Overview

Who? SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

What? SPARK brings a free, fun, playful, welcoming, and art-filled park to the heart of Indianapolis. On Monument Circle, you’ll find comfortable places to sit in the shade, free games to play like ping pong and chess, a cafe serving food and drink, art experiences, and special offerings like live, local music. Big Car Collaborative approaches its aspects of SPARK on the Circle as a site and community-specific public art project. Read more about Big Car Collaborative’s approach to placemaking and socially engaged art.

When? Visitors can enjoy SPARK on the Circle from 11 am until dusk each day June-November with some special evening hours.

Where? The SPARK park will utilize the brick streets between the monument and the sidewalk on the northwest quadrant between Market Street on the west side of the monument and North Meridian.

Why? SPARK is about providing positive experiences for the community of visitors, residents, and downtown workers who enjoy Monument Circle. We’re doing this by offering human-scale activities like playing games, enjoying live music, making art, and socializing in a comfortable place to take it easy, spend time together, and celebrate our city. We’re all about adding extra energy at Monument Circle — the civic, social, cultural, and historic heart of our city. Monument Circle is a unique, beautiful, historic place for all of us. And we’re dedicated to showing it off!

Who is it for? SPARK on the Circle is for everyone! We believe and work to ensure that public spaces and places in our city are welcoming and accessible (physically and programmatically) for everyone. This means making places people can access physically (removing physical barriers and make it safe and easy to access) and financially (removing cost burdens that might exclude some people).