Reflections on an Evening at the Taggart

By Abbey Chambers

In 2018, Indy Shakespeare Company (“Indy Shakes”), Indiana Landmarks, and Indy Parks Foundation (now “Indy Parks Alliance”) received a $9.24 million-dollar grant from Lilly Endowment to rehabilitate and reactivate the Taggart Memorial at Riverside Regional Park, transforming the space into an outdoor amphitheater and establishing Indy Shakes as the space’s anchoring organization. Thanks to the way in which the Taggart’s transformation was facilitated through intentional and inclusive engagement, the Taggart Memorial Amphitheatre at Riverside Regional Park has the potential to be one of the city’s most diverse and culturally aware and open spaces. It stands as an example of how revitalization ought to happen.