Indiana Arts Commission announces Calida N. Jones, John Green, Sarah Urist Green as Homecoming Keynote Speakers

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Arts Commission announced today that Calida N. Jones of the Arts Consulting Group, John Green, bestselling author, and Sarah Urist Green, creator of The Art Assignment, will keynote the 2021 Indiana Arts Homecoming.

The Indiana Arts Homecoming will be taking place virtually from October 13-15.

Left to right: Calida N. Jones, John Green (Photo Credit: Marina Waters), Sarah Urist Green (Photo Credit: Marina Waters)

Calida N. Jones will deliver the opening keynote on Wednesday, October 13. John Green and Sarah Urist Green will deliver the closing keynote together on Friday, October 15. 

Calida N. Jones is an accomplished musician, social justice advocate, and educator with more than 20 years of experience in planning, workshop and curriculum development, project management, and advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and access initiatives. Passionate about intentional and purposeful mentoring and community engagement, her personal mission is to ensure that those with limited resources have access to arts opportunities and activities. She is also committed to correlating the art of teaching to life skills and community building. Ms. Jones is the Vice President of the Arts Consulting Group and has provided strategic guidance to organizations across the country, supporting and assisting arts organizations in the creation of equity, diversity, inclusion, and access goals.

John Green is the New York Times bestselling author of Looking for AlaskaAn Abundance of KatherinesPaper TownsThe Fault in Our StarsTurtles All the Way Down, and the essay collection The Anthropocene Reviewed. He is one-half of the blog brothers on YouTube and co-creator of the educational series Crash Course. He is also a 2021 Governor’s Arts Award recipient.

Sarah Urist Green is a curator and art educator seeking to demystify the worlds of art, artists, and museums for wide audiences. Green is the creator of The Art Assignment, an educational web series developed in partnership with PBS and Complexly, which has grown to become one of the most widely viewed and respected art education projects online. She is also consulting producer of Ours Poetica, a web series brought to you by the Poetry Foundation that captures the experience of holding a poem in your hands and listening as it’s read aloud.

The 2021 Indiana Arts Homecoming conference is centered on the intersection of creativity, learning, and community. The conference is free to attend, and registration will open to the public on Monday, August 23.