Submission to Arts Council England consultation

commission4mission aims to encourage the commissioning and placing of contemporary Christian Art in churches, as a means of fundraising for charities and as a mission opportunity for the churches involved. It is an emerging arts network based in East London and the Diocese of Chelmsford, and its patron is David Hawkins, The Bishop of Barking, who is himself a practising artist.

Our consultation response is a generalised response based on comments from our members but relates most closely to Q5. What do you think are the most important things to focus on in order to ensure more people value and enjoy the arts? and Q8 Do you agree with our thinking regarding the future role the Arts Council will play in partnership with others? Do you have alternative ideas?　

Supporting the links between faith and art

Faith communities are part of the wider community of engagement with the arts and it is important that they are recognised in the matrix of how and why people value and enjoy the arts.

Faith is an influential context for people's lives: it influences how people see themselves, their relationship with others and their environment, and how they create a sense of meaning and identity, which in turn influences how they behave.

Members of faith communities may enjoy art which (although not exclusively) touches and nurtures their spiritual lives. Members of c4m (as both artists and audiences) talk about the value of art in their spiritual growth and understanding. Art has been an important medium through which communication about faith and belief has taken place over centuries, and as a result the church has enjoyed a long partnership with the arts, though this seems to have eroded in recent decades.

Faith is not something that sits in isolation from art or any other area of people's lives: it is part of a complex unity. Increasing numbers of Britons report a sense of deepening 'spirituality', a seeking for something beyond the material life - 76% according to recent research (Hay/Hunt, Frequency of report of religious or spiritual experience in Britain for years 1987 and 2000, Blackwell Companion to Christian Spirituality, Blackwell, 2007, pp 417-441.) This is not an insignificant sector of the public, but a majority.

Thus it is important that the connection between art and faith in England is sustained by Arts Council England (ACE) - initiatives which recognise and nurture this (such as the Faith and the Arts website) are sustained and developed, that regional offices are encouraged to see faith organisations as valuable partners, and that funding is available for activities that enable artists and communities to connect faith and art.

Churches as creative spaces and Christianity as an influential theme

We wish to flag the significance of churches as: spaces in which artworks are and can be displayed; venues for community art initiatives; places for accessing community members for consultation and/or participation in community arts initiatives; holders of significant arts collections; and as a continuing source of inspiration and encouragement for artists. The recent trend of placing significant art work in church venues (e.g. Antony Gormley, Flare II, St Paul's Cathedral), and the development of church-based arts spaces (e.g. Wallspace) and mainstream artists drawing on Christian themes (Mark Wallinger, Ecce Homo) has to be seen in the context of this.

Christianity has been one of the great historic narratives and themes for art, and remains such, and this still needs to be acknowledged and encouraged.

As the Bishop of Barking notes: 'For centuries one of the principal subjects that the great masters have depicted have been biblical scenes. This was partly because the church was a significant patron of fine art but also the bible [like Greek mythology] provides epic and iconic themes which evoke the whole range of human emotion and which plumb the depths of divinity and depravity and of good and evil. If our art galleries were divested of all the paintings depicting biblical subjects our national collections would be severely depleted. Just because church attendance and Christianity in general is less fashionable than it was in previous centuries this is no reason to sideline works of art which depict Christian themes or are being created from a Christian motivation.'

The commissioning of visual art work for public spaces indicates there is still a demand for art on a Christian theme, or by Christian artists. This forms part of the hidden economy of the arts which needs recognition and support.

c4m supports and encourages the commissioning of contemporary Christian art work in public spaces. Recent commissions in which it has been involved in the past 12 months include: Queens Hospital Romford, St Paul’s Church Goodmayes, St Peter's Church Harold Wood and St Edmunds Church Tyseley.

