AGM & Annual Report

The AGM for commission4mission was held today at All Saints West Ham. The evening included: a drinks reception; viewing of the c4m exhibition located at All Saints; Colin Burns performing tracks from his debut album Emerald&Gold; a talk by Mark Lewis on 'Stanley Spencer - A visionary of our time' followed by personal reminiscences of Spencer as art tutor at the RCA from Joy Rousell Stone. The evening concluded with the AGM itself.

Annual Report 2011-12

Commissions at All Saints Hutton, St John’s Seven Kings & St Margaret’s Great Ilford

In 2011/12, our third year of operation, commission4mission has continued to develop its work, made key decisions for its future, and undertaken work in partnership with other arts and faith organisations.

During 2011/12 commission4mission has:

·        completed commissions for artworks at All Saints Hutton, St John’s Seven Kings and St Margaret’s Great Ilford;

·        gained commissions for artworks at Christ Church ThamesView and Dagenham Park Church of England School;

·        maintained a changing display of member’s work at All Saints West Ham and organised exhibitions at Holy Trinity with St Augustine of Hippo Leytonstone, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St Mary Magdalene Billericay and Tokarska Gallery;

commission4mission exhibition, Crypt Gallery at St Martin-in-the-Fields

·        held an evening of art talks by Dr Graham Gould and Mark Lewis, led with Dr Philip Jenson an art workshop at St Paul’s Harlow which produced a design for a frieze, and organised a Study Day on the value of public art (also at St Paul’s Harlow);

·        worked in partnership with CANA and Veritasse (Run with the Fire, an international art project for churches in the 2012 Olympic year) and also with Art & Christianity Enquiry and Harlow Art Trust (Study Day on the value of public art);

·        completed the Run with the Fire digital exhibition and event guidance materials and produced a DVD containing these materials; and

‘Running Towards The Goal’ by Erland Sibuea,

part of the ‘Run with the Fire’ digital exhibition.

·        produced Condemned, a creative reflection for Lent  illustrated with contemporary art works by seven member artists, accompanied by the words of Isaiah 53;

·        donated £1,568 split between Sightsavers and SmileTrain, this being the charitable element from our second year of operation.

We are very grateful to: all members for their support and involvement; all committee members for their direction and guidance; our Patron, Bishop David, for his ideas and interest; and Ranjit Solomon for his independent examination of our accounts.

Rev. Jonathan Evens, Secretary – May 2012

Partnership possibilities

The following letter has been sent to a range of arts and faith organisations by our Patron, the Bishop of Barking:

Recent years have seen a significant increase in the number and range of organizations engaging in fostering links between the Arts and Christianity (or faith communities, more generally).

This increase includes commission4mission which I, as Patron, launched in March 2009 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 churches.

On one level this increase is exciting as it indicates a growing interest in the connections between faith and the Arts but on another level, if such growth continues, it could be seen as an additional complication for artists and those interested in the Arts to negotiate.

commission4mission intends to work in partnership with other organizations and therefore we are writing to ask whether you would be interested in either a one-to-one discussion about partnership possibilities or a broader discussion with others engaged in fostering and exploring links between faith and the Arts. We would be very interested in meeting with you to explore ideas and possibilities further.

We are aware of the establishment of the Forum for Art and Religion (FAR), which aims to represent and address the needs of those who work at the interface between Art and Religion, and are contacting FAR as part of this initiative to explore possibilities for partnership working in future.

If this invitation to meet with us is of interest to you, please respond to our secretary, Revd. Jonathan Evens (jonathan.evens@btinternet.com). We look forward to hearing from you and to the possibility of exploring some form of partnership working in future.