On Thursday, October 30 we hosted Indy Redefined with Achieve at the Dallara IndyCar Factory. This inaugural, half-day conference certainly came with all the thrills and challenges of being the first.
A few things we loved about Indy Redefined
Now knee-deep in the debriefing stage, we’re comfortable saying there were a lot of things we know that we loved about the event. First and foremost, working alongside Achieve was an experience we wouldn’t trade for the world. We also had truly wonderful sponsors, speakers, attendees and volunteers. Really, truly wonderful.
Plus, the hackathon sponsored by Apparatus. Winner Bin Peng concepted a neighborhood app with the support of Apparatus mentors. And those guys were fantastic.
Our Event Sponsors
Our Event Speakers
| Juan Sepúlveda Tasha Jones Aman Brar Julie Keefe |
Lisa Schlehuber Craig Dinsell Scott Stulen Clay Robinson |
Guy-Jo Gordon Polina Osherov Jake Wood |
We also loved hosting an event off the beaten path. While Speedway’s only a ten minute drive from downtown and the Dallara is becoming an increasingly popular event venue, it’s still not a side of the city we happen across all that often. So, we were excited to be there and are excited to go back.
A few things we learned through Indy Redefined
We learned that set design is hard. And by hard we mean if you plan to paint a billion boxes, be ready for it to take forever (be ready for it to take even longer if you don’t have a Joey Ponce on hand). It’ll look awesome. The world will love it. And then you’ll tear the whole thing down in 20 minutes.
It also turns out that some people in certain communities frown on food trucks taking up multiple, public-parking spaces. You live and you learn.
Not everything can be easy and perfect.
Incidentally, that was a consistent theme among the speakers: it all takes work. Not that that’s a surprise. But it’s good to be reminded that anything worth having takes serious work.
There will be parts that are going to be really hard. And there will be parts of it that might look like failure. But you step back when you need to step back, and you push through when you need to push through.
Indy Redefined concluded with the dynamite headliner Juan Sepúlveda from PBS and transitioned to our 5×5 Re:Populate with a Sun King social hour with free beverages provided by Sun King.
5×5 Re:Populate
And then the Re:Populate presentations began for 2014’s final 5×5 event. We heard from:
Jamie Pawlus with Signs of Life
John Moore with the Indy Redbud Project
Kevin Grazioli with Exploration Indy
John Beeler with 
Improving the Music Council
Angela Joseph with Patterns in Repopulations
Following the presentations, the audience weighed in on their favorites while a panel judges representing carefully considered various aspects of each project.
In the end the Indy Redbud Project was announced as the winner of the 5×5 $10k. And we could be happier for these guys who represent Urban Patch, an incredible group doing invaluable work in the Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood. We’re so, so excited to see these trees planted and blooming, and certainly hope it starts a trend throughout Indianapolis.
We’re also reminded–when we think of the other fantastic presentations–of what we heard our speakers from Indy Redefined say over and over earlier in the day: parts of the work might look like a loss, but a loss can still be a step forward to something better.
As we continue to think about events and projects to pursue as an organization, we think it’s invaluable to have completely new experiences such as Indy Redefined—always taking that next step forward.
And triple thanks to Tessa Tillett for all these wonderful photos.
