Granfalloon takes place across multiple days at multiple venues around Bloomington and the IU Campus. Below is a handy at-a-glance schedule of everything that’s going on during the festival.
Many festival events are free, though some are ticketed.
We’re also starting the Granfalloonery early this year with several pre-festival events throughout the spring.
Discussion @ 7pm, Dancing @ 8pm
The Back Door, 207 South College Avenue
Free event!
More info to come.
Talk @ 4pm, Performance @ 7pm
Monroe County Public Library, 303 East Kirkwood Avenue
Free event!
Join Mark Bingham and the researchers behind the BloomingtonLocal: A History of DIY Music in Bloomington project for a talk and performance celebrating the work of Hoagy Carmichael.
Performance @ 7pm, 21+
The Bishop Bar, 123 South Walnut Street
Free event!
More info to come.
Performance @ 7pm, 21+
Blockhouse Bar, 205 South College Avenue
Free event!
More info to come.
Performance @ 9pm, 21+
The Bishop Bar, 123 South Walnut Street
Free event!
A night of music, literature, and visual art inspired by the work of Kurt Vonnegut. Musical performances by Salo Pallini and Billy Pilgrim and the Earthlings. More info to come.
Performance @ 5pm
The Orbit Room, 107 North College Avenue
Free event!
More info to come.
Performance @ 8pm
Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 114 East Kirkwood Avenue
Oscar-nominated experimental music group Son Lux to perform with KAINA.
Performance @ 9pm
The Bluebird Nightclub, 216 North Walnut Street
Tickets on sale March 28
American Singer-Songwriter Langhorne slim will perform at the Bluebird Nightclub.
Performance @ 3pm
100 North Grant Street
Free event!
More info to come.
Performance @ 5pm
200 East Kirkwood Avenue
Free event w/premium ticket options available
The Granfalloon Main Stage Concert will take place outdoors on East Kirkwood Avenue and feature musical performances from The Flaming Lips, Arrested Development, and Indigo De Souza.
Discussion 6:30-8pm, 21+
Switchyard Brewing Company, 419 North Walnut Street
Free Event. Please RSVP Here.
Join Monroe County Public Library and Granfalloon for the May edition of Books On Tap. It's the book club with a twist! Enjoy fantastic drinks, a comfortable atmosphere, and a great discussion on a variety of compelling books. This month, we’ll be celebrating the upcoming Granfalloon by reading visiting author Ted Chiang's Exhalation: Stories.
9am – 5pm
Gayle Karch Cook Center, 750 East Kirkwood Avenue
Registration open now!
Reading @ 7pm
Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 114 East Kirkwood Avenue
The IU Arts and Humanities Council is thrilled to be hosting Ted Chiang as part of the 2023 Granfalloon Festival. Chiang’s fiction has won more than two dozen prizes -- including four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus awards – and has been featured in The Best American Short Stories. The Oscar-nominated film, Arrival, was based on his novella, “Story of Your Life.” Given this year’s festival themes of technology and creativity, automation, and the rise of the computer age (taken from Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano), Chiang’s prescient and immensely thoughtful science-fiction is a perfect fit.
For more information on Ted Chiang, please visit www.prhspeakers.com.
Reading @ 12pm
Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 114 East Kirkwood Avenue
Tickets on sale March 28
The IU Arts and Humanities Council is thrilled to be hosting Meg Cabot as part of the 2023 Granfalloon Festival. Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign, but learned at an early age that a good storyteller can always give herself a happy ending. Her 80+ books for both adults and tweens/teens have included multiple #1 New York Times bestsellers, selling over twenty-five million copies worldwide. Her Princess Diaries series has been published in more than 38 countries and was made into two hit films by Disney. Meg’s numerous other award-winning books include the Mediator series, the Heather Wells mystery series, and Avalon High, the later of which was made into a film for Disney Channel. Meg Cabot (her last name rhymes with habit, as in “her books can be habit forming”) currently lives in Key West with her husband and various cats.
