Artists In Community: Something beautiful is happening!   

Many believers have either ignored the arts as subjective, ungodly, transgressive (the result is art and artists are excluded) or have restricted their scope to church, religious, liturgical and separate from cultural mainstreams. We will draw out and build together fertile insights on the influence of the creative arts in gospel movements. We will take opportunities in small groups to work towards the design of redemptive initiatives in our cities through various artistic expressions. Finally, we will explore how art and the artists are unveiling the beauty and power of the Gospel. 

We are envisioning a vibrant network of art-makers across the U.S. who collaborate in flavoring our culture with the grace and justice of the Kingdom, by a prophetic immersion in their own local contexts. We are equipping men and women art-makers who live out the call of the Kingdom in the mainstream of culture as “prophets and poets” of the day. We are identifying, recruiting and nurturing a community of art-makers and art-lovers whose grand passion is the Gospel and for whom “the field is the world" --people who flourish and attract others to Jesus and His Kingdom through the expressive power of their art and lives.      

This Track is for:

• Pastors and ministry leaders who seek to understand the role of the art-maker as a Kingdom agent in today's culture.    

1. Explore a biblical worldview that embraces the significance of the arts empowering us with the confidence to bring healing to a broken world. 
2. Engage in dialogue that leaves us eager to pursue and live out goodness, truth and beauty… locally and collaboratively. 
3. Decide on some practical steps towards realizing our vision and expanding the circle of those who bring the transformative excellencies of our God through art into our social and professional networks.   

TRACK SPEAKERS: 

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Gary Bradley, National Leader, Via Affirmativa and The Navigators; Cary, NC  Gary Bradley serves as the pioneering leader on the Navigator US Field Leadership Team. In 2004 he launched a movement known as Via Affirmativa whose goal is to create an international network of art makers whose desire is to "rehumanize their world through the making of art." In 2012 Gary formed a community of artists in North Carolina and opened the Waverly Artists Group (WAG) as a gallery and studio and serves as artistic director and managing partner. He has lectured to many audiences on art and society and has helped launch numerous local art communities throughout the US. Gary is a practicing Watercolor and Oil artist whose first passion is to paint out doors on location (plein air). In 2004 Gary was awarded “second place in show” at the North Carolina State Fair Fine arts competition. He has been shown in numerous juried shows in North Carolina, Kansas, Texas and New York. He has a wide interest in painting subjects and has completed numerous commissions. His work is held by many private collectors and corporations.

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Dr. Kyle Gregory, National Leader of Via Affirmativa; Colorado Springs, CO   Dr. Kyle Gregory is involved in co-leading the international arts movement, Via Affirmativa. He frequently travels as a solo artist and educator, having performed and taught in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa, Australia and New Zeland. In past years Kyle performed with numerous internationally-known jazz and commercial artists, including Paul Motian, Bob Mintzer, JJ Johnson, Dianne Reeves, Liza Minelli, The Temptations, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, and the Mingus Dynasty. Dr. Gregory has recorded more than 40 albums with various artists and independent labels, including WORLD DOWNSIDE UP, a suite of original compositions inspired by the Beatitudes, which was recorded with Paolo Birro, Salvatore Maiore, Roberto Dani and Aya Shimura. In the Spring of 2013 his new project, TONGUES OF FIRE, will be released. Kyle studied at Berklee College of Music, Indiana University, and the University of Northern Colorado, completing his doctorate in 1995. In 1992 Dr. Gregory received the prestigious Fulbright Grant for a year of pedagogical research into new methods of teaching improvisation in Hungary. From 1992 to 1997 Kyle was a professor of classical trumpet and jazz at Bradley University in Illinois.

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TRACK DESIGN TEAM MEMBERS: