10/13/2026
Who gets to shape the future of a place, and whose memories get carried forward?
On November 11, City Rising invites you to Beyond These Gates: Remembering Home, the Prison, and a Place That Has Yet to Be, a multimedia experience at Kan Kan Cinema presented as part of the 2026 Spirit & Place Festival.
For the past 18 months, we've been exploring the histories, lived experiences, and possible futures of the former Indiana Women's Prison on Indianapolis' Near Eastside.
What we've encountered is complicated.
A place of confinement, exploitation, and profound harm was also a place where women formed friendships, built communities, and developed complex relationships with the idea of home.
As the former prison moves toward redevelopment, we're interested in a question that extends well beyond historic preservation:
What would it mean to truly honor this place, its histories, and the women whose lives were shaped by it?
On November 11, we're bringing this research to life through an interwoven experience of documentary video and audio, live conversations with formerly incarcerated women and others connected to the site, poetry developed through poetic inquiry, original music, and video art.
Rather than simply presenting findings, we're exploring how storytelling, research, and artistic expression might challenge conventional approaches to redevelopment, introduce overlooked voices into the public record, and create possibilities for what comes next.
We hope this evening brings together neighbors, artists, historians, researchers, developers, planners, public officials, and anyone curious about the history and future of Indianapolis.
Because honoring a place shouldn't simply be about what we preserve. It should also be about what we make possible.
Wednesday, November 11, 2026 | 7:30 PM
Kan Kan Cinema | Indianapolis
Tickets: $10 | 90-minute experience
Tickets and event information: https://kankanindy.com/events/BEYONDTHESEGATES
Read more about this event: https://cityrising.short.gy/44q96O