Class @ 1pm
Gayle Karch Cook Center, 750 East Kirkwood Avenue
Free event!
A free and fun way to bookend the festival! Join us for a discussion of Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano, with IU Writers’ Conference Director Bob Bledsoe and IU Arts and Humanities Council Director Ed Dallis-Comentale.
Performances @ 7:30pm
Ted Jones Playhouse, 107 West 9th Street
On The Line: A College Football Play, explores both the humanity and the inanity around what is arguably many universities’ most visible and beloved product – college football. Set against the backdrop of adoring fans and the money that flows through the sport, this play tells the story of star athlete Anthony Teague and how the machine that is college football enmeshes him and those around him.
By Jonathan Michaelsen and Ansley Valentine.
Screening @ 7pm, 18+
The Bishop Bar, 123 South Walnut Street
Free event!
Cicada Cinema presents Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes as part of the Granfalloon Film Series: The Human and the Machine.
Screening @ 7pm
IU Cinema, 1213 East 7th Street
Free but ticketed.
IU Cinema presents Arrival as part of the Granfalloon Film Series: The Human and the Machine.
June 2 @ 6:30pm, June 3 @ 2pm
Rose Firebay Theater, The Waldron Arts Center, 122 South Walnut Street
Tickets on sale March 28
Constellation Stage and Screen brings to the stage a never-produced screenplay for Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano.
Screening @ Dusk
Hopscotch Coffee Roastery & To-Go, 212 North Madison Street
Free event! This event is outdoors so bring your own chair!
Cicada Cinema presents Metropolis (2001) as part of the Granfalloon Film Series: The Human and the Machine.
Screening @ 1pm
IU Cinema, 1213 East 7th Street
Free but ticketed.
IU Cinema presents The Iron Giant as part of the Granfalloon Film Series: The Human and the Machine.
Screening @ 7pm
IU Cinema, 1213 East 7th Street
Free but ticketed.
IU Cinema presents the 2023 Oscar Winner for Best Picture, Everything Everywhere All at Once, as part of the Granfalloon Film Series: The Human and the Machine. Ryan Lott of Son Lux will be present to speak about his experience scoring the film.
Screening @ 7pm
Backspace Gallery, 112 West 6th Street
Free event!
Cicada Cinema presents After Yang as part of the Granfalloon Film Series: The Human and the Machine. Alexander Weinstein, writer of the story that inspired the film, will be present for a reading a discussion.
Performances @ 10:30am & 1:30pm
100 North Grant Street
Free event!
More info to come.
Gayle Karch Cook Center, 750 East Kirkwood Avenue
More info to come.
Gayle Karch Cook Center, 750 East Kirkwood Avenue
More info to come.
Event @ 7pm
WonderLab Museum of Science, Health & Technology, 308 West 4th Street
Event @ 5-8pm
Gayle Karch Cook Center, 750 E Kirkwood Ave (other locations list here)
Free Event!
Stop by the Gayle Karch Cook Center during the June Gallery Walk! This month’s exhibits will include two exhibits presented as part of Granfalloon. The Process Gallery will host Creativity in the Age of AI. The 100 Suite will host Player Piano, an exhibit of archive materials related to Vonnegut’s debut novel from both the Lilly Library and the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library.
Event @ 5pm
Gayle Karch Cook Center, 750 East Kirkwood Avenue
More info to come.
Gayle Karch Cook Center, 750 East Kirkwood Avenue
More info to come.
10am-4pm
100 North Grant Street & 100 South Grant Street
Free event!
More info to come
10am – 4pm
300-500 East Kirkwood Avenue
Free event!
Bloomington Handmade Market is Bloomington's best indie craft show experience featuring independent makers from across the Midwest. The Summer Fair will be held in conjunction with the Granfalloon on June 4th from 10a-4pm on Kirkwood Avenue between Lincoln and Indiana Streets.
