About.

Discover the stories behind the music with our carefully curated articles and features. Each issue brings you closer to the beats that pulse through different cultures and communities, revealing the profound influence of music on our world. Dive into our latest edition to learn more about the visionary artists and their creative processes that continue to inspire and revolutionize the music industry.

Our Story

Welcome to “Where Music Ignites Worlds,” friends. With this publication, we hope to shed deserved light on some of the incredible musicians and change agents who call Indianapolis home, and who use their gifts each day to make our home a better and more just place.

This project was born of an idea in a Spring 2024 course titled “Rhythm and Revolution: Music and Social Change” at IUPUI (now transitioning to IUI – Indiana University Indianapolis). It is our hope that this first issue will be just that, the first of many – and in the meantime, we hope to continue these important discussions online at our website “Where Music Ignites Worlds.”

This specific first issue seeks to highlight some of the transformative musical figures who were kind enough to grace our course this semester as guest speakers, and we truly can’t thank them enough. All articles in this publication were written by IUI scholars who, inspired by the lessons shared by these guest speakers, decided to put pen to paper to help record some of the life and musical wisdoms offered.

We would also like to thank the IUI Center for Service and Learning for their support with this project, in helping to fund two of our exceptional scholars with a Civic Activator Fellowship Pilot Grant, so that we could devote time and money to bringing this idea to reality. It has been a joy indeed, and we hope to continue the conversation moving forward, with your help. In the end, what will your voice be?

Trevor Potts

Excerpts from our first issue

Rhythm & Revolution is the brainchild of our impassioned, courageous and inspiring leader, Trevor Potts. Emblematic of his devotion to us students, he has delivered upon his promise, week after week, to supply us with impactful guest speakers from the world of music and beyond.

Sydney Fisher

Mariah Ivey mentioned, 'It is important that what was informs where we go.' This quote and way of thinking can be used in many areas of life. It is important that the past teaches us how to move forward in a more efficient way and it is important to learn from past mistakes.

Mady Burner

By reframing music to be seen not as a means of achieving individual stardom, but as something essential to community identity, I believe so many more new artists would feel encouraged in their creative endeavors.

– Arden Hutson

Every interaction is an intervention. So we think of going into a community for community engagement doing an intervention…We know that relationships are primary…so if relationships are primary, then shifting our focus there, to me, makes it more interesting to think about the conversations we have in relation because of the process of being in community via music.

– IUI Department of Communication Studies Doctoral scholar Jake Watson (as interviewed by Jake Low)

(Indianapolis musician) Jody Friend labels the band’s 2021 album 'Chrysalis' as a big 'coming out' artistic expression where she addresses her identity and embraces it. One final thing of note on Jody’s personal life is her middle name. Friend is a fan of the fantasy series 'Lord of the Rings' and gave herself the middle name of 'Galadriel,' who is a very powerful character within the lore.

Jackson Lemaster

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On Indianapolis Musician and Community Leader Preston Nash

Preston’s point in bringing this song truly to our attention. The mention of Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ had everyone primed to be curious, and so we listened more closely to this first song, even though we all knew it so well! Right? Wrong.”  –  Sydney Fisher

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On Indianapolis Change Agent and Musician Mariah Ivey

“During this discussion, Ivey mentioned, ‘It is important that what was informs where we go’. This quote and way of thinking can be used in many areas of life. It is important that the past teaches us how to move forward in a more efficient way and it is important to learn from past mistakes.” – Mady Burner

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On IUI Doctoral Scholar Jake Watson

‘We have a mantra in my research group: Every interaction is an intervention. So we think of going into a community for community engagement doing an intervention…We know that relationships are primary…so if relationships are primary, then shifting our focus there, to me, makes it more interesting to think about the conversations we have in relation because of the process of being in community via music.” – Portion of Interview as written by Jake Low

stay tuned.

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