Free admission to annual celebration features music and cultural presentations

Jazz musician Rob Dixon

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

INDIANAPOLIS – One of the Eiteljorg Museum’s top cultural events returns June 21, when the museum hosts its 11^th annual Juneteenth and Jazz Community Celebration. Admission and parking are free and the day includes live jazz music, storytelling and poetry readings, a percussion group, DJ and more.

The Eiteljorg, with the help of several community groups, hosted its first Juneteenth and Jazz Community Celebration in 2015 on the 150^th anniversary of Juneteenth. Since then the event has grown into an annual festival with a focus on cultural and musical performances that draws visitors of all ages.

“During the Juneteenth observance, family, friends and the community gather to remember all those who fought for freedom. With Juneteenth now more broadly recognized around the country, the Eiteljorg Museum is honored again to host the Juneteenth and Jazz Community Celebration and welcome the public with free admission, live jazz music and meaningful cultural heritage presentations,” said Alisa Nordholt-Dean, Beeler family director of education and vice president for public programs at the museum. 

Juneteenth and Jazz is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the entertainment lineup is as follows:

• 10 a.m.: Welcome and spoken-word performance by jus Will, a poet and comedian from Indianapolis.
• 10:45 a.m.: Performance by Cassius Goens III and Groove Theory Quartet. An assistant professor of music at Ball State University, Goens specializes in jazz drums and is featured on 17 professional recordings, including his own.
• Noon: DJ iSM is a professional DJ from Indianapolis and Seattle who combines hits from past and present.

Author Shonda Buchanan

• 2 p.m.: Shonda Buchanan, educator and acclaimed author of Black Indian, returns to the Eiteljorg to present poetry and a reading from her new book about singer, songwriter and civil rights activist Nina Simone. The award-winning author of five nonfiction books about African American and Native histories and cultures, Buchanan will conduct a book signing of her latest work, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone, at the museum. (Before her appearance at the Juneteenth and Jazz Celebration, Buchanan also will present a reading of her new book Thursday June 19 at Brick Street Poetry, Inc. in Zionsville.)
• 3 p.m.: Led by Sister Stella, the SITEAW Drum Circle returns to the Eiteljorg for an interactive percussion performance that includes a message of empowerment and cultural diversity.
• 4 p.m.: Well known locally as a jazz saxophonist and arranger, Rob Dixon leads his group Trilogy. Having played in the New York jazz scene and performed with renowned jazz artists, including the late Tony Bennett and the Count Basie Big Band, Dixon is an adjunct professor at Indiana University-Indianapolis and Earlham College. Dixon serves as artistic director for Indy Jazz Fest, and has performed at Juneteenth and Jazz several years in a row.

Juneteenth marks the day at the end of the Civil War in June 1865 when federal troops marched into Galveston, Texas, to announce the war was over and that all enslaved people were freed, 2½ years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Having been observed since then in African American communities as Juneteenth, Jubilee Day or Freedom Day, the holiday is traditionally celebrated with barbecues, parades, prayer services and more. In 2021 the federal government made Juneteenth a holiday for federal employees. In celebration of freedom, the Eiteljorg celebrates Juneteenth by welcoming all with free admission and parking.

About the Eiteljorg
For more than 35 years, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art has been an integral part of the cultural fabric of Indianapolis and scenic White River State Park. The Eiteljorg Museum explores the intersection of the arts, histories and cultures of the past and present by sharing the diverse stories of the American West and the Indigenous Peoples of North America. Located on the Central Canal at 500 West Washington St., the Eiteljorg is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.

Eiteljorg Museum Media Contacts:
Bryan Corbin
Public Relations Manager
317.275.1315
bcorbin@eiteljorg.com

Katie Warthan
Director of Communications and Marketing
317.275.1317
kwarthan@eitejorg.com