Earth House coming of age

After playing it by ear for over a year, collective is finding ways to improve its operations

The growing pains are beginning to subside at the Earth House Collective, the

Barista Jared Rust chats with April Hammerand in the Earth House’s organic, fair trade coffee bar.

community-created nonprofit organization housed in Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church.

Growing pains, indeed, linked inevitably to the organization’s very grassroots birth. Today, Executive Director Jordan Updike understands all too well that the term “community project” was, in this case, code for “no organization.”

His ironic smile reveals a bit of embarrassment when he remembers that the Earth House’s birth in September 2008 quickly landed the Downtown organization on the cover of NUVO Newsweekly. “That made us look like we knew what we were doing,” he

Sandra Gruber (left), an organizer of The Really, Really Free Market, arranges items on a table before the July 17 event, held along with the Pay What You Can Meal. That day was also a volunteer work day at Earth House.

said, noting that for the first nine to 12 months Earth House was a “communal, collaborative project. I would never recommend starting a project out that way.”

About 10 months into its existence, the Earth House Collective was the subject of the Urban Times center spread, under the headline “Earth House creating a sense of community.” That was July 2009. Much of that story focused on breakthrough events at Earth House – despite the organization’s continuous money problems.

Just a few months later, the funding stream allowed Updike to be the full-time director. Now, the Collective has made another positive step with the formation of its first board of directors. The next step will be designation as a not-for-profit organization. The

The second-floor church sanctuary is still used for Sunday evening services, but removing the pews has allowed for the space to be used for a wide variety of community events.

organization has already enjoyed that designation, actually, because it has been working under the umbrella of the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center, which moved into Lockerbie Central church from its former home at Broadway United Methodist Church.

The Earth House board is made up of social philanthropist Jeremy Efroymson, executive director of the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art; James Taylor, chief executive officer of the John H. Boner Center; Jessica Hancock of the American Cancer Society; Bobbie O’Connor of the Make A Wish Foundation of Greater Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana; and Mike Oles, founding member of Earth House and lay-leader/trustee of Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church.

The Earth House leadership includes (l-r) Executive Director Jordan Updike, Operations Manager Kate Lamont and Events Manager Brad Jones.

The church, which has struggled the past few years, has been boosted recently by the appointment of the Rev. Brenda Freije as its pastor. Freije, associate pastor of Roberts Park United Methodist Church, is a wholehearted booster of the Earth House mission which she describes as a “daring experiment to extend radical hospitality to people from all walks of life regardless of their beliefs or background.”

Updike is equally impressed with the pastor. “What she has brought has been fantastic,” he said, noting that what the Earth House is trying to do fits in with the social principles of the United Methodist Church. As for Freije, she was impressed “by the commitment of Earth House leaders and volunteers to practice that radical hospitality as they promote peace, wellness, community and culture within the church walls and outside its doors.” She said about 30 people typically gather for Sunday evenings worship services. Those folks, she said, “have opened my eyes to how churches can thrive with integrity and be relevant in an urban setting.”

Those services begin at 6:15 p.m. Sundays, following a pitch-in dinner. “The service is Wesleyan in nature,” Updike said, “definitely rooted in scholarship.”

Updike said the Earth House experiment is gaining considerable traction within the religious community. “I can’t state enough the church’s role in everything that happens here,” he said, noting that he gets frequent calls from around the country about the project. “Earth House is recognized within national United Methodist Church circles as a ground-breaking project, meeting United Methodist Church goals,” he said.

Updike also said the line dividing the Collective and the congregation is definitely a wavy one. “Almost everyone involved with the church is involved with Earth House,” he

Musical events have proven to be very popular at Earth House, where leaders have worked to improve the sound system.

said.

The idea of Earth House can even be traced to a 2007 project at the church, in which the street-level meeting room (once used by Lockerbie Square People’s Club for its monthly meetings) was converted to a coffeehouse. That coffeehouse survives – and recently resumed serving vegetarian meals. Ultimately, Updike sees the café working its way back to a full menu.

But about those growing pains – and an occasionally contentious relationship with its neighborhood. The problems date to a time just before Earth House Collective came into being, when former church officials allowed homeless people to take up nearly full-time residence on the doorsteps along East and New York streets.

By the summer of 2009, that issue had subsided when Earth House officials agreed to allow city police to deal with that issue. But then another issue arose – noise – directly related to those growing pains to which Updike referred. The issue came to a head when the Grammy-winning group Ok Go played a weeknight show. Neighbors couldn’t miss the event – or the reverberation.

“We have certainly learned some lessons,” Updike said, admitting that many of the Earth House’s events were actually too popular for its volunteer staff to deal with. That issue actually dates back to a January 2008 showing of the film “King Corn,” which drew a crowd of at least 250 people. “We didn’t have the organization structure to handle that,” Updike said of such events.

Subsequent to the Ok Go episode, the Collective has worked diligently to resolve the issue, raising $8,000 to better insulate the sound and to buy a sound system Updike said is more appropriate for the size of the second-floor church sanctuary. Staff has also learned lessons such as to activate the air conditioning well ahead of an event to better deal with the expected crowd.

At the same time, those crowds served as a beacon to validate the Earth House idea. “Hey, there’s something here,” Updike remembers as the lesson. “The community obviously wants this.”

Today, the Earth House Collective continues to be a hub of activity, with regular events ranging from yoga classes to African drumming.

July events included concerts by Ranger and Moor, the “Really Really Free Market,” the “Pay What You Can” meal, and a new program to recycle old electronics equipment. This month, Earth House will host a concert on Aug. 5 featuring Gold Motel, Between the Trees, Mark Rose and Camera Can’t Line. Two nights later, a concert will feature Mewithoutyou, Murder by Death and Buried Beds. On Aug. 14, a program will focus on Ode to the Forgotten, an organization working to use people’s artistic gifts to eradicate all types of poverty. The goal is to publish a book with submissions from people all over the world.

One programming setback – logistical issues within Earth House have thwarted plans for the Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival to use the space for a second year. Updike said he hopes to find a way to work with the festival in the future.

Updike sees Earth House, in fact, as a cultural organization – one validated by its recent NUVO Cultural Vision Award. Earth House has worked with over 100 organizations, as disparate as the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, AmeriCorps and the Hoosier Environmental Council. Updike sees the Collective serving a key role not only as a resource for those groups, but in helping them cooperate with each other on events.

Connecting organizations and building partnerships are also goals in terms of fund-raising. Money, Updike said, is a key element in “making this space a sustainable asset for the neighborhood and the whole city. We’re looking forward to doing a better job of what we’ve already been doing – and taking the next step, connecting with people who can help us take that next step.”

At the same time, Updike and his colleagues at Earth House want to become better neighbors. “It’s not for lack of wanting,” he said. “We want to be an asset to the neighborhood.”

Freije also put the task in perspective. “Of course, there’s lots of work to be done,” she said, “but the ‘community’ has made huge strides with very little money. The more I get to know the leadership and volunteers, the more privileged I feel to be part of the community.”

– Bill Brooks