Join us in the Fellowship Hall on Friday evening February 26th for the next installment of the Makers Series, as we explore how the written, visual, and musical arts help catalyze change in the lives of individuals and communities.
Doors open at 6:30 PM; Program begins at 7:00
Creative Catalysts
18th-century writer and politician Andrew Fletcher is credited with saying, “Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.” Our next edition of the Makers Series will look at the way the arts can be touchstones that shape the lives of people and communities (and nations) and motivate them to new ways of living together—the way the arts reflect, but also catalyze action towards what is good and true. Sometimes this happens when narrative stories prick our conscience and help us ask “what can I do?”, but it often happens by providing a shared experience in one time and one place (as with worship). And sometimes the catalytic role of the arts is as simple as getting us to pay attention to people and ideas that are already right before us.
David Bailey
David Bailey
Our musical Maker on Feb. 26th will be jazz musician, worship leader, and speaker David Bailey, whose and Arrabon and Urban Doxology projects focus on worship that reflects the New Jerusalem by bringing cultures and people together in bringing praise to God. A longtime friend of Third Church and EEF, frequently speaks at conferences across the nation and around the world (including at TEDx, Q, and at Calvin College) on the way music can be a force of racial and cultural reconciliation.
Blaine Lay
Chris Payne
Blaine Lay and Chris Payne
Our writers this time are Blaine Lay and (new Third member!) Chris Payne, two seasoned connectors and catalysts in Richmond’s creative community who have joined forces to co-host and produce the TWO PPL podcast. Blaine and Chris both have individual creative practices in branding and marketing business, Blaine at Joe Smith Co. and Chris at Well Done Creative. While they do craft words themselves, their real gift is crafting conversations--in helping other people shape and tell their own stories. In this Blaine and Chris exemplify the idea that catalysts often do not bring attention to themselves, but instead, cause amazing things to happen by connecting the dots between and shining the light on others.
Laura Waters Hinson
Finally, our visual artist will be Academy Award-winning film-maker Lauren Waters Hinson, whose documentary projects have helped catalyze compassion and action in the church and secular sectors--notably including the acclaimed As We Forgive about the Rwandan genocide. Her most recent film, Many Beautiful Things, directly addresses the question of how believers should frame their understanding of beauty, calling, and the arts by telling the story of 19th-century artist Lilas Trotter and her struggle to hear and respond to God's voice.
Makers Series and the February Term
The fifth of our community’s Core Values is that we foster a catalytic culture—one in which we equip and release our members to start new projects and ministries for the common good of the city and world. Timed to coincide with the final week of our February Term exploring that mark of Third’s shared culture, the next Makers Series will feature artists whose work exemplifies that same aim of creating growth and connection for the Kingdom in RVA and beyond.
What is the Makers Series?
The signature program of makeRVA (Third’s collaborative outreach to and through Richmond’s arts communities), each edition of the Makers Series brings together three “makers”—a writer, a visual artist, and a musician—to discuss their history and practice as artists and believers, touching on a unifying theme. In a coffee house setting with refreshments available throughout, each guest presents for 20 minutes, followed by a moderated conversation between the three and the audience, seeking to find commonalities between each maker’s experiences and to draw out insights about faith, culture, and creativity.
Exclusive Film Screening
As part of the Makers Series and our February Term Finale, Third and our arts outreach makeRVA are hosting a screening of Laura Waters Hinson's new film Many Beautiful Things at the Byrd Theatre on Saturday morning, February 27th from 10:00 to noon. Hinson will be with us for the screening and we'll have a conversation and Q&A with her and RVA's own documentary film-maker (and previous Makers guest) Nathan Clarke after the movie.
Click HERE to see the trailer and to get your tickets in advance.
