Charitable donations - Rejuvenate Worldwide and St Francis Hospice

Each year commission4mission makes a donation to a chosen charity with the money donated having been raised through commissions and sales obtained in the preceding year. This year our committee members have asked that our annual donation - which amounts to £676 - be given to Rejuvenate Worldwide and St Francis Hospice.

Rejuvenate Worldwide is a non-denominational Christian charity working in the UK, Africa (Uganda) and other countries. Their vision is to give young people the opportunities to reach out to other across the world less fortunate than themselves. This vision is a pragmatic response linking the issues facing young people from deprived areas in the UK and people, mainly young people, in the developing world to help bring about hope and change in the lives of those we work with.

Saint Francis Hospice is a centre of excellence in the care of those with life limiting illnesses.  Their team of specialist consultants, doctors, nurses and health care assistants provide practical and emotional support for adults of all ages and give specialist bereavement support to family members from as young as 20 months. Their teams provide care in the home, inpatient care at the hospice, day care at our centre together with a full range of therapies and treatments.  This care extends beyond physical treatment of symptoms; we consider the emotional, psychological, spiritual and social needs of our patients, their families, children and carers.

Over the first four years of our existence we have been able to donate £5,612 to charities, with our earlier donations going to Haven House, Sightsavers International, Smile Train UK, and Safer Places.

Annual Report 2012-13

Incarnation exhibition at Wimbledon Library Gallery

In 2012/13 commission4mission has made a significant contribution to the mission of the Church during the Olympic and Paralympic periods through our involvement in the ‘Run with the Fire’ project. We have also held a launch event in South London, exhibited at venues across London and collaborated with a wide range of visual and performing artists. Our committee has also prepared plans for commission4mission to have a greater online presence from 2013 onwards.

During 2012/13 commission4mission has:

• completed our ninth commission, heads of Christ and Mary Magdalene as painted wooden reliefs, by Peter Webb for Dagenham Park Church of England School;
• exhibited at All Saints West Ham, the Strand Gallery as part of the Pentecost Festival, All Saints Woodford Wells as part of the Barking Episcopal Area Arts Festival and at Wimbledon Library Gallery for a Christmas show entitled ‘Incarnation’ curated by Wendy McTernan;
• contributed to Run with the Fire, in partnership with CANA and Veritasse, which saw events run using the digital exhibition in Aldersbrook, California, Devonport, Harlow, Leicester, London, Sacramento, Streatham and Woodford;

Steve Scott performing at the Run with the Fire exhibition’s launch night

• organised art talks (by Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Glenn Lowcock and Steve Scott), an art demonstration by Harvey Bradley, a Big Draw workshop led by Mark Lewis, Francesca Ross and Peter Webb, and performance evenings featuring Colin Burns, Tim Cunningham, Jonathan Evens, Jane Grell, Malcolm Guite, Alan Hitching, Jenny Houghton, Tamsin Kendrick and Steve Scott;
• published, through Seed Resources, a collection of images and meditations on the Passion of Christ by Jonathan Evens and Henry Shelton; 
• contributed articles by Jonathan Evens, Helen Gheorghui Gould and Steven Saxby to a special arts edition of franciscan magazine; 
• donated £668.46 to Safer Places, in support of their work with victims of domestic abuse, this being the charitable element from our third year of operation. 

We are very grateful to: all members for their support and involvement; all committee members (Harvey Bradley, Rev. Helen Gheorghiu Gould, Mark Lewis, Wendy McTernan, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb - Chair) 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 – June 2013

Newsletter No. 13 – August 2012

Steve Scott performing at the Launch Night for the 'Run with the Fire' exhibition



Running with the Fire – events, exhibitions & coverage

California, Devonport, Leicester, London and Streatham. ArtServe, ArtWay, Church & Art Network, Down The Line and Transpositions. These are just some of the places and publications where Run with the Fire, the arts project for the 2012 Olympic year organised by CANA, commission4mission and Veritasse, has featured to date.

c4m organised a Run with the Fire exhibition at London’s Strand Gallery for the Pentecost Festival.  Original work by 17 c4m and invited artists complemented the Run with the Fire digital exhibition (featuring the work of 25 international artists) to create a stimulating and exciting show with an eclectic mix of styles and media which explored the broad theme of running life's race with passion and spirit.

