ARC Transition Announcement

Dear ARC family,

What a season this has been. COVID has brought such a bitter harvest. We have lost people. Livelihoods have withered or altered radically. The contours of our social networks have been deeply marked. The “old normal” is gone forever. This has been as true for ARC as it has been for any of its stakeholders.

In the beginning of the year of 2021 we, the Board of Directors, announced with much enthusiasm the hiring of Tamisha A. Tyler as Executive Director of ARC. This was done in a process of transition in leadership and fiscal restructuring. In the bright light of the new year, we looked forward to continuing the mission of ARC into its next stage guided by her clear vision. But the tectonic changes that were underway were pressing in on our own foundations. Our programming was canceled, and resources were steadily depleted. We were unable to continue to keep her on staff.

It is with great sadness that we announce that Tamisha Tyler was laid off in July due to lack of finances. Tamisha Tyler has been a dedicated, capable and exceedingly competent employee. We are grateful for all the work and programming she has done these past months and wish her success in her future endeavors.

As we survey the contours of this new normal and the place of ARC in it, we will be sending out more details about what is next for us as an organization. If you have any questions, please, email us at adminarc@artsreligionculture.org

 

Chronicles 4.26.21: Hope

This post is part of ARC’s Chronicles of Change and Hope series. This is a curated project for sharing stories, songs, prayers, poems, images, or insights that capture a moment of connection or new life. It is a place to share small acts of resistance or transformation you want others to know about. Rights remain with the contributors. To contribute to Chronicles, read more here.

Today’s contribution is a poem. The work comes to us from one of ARC’s community members, Grant Swanson.


Hope [Inspired by Rabia’s ‘The Way the Forest Shelters’]

I have confidence
in God’s miraculous love
amidst this time of terror –
through signs and symbols
from Mother Earth.

In the serotinous cones of the lodgepole pines –
resins dripping and releasing seeds
after consumed by rampant wildfires –
bringing a new generation of life
amidst death.

In the interdependent relationships of plants –
the trinity of beans, corn, and squash –
Holy Sisters, mutually sharing life-giving
minerals, nitrogen, fertilizer, and water –
amidst times of depletion and scarcity.

In the ecstatic ecstasy of human touch and companionship –
the wells of physical interconnection
and soul-expanding depths of conversation
amidst the valleys of shadow and despair.

There is a tremendous constancy of
Possibility,
hope and New Life,
all plainly modeled for us from
our Holy Mother, Earth –
and embedded in our incarnate bodies –
if we only listen
and follow.

Press Release: Tamisha A. Tyler, MDiv named Executive Director of Arts | Religion | Culture (ARC)

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On October 16, 2020 ARC’s Board of Directors named Tamisha A. Tyler the Executive Director of ARC. Ms. Tyler currently serves as Co-Executive Director of ARC along with Dr. Callid Keefe-Perry, who is transitioning to serve as a Lecturer at Boston University and will continue to serve as Senior Editor of the ARTS Journal. Ms. Tyler will move into the position on February 1, 2021 and will be the first woman of color to hold the Executive Director position in ARC’s 58 year history.

Ms. Tyler is currently finishing her PhD at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. In her dissertation, she is developing a theopoetic methodology by engaging science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler. She holds a B.A. in Black Studies from California State University, Long Beach and a Masters of Divinity in Worship, Theology, and the Arts from Fuller Theological Seminary. During her time in seminary, Ms. Tyler took on several leadership roles including Student Body President and President of the Brehm Collective—a student led group connected to the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and Arts. Ms. Tyler also received fellowships from the Brehm Center and the Louisville Institute. She is a current fellow of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) as well as The William E. Pannell Center for Black Church Studies. Ms. Tyler began her journey with ARC as a Board Member before leaving the board to assist in leading the organization as Co-Executive Director. Dr. Patrick B. Reyes, former Vice President of the ARC Board and current Senior Director of Learning Design at FTE says, “Tamisha embodies what Octavia Butler often wrote into her heroines: creativity, empathy, intuitiveness, and a drive towards the freedom of her people. ARC and those working at the intersection of faith, social justice, and the arts will be guided by one of the great ancestors in training.” 

During her tenure at ARC, Ms. Tyler hopes to bring a fresh perspective and years of experience in administration, leadership, and event planning. In the last year Ms. Tyler helped to guide the organization’s pandemic response, took on leadership of the Emerging Scholars Program (ARCEL), collaborated on the first fundraiser since the organization’s merger, and hosted the online interview series Insights. Board President Ashley Thering says, “Tamisha has helped guide ARC through several times of transition. As ARC has grown over the last several years, her clarity of vision, passion, and intellect has helped to root our work and mission. We are privileged to have her leading ARC and excited to see how her vision and talents shape the organization into the future.”

 

Press Release: Dr. Callid Keefe-Perry named Lecturer at Boston University, steps down as Co-Executive Director

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Dr. Callid Keefe-Perry has received a Post Doctoral Fellowship through the Louisville Institute. He will serve as Lecturer in Practical Theology at Boston University’s School of Theology where he will work with graduate students in supporting their vocational discernment, and teach courses that will touch on theopoetics, Rubem Alves, leadership, and critical pedagogy. As a result of this opportunity, Dr. Keefe-Perry will step down as Co-Executive Director of ARC, but will continue to serve the organization as Senior Editor of the ARTS journal. ARC will steward the journal in collaboration with The Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies, and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Dr. Keefe-Perry’s last day as Co-Executive Director is January 31, 2021. Tamisha A. Tyler, ARC’s other Co-Executive Director, will step into the solo ED position.

