Welcome to the Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts
The Center for Christianity, Culture, and the Arts is founded on the belief that the interrelationship between contemporary artmaking, theology, and religious tradition holds much richer potential for exploration and study than it has yet received.
Our Mission
The work of the Center is devoted to expanding and deepening this interrelationship through a threefold mission:
- To provide a forum of artists and scholars who are thinking seriously (from various points of view) about the religious, spiritual, and/or theological implications of the arts today. The Center hosts a variety of events and creates new online resources designed to foster greater visibility for these artists and scholars and to cultivate a more robust conversation at the nexus of contemporary art and theology.
- To facilitate and produce new research aimed at (a) rereading the histories of modern and contemporary art with more careful attention to the religious contexts within which they emerged and the theological concerns with which they were engaged, and (b) developing more agile and compelling theological intelligences within contemporary art theory and criticism.
- To encourage a deeper awareness of the historical depths and diversity of the Christian theological-aesthetic imagination.
Core Components
Visiting Artist and Scholars
Through annual symposia, lectures, seminars, workshops, and conferences, CCCA brings together culture makers and strategic thinkers from the academy, the art world, and various communities to dialog and discuss intersections of the arts and faith.
Fine and Performing Arts Events
The CCCA sponsors and cosponsors fine and performing arts events both on and off campus, including (but not limited to) gallery exhibitions, film screenings, book or poetry readings, concerts, and theatrical events.
Resources
The CCCA provides valuable and accessible online resources for anyone interested in the nexus of Christianity, culture, and the arts. This free content includes recorded lectures, interviews, essays, reviews, exhibition catalogs, and archived material from CCCA events.
Promoting New Work
The CCCA is committed to the creation, exhibition, performance, and/or publication of new works of art and writing. We aim to support and encourage both emerging and accomplished contemporary artists and scholars who have something to contribute to contemporary Christian thinking and making within the arts.
Future Vision
As the CCCA enters its second decade, we have plans to expand the reach of CCCA while maintaining our mission to foster new scholarship, projects and events that explore and strengthen the relationships between Christianity, Culture and the Arts. Our vision for future growth includes the following:
Expanding the Devotional Projects
One of the most important projects currently undertaken by the CCCA are the Advent and Lent Projects, each of which have been produced yearly over the past ten years, offering a free mix of daily devotionals, scripture, art, music and poetry that are curated and written to complement and inform each other. We currently have over 50,000 subscribers to these projects, but would like to expand the project in important ways:
- Making the devotional project a year-long one, so subscribers can receive devotions during Ordinary Time throughout the year.
- Translating the devotional projects into multiple languages, so more people can be reached.
- Develop supplementary study guides & devotional resources so both churches can use the projects in their corporate worship.
- Invite more guest writers and curators to enrich the projects with new voices and perspectives.
Growing Online Presence
We aim to move toward a larger online presence that allows for our deep catalog of projects, videos, essays, interviews and more to be accessed by more people. This will include:
- Reaching more people on popular social media platforms
- A new and improved web site
- Close captioning and translation for our videos and other content.
New Commissions
We hope to commission new creative and scholarly work from artist, poets, composers and authors who align with our mission and will bring beauty, truth and goodness to a world in desperate need of all.
Luke Aleckson
Executive Director, CCCA
About Our Founders
The Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts was launched and is made possible by the generous support of Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, through a grant from Fieldstead and Company.