Detail view of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument by Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation
The Monument Knows
Public Conversation No. 2
with Taylor Schaffer and Blaine Zimmerman
Monday, September 28, 2026
Doors open at 4:30 p.m.
Program begins at 5:00 p.m.
Indy Chamber (Salesforce Tower)
111 Monument Circle, Suite 2200, Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Free and open to the public. Advance registration required.
Join Monumental Gestures for the second public conversation of The Monument Knows, a public humanities and civic research project exploring the histories, meanings, and future possibilities of Monument Circle and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis.
Public Conversation No. 1 asked what a monument is, and what kind of monument the Soldiers & Sailors Monument is. This upcoming event, Public Conversation No. 2, will ask how the Monument is used today and what it means to the people who gather there. The Circle is the city's visual icon. It is also a site of reverence, protest, and celebration, and the daily backdrop for the people who work, live, and serve downtown.
Taylor Schaffer, President and CEO of Downtown Indy Alliance, will speak to the ways the Monument anchors civic life and provides a stage for many different audiences and events, from Circle of Lights to SPARK on the Circle to the daily rhythm of downtown.
Blaine Zimmerman, Chief Talent and Marketing Officer at Indy Chamber, U.S. Army veteran, and infantry officer in the Indiana National Guard, will speak to the Monument's role in the lives of veterans and active service members today.
Sampson Levingston, creator and host of Through2Eyes Indiana Walk and Talk, will moderate.
Following the conversation, Sampson will lead a walking tour of the Circle. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended, as the tour will take place outdoors on paved surfaces.
Developed by Monumental Gestures in partnership with Merritt Chase, The Monument Knows invites residents to engage with one of Indianapolis's most iconic public spaces through conversation, research, and storytelling. The project asks a simple but deep question: What does the monument know?
This event is the second in a four-part public conversation series. Thanks to a grant from the Mellon Foundation, we offer it without cost to you. Learn more at askthemonument.org.
Getting there. → The Indy Chamber offices are on the 22nd floor of Salesforce Tower. Enter at 111 Monument Circle. Volunteers will be in the lobby to direct you through the turnstiles to the elevators. Please arrive by 4:50 p.m. so the program can start on time.
From left: Taylor Schaffer and Blaine Zimmerman
Special Guest Biographies
Taylor Schaffer (speaker) is President and CEO of Downtown Indy Alliance, the private nonprofit urban place management organization focused on making Downtown Indianapolis a clean, safe, and vibrant place to live, learn, work, and visit. Before joining the organization in 2022, she served in Mayor Joe Hogsett's administration from 2016: first as Communications Director and then as Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy Mayor. She began her career as a marketing and communications strategist at the Indianapolis agencies Young & Laramore and Bandy Carroll Hellige. Schaffer is a graduate of Indiana State University and the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series, and she serves on the boards of IndyGo, Visit Indy, the Athenaeum Foundation, and Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center. She has lived and worked downtown since the start of her career.
Blaine Zimmerman (speaker) is Chief Talent and Marketing Officer at Indy Chamber, where he leads the Chamber's regional talent and image initiatives, institutional marketing, and communications. He is a U.S. Army veteran and a serving infantry officer in the Indiana National Guard, with sixteen years of military leadership that has taken him from executive officer to company commander. Before joining the Chamber in 2024, he was President and CEO of INvets, where his team helped more than 1,600 veterans and their families relocate to Indiana. Zimmerman serves on the board of the Indiana War Memorials Foundation and is a graduate of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series. He holds an MBA from Butler University.
Sampson Levingston (moderator) created and hosts Through2Eyes Indiana Walk and Talk, a series of walking history tours that has drawn national attention to the overlooked and under-told stories of Indianapolis and Indiana. An Indianapolis native and former wide receiver at Indiana State University, Levingston began Through2Eyes as a blog and launched his first Walk and Talk on the Circle in 2020. He has since led more than one thousand tours across a dozen Indianapolis neighborhoods, and his work has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and in The New York Times, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune. Levingston is also Research Partner for The Monument Knows.