Dr. Keefe-Perry’s interest and work in the field of Theopoetics extends beyond his 5 year tenure in the Executive Director position. In 2008, he created Theopoetics.net; an online archive for work in theopoetics. Connections from this website led to the establishment of a working group at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in 2010, and the founding of The Association for Theopoetics Research and Exploration (ATRE) in 2013. ARTE is responsible for co-founding the Theopoetics Conference, and founded the online journal Theopoetics. Dr. Keefe-Perry was also the last board member to join The Society for the Arts, Religion, and Contemporary Culture (SARCC) in 2011, and served as chief architect of the 2017 merger between SARCC and ATRE, which resulted in Arts | Religion | Culture (ARC). Dr. Keefe-Perry is the 9th Executive Director of the historical organization (SARCC) and founding Executive Director of ARC.

During his tenure at ARC, Keefe-Perry led the organization into new partnerships and projects. Most notable is the ARC Emerging Leaders Program (ARCEL); a fellowship program in partnership with the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) that creates space for six rising young leaders whose sense of calling lives at the intersection of creative practice, spirituality, and work that builds up communities. ARC Board President Ashley Theuring comments on Keefe-Perry’s work in saying “We are excited and proud to see Dr. Keefe-Perry take these next steps in his career. ARC has been profoundly shaped and changed by his clarity of vision, passion, and ability to create spaces of flourishing for all types of people. We wish Dr. Keefe-Perry the best of luck and hope he continues his positive influence in both the academy and his community.”

 

Chronicles 10.16.20: How to Listen for What Comes Next

This post is part of ARC’s Chronicles of Change and Hope series. This is a curated project for sharing stories, songs, prayers, poems, images, or insights that capture a moment of connection or new life. It is a place to share small acts of resistance or transformation you want others to know about. Rights remain with the contributors. To contribute to Chronicles, read more here.

Today’s contribution is a prose poem. The work comes to us from one of ARC’s two Co-Executive Directors, Callid Keefe-Perry. Asked why he wanted to share this piece at this time, Callid shared the following:

I wrote this piece years ago as a kind of reflective and poetic prayer manual. Given current world events and the constant siren of noise, I recently returned to it again, thinking about how important it is to find ways to turn toward life without trying to hide from the realities of pain, hurt, and violence. I feel that balance is an increasingly challenging one to walk. On one side there is the danger of becoming so immersed in news of the horrid that it pulls you into a desert of depression and critical cynicism. On the other, one risks floating off into a fluffy kind of naïveté where the world is seen through rose-colored glasses and real harms and social wounds are skipped over and ignored for want of confirmation that everything is going to be alright in the end. What I always aspire to do — and frequently fail at — is to stay aware enough of my surroundings that I stay engaged, but no so much that I am pressed into inaction by the weight of it all. This piece is small reminder to myself to help stay in that mindset of the space between.


How to Listen for What Comes Next

1.

You will hear it on the third day of waking to a dream where everything was 
right, it was clear what your next step was, and you knew just what to do
with that long weekend you still have open. You know, the space
you want to use for something, but you’ve been pulling back from
since you couldn’t think of anything just right to do with the time
you have. And you want a perfect fit. Yes, the hackneyed hand 
in glove, and your favorite jacket, but also the first hug 
and conversation with your dear friend long-missed and still 
loved, the joy of becoming a parent, or grandparent, or auntie, 
the smell of cocoa when you are ten and snow has called you all day. 
The smell of July and nothing but basketball until Monday. Greens 
and warm bread. Being seen as you are. Attention given to small joys. 

2.

When the memory of that fit lingers call it back to you daily.
Ask it what it needs. What would it like? Are there any special
purple socks it prefers? A particular bakery that is the spot?
Make that memory a friend. The dream wants you as a conspirator 
and confidant. She wants to share with you the shapes of what can be,
contours of priority and passion that lead out to a place where things are 
the way they should be. Even before your friendship is cemented,
tell others about this new relationship. How there’s a certain something
that captivates you even though you can’t put your finger on it.
Talk about what it is like to learn about what you’ve always wanted
and rarely known. Always known and rarely felt. Listen to others
and what they say to you when you tell them how good the news is.
Ask if they’ve been hearing it too. They’ll have stories of their own. 

3.

Eat food that nourishes your body and spirit. Eat it with those you love. 
Raise your voices in laughter, love, frustration, and — as needed — rage.
If you cannot get to any of the tables that make you feel whole and home,
or you need to turn away and walk toward new ideas of holiness and hearth, 
do whatever you need to find a place where you feel like you are becoming 
more of what you are supposed to be. Learn what the space feels like inside.
Move your body as needed, in dance, in love, out into the street, into hills
where tall trees call you down into the earth. The details are less important 
than the reminder that your flesh and bone is worthy of love and attention.
Scream or and cry or stand silently. Spin under the stars, lose yourself in 
a crowd, make something small, or bury yourself in soil until you touch 
the roots. Remember that you can be part of what will come next.

  

4.

There will be moments when you will want a life you do not have. 
Days that call not for ease or lushness, but ask you to do the hard thing.
You will wonder if someone like you should be living like that. On 
the edge of change. Rough. Sometimes that is the life you will need 
to be building. Stone on stone, walls rising slowly and made to last. 
Good work. Calluses. Heft. Other days you will not want rest 
because you know how much is left to be done. You will remember 
the faces that have been lost and rage at those who seed loss. 
And on some of those days you will need to sleep. To watch
your favorite film again, mouthing the lines along with each actor 
just to feel like you know where you are. And I don’t know when 
those days will come.  Or what other walks you will take. Or stumbles. 
So listen. Remember the things that call you and stay calling. 
Know that you can be called, then called away, and then back.
That your respite is sometimes shorter than you would have liked. 
Longer. Far longer.
Too short. 

5.

...and work together. 
Resist together. 
Rest together.
Dream.
Listen.  
Build.
Listen again.