madam Walker Legacy Center

What Is Art & Soul, Exactly?

Art & Soul is Indy Arts Council's flagship program celebrating Black art and music in Indianapolis. Rather than a single festival with one gate and one ticket, it's structured as a season of public events — gallery exhibitions, live performances, spoken word showcases, dance productions, and theater — spread across venues throughout the city. Each year, the program recognizes a small cohort of Featured Artists working across disciplines (visual art, music, dance, and literature/spoken word), giving them paid opportunities to perform and exhibit in front of audiences well beyond Indianapolis's traditional arts crowd. It's as much an economic-empowerment initiative for local Black artists as it is a cultural celebration, and that dual mission is part of why it has lasted three decades.

Thirty Years of Building a Platform: The History

Art & Soul dates back to the mid-1990s, when Indy Arts Council — itself founded in 1987 out of the momentum of that year's Pan American Arts Festival — launched the program as an intentional, sustained platform for Black artists in a city that hadn't always given Black creatives a citywide stage. Three decades later, in 2026, Art & Soul celebrated its 30th anniversary. The program has been supported annually by the Lilly Endowment Inc., one of Indianapolis's most significant philanthropic engines for the arts, and in recent years has deepened its partnership with the Madam Walker Legacy Center — the restored home of Madam C.J. Walker's business empire and one of the most historically significant Black cultural landmarks in the country. That pairing of a 30-year contemporary arts program with a century-old Black entrepreneurial landmark is one of the more powerful throughlines in Indianapolis's Black cultural history.

Featured Artists: The Heart of the Program

Each edition of Art & Soul centers on a small group of Featured Artists chosen for their contributions to Indianapolis's creative community. In the verified 30th-anniversary 2026 edition, the four Featured Artists were:

• Dr. Austin Dean Ashford — a multidisciplinary playwright and performer who mentors emerging Black artists through organizations including Flanner House and IF Theatre
• Kenn.Wav — a pianist and musician blending gospel, soul, and R&B with electronic influences, known for his 2023 album Frequency
• Auboni Essence — a poet and spoken-word performer who competes nationally in slam poetry and leads youth workshops around the city
• D'yshe Mansfield — a singer, songwriter, actor, and director trained at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, who performs across Indianapolis venues including The Jazz Kitchen

Featured Artists aren't just showcased once — they're woven through the entire season's programming, from intimate Sunday performances to a culminating showcase, giving visiting art lovers multiple chances to catch the same artists in different settings around the city.

"Art & Soul Sundays": The Program's Signature Series

One of the most visitor-friendly pieces of Art & Soul is Art & Soul Sundays — a free, family-friendly performance series held at the Indianapolis Artsgarden, the glass-domed pedestrian skywalk hub in the heart of downtown that Indy Arts Council itself operates. In the verified 2026 season, Art & Soul Sundays ran as a set of afternoon performances (3–4 p.m.) on select Sundays between April and August, featuring both current Featured Artists and beloved alumni from past years — for example, a past 2012 Featured Artist returned for the opening date before that year's new Featured Artists took over subsequent Sundays. It's a low-key, no-ticket-required way to experience the program if your travel dates land outside the traditional February kickoff window, and it illustrates how Art & Soul has grown from a single-month celebration into a season-long institution.

What a February Kickoff Traditionally Looks Like

In its more traditional years, Art & Soul has opened Black History Month with a run of signature events clustered around downtown's arts corridor: an opening-night gallery exhibition and performance showcase at Gallery 924 (Indy Arts Council's own gallery space) and the adjoining Cabaret, a mid-month Featured Artist Showcase at a venue like The Jazz Kitchen pairing visual art with live jazz, dance, and spoken word, and a closing celebration at the Indianapolis Artsgarden spotlighting the historic music of Indiana Avenue — Indianapolis's own storied Black jazz corridor — alongside local legends and the year's Featured Artists. Alongside the core Art & Soul programming, downtown Indianapolis's broader February arts calendar typically layers in complementary Black History Month exhibitions, including First Friday gallery nights at Gallery 924 and the Harrison Center spotlighting Black Indiana artists, and thematically relevant theater programming from Indiana Repertory Theatre and other local stages. Travelers who time a February visit well can realistically build an entire long weekend around Black art, music, and theater without leaving a few square miles of downtown.

A Milestone Year: The 30th Anniversary Expansion

Because 2026 was a 30th-anniversary year, Indy Arts Council broadened Art & Soul beyond its traditional February footprint into a true citywide season. Verified 2026 partner activations included a concert series with Indy Parks Alliance at parks across the city, a rooftop concert at the Harrison Center, programming at the Indiana Black Expo's Cultural Arts Pavilion, and free outdoor and indoor concerts at venues like The Cabaret — all feeding into a culminating Featured Artist Showcase at the Madam Walker Legacy Center in the fall. Whether future editions retain this expanded format or return to a concentrated February footprint isn't yet known — which is exactly why this guide is framed as a bookmark rather than a fixed itinerary.

Practical Tips for Visiting Indianapolis in February

Indianapolis in February is walkable and manageable for visitors. The core Art & Soul venues — Gallery 924, The Cabaret, the Indianapolis Artsgarden, and The Jazz Kitchen — sit within a compact downtown footprint connected by the city's skywalk system, which matters in Midwest winter weather. Pack for cold: February temperatures typically hover in the 20s to 30s Fahrenheit, with the possibility of snow, so layer up and bring warm, presentable outerwear for evening gallery openings and showcases. Because so much of the core programming is free, this is one of the more budget-friendly Black-culture travel weekends you can build in the Midwest. Pair your visit with a stop at the Madam Walker Legacy Center for its own historical exhibits, and consider timing your trip around a First Friday if downtown's broader gallery scene interests you.

Where This Guide Goes From Here

As of now, official 2027 dates for Art & Soul have not been announced. Rather than guess at a schedule, we're keeping this guide as a living reference: the verified facts about the program's history, its 30th-anniversary format, its Featured Artists, and its signature Art & Soul Sundays series are all accurate as reported for the 2026 season. When Indy Arts Council announces 2027 details, we'll update this page with confirmed dates, venues, and ticketing information. Bookmark this page and check back, or follow Indy Arts Council directly for the announcement.

Final Takeaway

Art & Soul is proof that a Black History Month celebration doesn't have to be confined to a single stage or a single night. Thirty years in, Indy Arts Council has built a program that turns an entire city's downtown into a rotating showcase of Black visual art, music, dance, and words — anchored by a philanthropic backbone (Lilly Endowment) and a historic Black cultural landmark (the Madam Walker Legacy Center) that together give it staying power most local arts programs never reach. Whenever the next edition lands, it belongs on the radar of any traveler building a Black History Month itinerary in the Midwest.

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