Institute for Social Concerns unveils Pokagon Band of Potawatomi mural at Foundry Field

October 6, 2026

After seven years of sustained community collaboration, multiple semesters of student research and coursework, and partnerships with more than 100 community members and organizations, the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Social Concerns will celebrate the culmination of its Foundry Field mural project this Thursday, October 8, with the unveiling of a new mural honoring the history, culture, and contributions of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.

Commissioned by the Institute and painted by local artist and Pokagon Band citizen David Martin, the mural is the latest in a series of public artworks conceived and led by the Institute and its partners to illuminate the communities and histories that have shaped South Bend through baseball.

The new mural joins earlier Foundry Field murals celebrating the Black Foundry Giants baseball team and South Bend’s Mexican American Baseball League. Together, the works reflect years of interdisciplinary engagement led by the Institute’s Story Lab, bringing university students and faculty into sustained collaboration with community historians, artists, cultural leaders, and residents.

*Students from the Institute for Social Concerns’ Art & Social Change course put finishing touches on new Pokagon mural at Foundry Field.*

The Story Lab, an initiative of the Institute’s South Bend Citizen’s Collaboratory, brings together community partnership, interdisciplinary research, student learning, and the arts to uncover and share stories rooted in the life of the region. For the Pokagon mural, students in the Institute’s Art & Social Change course worked with Pokagon members, including language specialist Kyle Malott, Notre Dame Moreau Postdoctoral Fellow Zada Ballew, and artist David Martin, alongside other community partners to explore the enduring presence of the Potawatomi in South Bend and their connections to the region’s baseball history.

“This latest mural exemplifies the Institute’s work,” said Suzanne Shanahan, the Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the Institute for Social Concerns. “We bring students and faculty members into conversations with artists and community partners to learn from one another. These classes and conversations are made enduring with a mural that captures aspects of the histories that shape our shared life. These memorable educational experiences for students become shared opportunities for community members to reflect on the stories made visible.”

The Institute for Social Concerns invites all Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff and South Bend community members to attend the unveiling of the newest mural additions to the outfield wall at Foundry Field this Thursday, Oct. 8, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Southeast Neighborhood Park.

The event will feature:

opportunities to learn about Potawatomi history, language, and culture;
drumming from the Ribbon Town Singers;
food from Rose’s Food Stand, one of the oldest Native American food stands in the region;
and the unveiling of the mural, painted by David Martin, a citizen of the Pokagon Band, which showcases the contributions, baseball heritage, and ongoing presence of the Pokagon Band in South Bend.

The Foundry Field Mural Celebration is free and open to the public.

The Institute for Social Concerns is the University of Notre Dame’s scholarly home for the interdisciplinary study and practice of justice. Committed to the conviction that a just world is a beautiful world, the Institute engages the most urgent signs of the times through justice education, research for the common good, and collaborations with community. socialconcerns.nd.edu