Christian art projects and social engagement

Christian arts projects are also offering a point of engagement and nurture for people who are socially excluded or marginalised - the Crypt of St George's Leeds, involved a professional artist working with homeless people to produce a mural. Work by c4m members in East London is starting to reach out and engage with diverse communities in community-based arts activities in churches.

Developing an active partnership

At a time when the Archbishop of Canterbury has said that 'the church needs more artists', the church and Christian organisations need to be seen as valid partners for the arts.

We commend an active and sustained engagement with churches, cathedrals and Christian organisations as partners with ACE and arts organisations in the creation, delivery, and display of artworks and arts initiatives. The value of this partnership has previously been recognised on occasion (e.g. involvement of Church organisations in consultation on ACE rural arts policy) but lacks sustained energy and dialogue at a national and regional level.

These partnerships and dialogue should be encouraged across all regional offices. Regional offices may need confidence and encouragement to engage with and talk to churches and faith organisations - ACE should provide support and guidance on this.

Funding guidelines (e.g. Arts 4 All) should be reviewed to ensure they are not discouraging or disbenefiting organisations with a faith background which can demonstrate that their work has a wider community benefit - many can. Funding and art form advisors should be encouraged to support, and not dismiss, applications from faith organisations.

ACE should stimulate this partnership by documenting local and national partnerships between the arts and churches, what they achieve, how they evolve and what artists and audiences they engage with.

ACE should find ways of supporting commissioning of Christian art works e.g. by extending the 'Own Art' scheme to churches and other faith organisations to enable them to spread the cost of commissioning and purchasing works.

ACE should work in partnership with organisations such as c4m to develop the skills and capacity of faith/church organisations to commission art work - through supporting the development of guidance, case studies and access to professional advice.

Perspectives on commissioning Christian Art (4)

The Rt. Revd. David Hawkins, Bishop of Barking, spoke at commission4mission's recent Study Day from the perspective of those envisioning others on the commissioning of contemporary art for churches:

"All human beings are made in the image of God; everyone has creativity within them and, for Christians, that creativity becomes part of their worship whether conscious or not.

If we think of worship as liturgy, music, preaching etc, then we can see that much of the Church's worship and teaching has been through the visual arts. Teaching was, for example, read in stained glass, frescoes and mosaics. We need to help our congregations recognise that a large part of worship is non-verbal and that the visual arts and music often move people more than words. It is, after all, a visual world we live in.

commission4mission is deliberately saying that commissioning art is a mission activity and that is necessary because the narrative of the christian faith is no longer in people's heads. As a result, we need to make the story visual once again.

This Study Day has included discussions about finance and we need to face the question of whether commissioning art is an indulgent project in recession time. Times of recession, historically, have been when the Arts have flourished as we have a need for hope and inspiration. Modest expenditure can produce real inspiration.

Numbers 21. 4-9 is about the first piece of public art in the Judeao-Christian tradition; an artwork that was transformative and healing. The bronze serpent had a transformational integrity with the people of God in a particular place and started me thinking about God and context. It has similarities to the Angel of the North; which has been a symbol of inspiration in a depressed part of the country.

Two examples of collaborative commissions may help in taking these thoughts further. These were modest projects coming out of encounter with God and the people of St Georges Leeds. The first involved a major reordering during which Victorian balconies were taken out to reveal huge lancet windows with blank glass (where the balconies had been) above the stained glass (which had previously been all that could be seen of the windows).

I designed a panel to complete the Victorian stained glass which was contemporary but harmonising and worked with a stained glass artist to realise the design. The window was the culmination of a year of teaching to commemorate 150 years of the church. The theme for the window - the Tree of Life - was obvious because the theme of the year had been roots and shoots. The simple stylised design had a context and a sense of focusing and summarising an important year in the life of the church.

The second project involved the Crypt of St Georges which, since 1930, has been a night shelter and day centre for homeless people. Refurbishment of the Crypt involved replacement of the boiler and the clearing out of the old Victorian boiler room; a beautiful and still vaulted space. On seeing it cleared out, I immediately said it had to be a chapel and place of prayer for the Crypt.

