Test Post. How about this?
New Program in "Insights: ARC Community Offerings"
Insights: ARC Community Offerings
Insights is a new live interview show hosted by ARCs Co-Executive Directors, Tamisha A Tyler and Callid Keefe-Perry. Screened live via Facebook, Tyler and Keefe-Perry interview members of the ARC community who are exploring leading new and innovative projects at the intersections of art, religion, and culture. The show is interactive, and allows our virtual audience to send questions for our guest to answer.
Folks looking to see Insights episodes can check out past guests here and check in for future shows.
Theopoetics Conference 2020 Cancelled
Colleagues and Friends,
We regret to inform you that after meeting this morning, ARC’S Board of Directors voted to cancel the 2020 Theopoetics Conference. The decision was based on the rapidly-Shifting public health landscape around COVID- 19, coupled with an increasing number of people who let us know that they would not be attending for reasons related to the virus. Your safety is of utmost importance to us, and is What ultimately led to this decision. Those of you who were registered and want a formal declaration of our decision to cancel in an attempt to recoup airfare costs and/ or housing can find a letter in PDF form in your email.
We recognize that many may be disappointed at losing this opportunity to share their work, see dear friends, and to learn from the creativity and wisdom that wells up at Theopoetics every year. We too will miss this chance. In that spirit, know that while the conference will not happen this year, we are planning and will keep you updated on some exciting new ways to connect throughout the year. Be on the lookout for news in the next few weeks as we finish sorting through the current changes and turn our attention to what comes next. In closing, we name our gratitude for the public health workers, medical staff, researchers, policymakers, and all those who are working to support individual and communal health in this trying time.
On behalf of the ARC Board of Directors and with hopes for the flourishing of all creation,
James Howard Hill Jr. Selected for 2020 Alves Theopoetics Award
James Howard Hill Jr. is the winner of the 2020 Rubem Alves Award for Theopoetics. The Award is given by ARC to acknowledge the contributions of an emerging artist, scholar, and/or activist whose work reflects a commitment to the role of imagination, art, and embodiment in faith and reflection on religion. Given in honor of the Brazilian theologian, author, and teacher, Rubem Alves, Hill is the fourth recipient of the award since it was established in 2016. He will speak and receive the Award at ARC's 2020 Theopoetics Conference in Chicago, IL March 20 - 22, 2020.
As an interdisciplinary scholar, James presses on the edges of the academy, producing work that crosses boundaries and disciplines. His current scholarship in religious studies also engages explorations of performance, disability, gender, and sexuality. His current research relates to Michael Jackson, exploring the ways his music and life left a wake of controversy and exuberance. Hill thinks profoundly about bodies and embodiment, often reflecting on his own childhood as well as what it means to be a Black father in the United States. He has significantly advanced the scholarship of theopoetics, expressly working with the idea in several articles and conference presentations. Just as importantly, James embodies Alves's theopoetic spirit as a regular voice of critique for systems of inequality and power within higher education.
Hill shares that his work has been possible because of the support of the Louisville Institute, The Wabash Center, and the Forum for Theological Exploration. These organizations have helped him to cultivate his identity as a scholar-artist. He names as central mentors Robert Orsi, Jennifer Nash, Barnor Hesse, and Sylvester Johnson. Their support has allowed him to imagine new pathways of professional and artistic possibility. His work increasingly explores how his passion for justice can meet scholarship and his creative hope for what might come next. As an emerging artist, Hill has turned to experiments of photography and mixed-media. He wants to build and work collaboratively, feeling as if many are “are tired of pretending that the old wineskins of higher academe aren't bursting in protest for something new.” He is searching for a way forward that rejects the silos that hold apart art from the academy, that divides scholars from their bodies, and that keeps each of us from one another. For all these reasons and the ways they resonate with Alves himself, ARC is proud to name James Howard Hill Jr. the 2020 recipient of our Rubem Alves Award for Theopoetics.
ARC : Arts | Religion | Culture is a non-profit organization founded in 1962. Their work is to support and connect individuals and organizations that cultivate embodied and just ways of knowing and being through artistic and spiritual practices. ARC strives toward the vision of a just world where creativity and spirituality work together to promote the flourishing of all creation. The Alves Award was created to bring particular attention to an individual whose work reflects ARC's values and the commitments that Alves championed throughout his life.
Tamisha Tyler joins ARC as Co-Executive Director
Tamisha Tyler (she/her) joined Callid Keefe-Perry in this role starting November 1, 2019. Tamisha previously served on the Board of Directors, helping to lead in several projects including the annual conference and the ARCEL program. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Theology and Culture at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. Her work focuses on the intersections of ethics, Theopoetics, and Afrofuturism in the work of Octavia Butler. She brings years of experience in administration, event planning as well as strategic leadership, consulting and teaching experience; all connecting the worlds of art, religion, and culture in a variety of settings. We are excited for what she will bring to ARC in this new year!