The exhibition also included a day of art talks (by Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Glenn Lowcock and Steve Scott), an art demonstration by Harvey Bradley and a packed Launch Night performance evening featuring Colin Burns, Jonathan Evens, Malcolm Guite, Tamsin Kendrick and Steve Scott.

Tamsin Kendrick performed vibrant, earthy poems based on the parable of the Prodigal Son and Psalm 139, Steve Scott shared work in progress based on incidents from John's Gospel, Colin Burns played three pieces from his debut CD Emerald&Gold, Jonathan Evens read his Run with the Fire poem and a Mark of the Cross meditation, while Malcolm Guite made a great job of linking themes from the artworks and other performances with poems from his sonnet sequence for the Church Year and from his CD Dancing through the fire.

Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California has shown the Run with the Fire digital exhibition at their Art&Soul Gallery throughout the Olympic period. Oak Hills wrote that they were "pleased to be a part of this international event [showing] the amazing works of Christian artists from around the world." The digital exhibition also featured at the Inflame exhibition organised by Love Streatham for this year’s Streatham Festival and at Colours of Life, an assembly for the Diocese of Leicester held at Samworth Enterprise Academy.

Run with the Fire has also stimulated a community art exhibition with creative workshops project organised by Army of Artists. Joy Lawrence wrote in the ‘Plymouth Herald’ of this project – “This is my kind of art: beautiful, touching, stunning, understandable ... If you want to be inspired, encouraged, uplifted, dare I say – touched by the presence of God, take a visit to the Run With The Fire Exhibition at St Aubyn's in Devonport.”

Articles about the Run with the Fire project have featured in the publications of ArtServe, ArtWay, Church & Art Network, Down The Line, and Transpositions. In these pieces Steve Scott of CANA has said that an event like “Run with the Fire” creates opportunities to build partnering relationships, while using a “current event” (like the Olympics) as a platform for engaging and working with artists and communities. When we combine [the digital exhibition] with an opportunity for local or regional response in the form of an accompanying exhibit of artwork, we are building bridges between cultures using the latest technology and creating space for local artistic response. An exhibit like this not only opens the door for mission but also represents, via the arts and cultural diversity, something of the expressive and learning life of a healthy church.

Copies of the Run with the Fire DVD can be purchased via http://www.veritasse.co.uk/cards-prints/most-popular/run-with-the-fire-dvd-pack/. A preview of the Run with the Fire digital exhibition can be seen at  http://youtu.be/nFBGZDgFaw4, while for up-to-date news of the project see http://runwiththefire.blogspot.com/.

AGM: The c4m AGM was held in June 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.

Charitable donation: This year our annual charitable donation - which in 2012 amounted to £668.46 – has gone to Safer Places in support of their work with victims of domestic abuse.

Member profile: Ken James Ashby

Ken studied Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art and considers himself to be of the romantic school of art, responding to the beauty he sees around him and painting in different styles depending on the subject itself. He draws influences from many different quarters, also painting in response to modern ugliness, whether it is torture, terrorism or environmental disaster/global warming.

Charitable donation - Safer Places

Each year commission4mission makes a donation to a chosen charity with the money donated having been raised through commissions and sales obtained in the preceding year. This year our committee members have asked that our annual donation - which this year amounts to £668.46 - go to Safer Places in support of their work with victims of domestic abuse.

Safer Places is an independent domestic abuse charity dedicated to supporting adults and children affected by domestic abuse. They are able to provide a wide range of services to support users and respond to individual needs and circumstances, whether it is in their refuge accommodation or in the community.
All their services work in a holistic and empowering way to help enable users to live independent lives free from domestic abuse.

Over the first three years of our existence we have been able to donate £4,936 to charities, with our earlier donations going to Haven House, Sightsavers International, and Smile Train UK.