Steve Simpson was the artist commissioned to create a work on a Last Supper theme with the work intended to be seen above a bench running all around the room and seating 12 comfortably. We envisaged a mural or a set of paintings but found that alot of collaboration - between the artist, Vicar and homeless users of the building - was needed to squeeze out something inspirational.

Steve brought cartoons of his ideas based on photographic images of the Crypt's users. These were rectangular paintings which made the space look like a gallery rather than a worship space. I suggested tearing the paintings up which he initially said he was not going to do but, after half and hour of debate, he started to tear around the images and they became like historical artefacts emerging as fragments from the walls. The time and agony of time taken on the problems of a committee relating to an artist; this process became part of the work of art. Because of the process, the work was altogether different but integral to the church space. It is therefore important to argue but to still stay friends.

These stories lead me to three final points:

1. The importance of collaborative process and finding real creativity which allows people to feel that their signature is there.

2. The scope for temporary art in churches which reflects a particular generation and period. We can all think of paintings or stained glass that have served their useful life but which can't be easily removed. Art can be for that time alone and can be created with the expectation that it will later be taken down. This approach can help to keep the relationship between art and faith alive and vital. It is similar to music, where some hymns go on forever while others go out of fashion.

3. Encouraging all kinds of people from our communities - not just Christians - to bring visual expressions into church, as a missional and outreach activity."

'The Month' features our launch

After-Launch refreshments

Bishop David making his keynote speech

Outside St Albans on the Art Tour

Fr. Roderick Hingley

Revd. Jonathan Evens

The centre pages of the current edition of 'The Month', the newspaper for the Diocese of Chelmsford, features a story about the recent launch of Commission For Mission.

commission4mission enjoyed a successful launch at St Alban's Romford. Fr. Roderick Hingley, St Alban's Parish Priest, gave a tour of the artworks commissioned for the church and described how the series of commissions had helped to transform the church in terms of light, space and welcome. He spoke about the way in which commissioning contemporary artists had meant that the artworks had relevance and resonance for local people, most obviously in the Mark Cazalet cancel ceiling mural with its imagery drawn from rural and urban Havering. What the achievement at St Alban's demonstrates is not only that the commissioning of contemporary Christian Art by Parish Churches is possible but that sensitive, informed and brave commissioning enhances the mission of the church as well as its aesthetic.

Jonathan Evens gave a brief presentation of the aim and objectives of commission4mission which also set out our initial programme:

• exhibitions at Pentecost Festival (30th May) & Chelmsford Cathedral (2nd-7th November);• study day at Chelmsford Cathedral (7th November);

• exploration of four possible commissions with two proposals submitted;

• co-operation with the Faith & Image group;

• application submitted for catalogue funding;

• art workshop at ‘Fun in the Park’ in Barkingside (13 June);

• invitation to be part of London-wide discussions on art in religious spaces;

• invitation to exhibit in the West Ham Festival; and

• support from Bishop of Barking for commission4mission leaflets.

Finally, Bishop David gave the keynote address as Patron of commission4mission. He began by speaking about creativity as both God-given and a key aspect of what it means to be human. He described the birth and growth of a child into adulthood as the most astonishing kinetic sculpture. He outlined how he saw spirituality breaking through in much contemporary and modern art and called for Christians to be sensitive interpreters of such art. Among the examples he cited were the humanity of Anthony Gormley's work based as it is on his own body and the 'something more' of Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted skull, For The Love Of God. He ended by using a quote attributed to Rowan Williams “that artists are special people but every person is a special kind of artist.” commission4mission would need, he suggested, to be a support the special people that artists are in their creativity but also to find ways of revealing and developing the creativity of all.

Among those present at the launch were representatives of the Arts Centre Group, Faith & Image and artlove.com.

Photos from the launch can be found by clicking here and here.