Convocation Overview

The result of five years of planning, “Jumping Out of the Self-Referential Box” will explore the certainties that the Holy Trinity provides and the resulting influence on artistic expression. This convocation, accompanied by an exhibition and evening concert, will explore how our faith is a powerful model for inspiration, one that counters our society’s tendency toward self-centered isolation. Participants will leave with a fresh perspective on the creative process and a renewed sense of the critical need for truth in beauty.

The main speakers will address three over arching topics: Truth, Calling, and Time. We will explore how faith, tradition, the arts, and our culture interact within the realm of timeless truths, our calling to arts-related vocations, and eternal truths expressed through the arts of each period of history.

Breakout sessions will address specific interests and will be led by more than twenty individuals who each is an authority in his or her field. Sessions will cover such topics as social compassion, architecture, publications, the performing arts, art collecting as a vocation, film-making, literature, and more.

Why Gather? Why Now?

Society today reflects unrest and isolation - in relationships, in aesthetics, in time, and in truth. To discover a unifying principle and an empowered aesthetic, it is essential that we look to the past - not in a mere repetition or romantic longing for a former time, but in exploration of our ancient spiritual roots.

What are the crossroads of our society? How can artists and lovers of truth be empowered to redeem the next generation? The following issues and questions are at the heart of our cultural crisis:

1) How do unity and diversity work in a world of sameness?
2) How do we hold to the importance and integrity of beauty in the face of overwhelming human need?
3) How do we identify certainties when all truths are viewed as equal?
4) How are we to view our bodies? Are they objects to be worshipped, or messengers of love, complementation, and transcendence?
5) What role does tradition have in future creation?
6) What makes our vocation become a holy calling?
The convocation is a catalyst for the beginning of a larger conversation that will make the answers to these questions a reality. The dimensions of that ongoing conversation will prove to have eternal rewards - not just for artists, but for thoughtful and engaged participants in our world.

Convocation registrants will receive tickets for the concert. Additional tickets are available to the general public. More information will follow in the coming weeks.

Exhibition

An exhibition featuring two and three-dimensional works by artists Otto Dix, Ed Knippers, Peter and Joyce Majendie, Scott Sullivan, Karen Swenholt, and others will accompany the convocation. The exhibition will open on Tuesday, May 14 and will be at the National Presbyterian Church and Center, the same site as the convocation. Also featured will be "For Love of the World: A Child's View", a display of art by Russian orphans, children from Anacostia, and child Ugandan night soldiers. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Concert

In addition, "An Evening of Brilliance: Past and Present" (a concert with choral music, instrumental music, dance, and dramatic reading) will be held on Friday evening, May 18. Featured performers include:

* Washington, DC's own Deborah Kirby from Journeyman Theatre, with Broadway dancer/actor Krissy Richmond
* "Carmina" chamber choir with a cappella music from the Middle Ages through the Baroque periods
* Internationally-renowned concert pianist Sergey Forostyanyy from St. Petersburg, Russia