InterVarsity's StudentSoul.org

Are you a student in the arts? Have you wondered how God can work through your gifts to express his love for people and his creation? SALT 2009, The Student Arts Leadership Training Conference for InterVarsity students coming in June, will bring people in the arts community together to explore what it means to be artists and Christians on campus and in the world.

StudentSoul.org talked to InterVarsity Arts Ministry specialist Dick Ryan to find out more.

StudentSoul.org: Why are the arts an important part of campus life and our lives as Christians?

Dick Ryan: In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus talks about what God wants most from us. We are commanded to give God everything we’ve got. More than our minds, God wants our hearts and souls, and he calls us to love our neighbors. Much of the time, we “access” our souls and talk about our hearts through the arts — through music and movement, visual art and poetry. As we think about loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, we often forget that the arts are an important way to communicate about our faith and our love for God and people. It’s crucial that we acknowledge that the arts are God’s gift to us, and that we artists have a special role in communicating about love and truth and beauty and justice — all the things that God is.

StudentSoul.org: Can you describe the venue for SALT 2009 — the Belhaven College campus in Jackson, Mississippi?

Dick Ryan: Belhaven is the birthplace of StoneWorks, a partnership among several ministries that are working together to promote the place and role of the arts in the kingdom of God.

The campus has absolutely beautiful arts facilities, and we’ll set aside several hours every day for people to practice their art. There are new dance studios, great practice rooms and plenty of comfortable places to write and think. People will be able to work alone or spend time talking and working with other creative people. The campus even has some very up-to-date video editing facilities for people who are into media or film.

StudentSoul.org: Are all kinds of arts and artists welcome to attend the conference?

Dick Ryan: Oh, yes. We expect people from all parts of the performing and creative arts worlds, and it would be wonderful if students in fields such as architecture could come. We hope people will find some very practical benefit in joining us, no matter what their arts discipline and background.

StudentSoul.org: How will SALT help prepare students for life back on campus and beyond graduation?

Dick Ryan: In college, people who study music, creative writing, dance and other arts are often well-trained and well-prepared technically. What is seldom discussed is their training and preparation for their own personal lives as artists. We want to help students learn to handle both what’s going on in their arts and what’s going on in their lives spiritually and emotionally. At this conference we’ll talk about how to be prepared at a heart-and-soul level, spiritually and emotionally, to go into the world and do what God has called them to do. Of course, this includes life right now — in college — as well as life beyond school. We hope people return to campus able to share with friends and fellow artists what they’ve learned about themselves and about God. We hope that many will be prepared to become leaders in this movement of arts renewal, networking and communication back on campus.

StudentSoul.org: Would it be advantageous for several students to attend together from one campus?

Dick Ryan: Yes, that’s our hope. InterVarsity staff are welcome, too. We’re calling it a student arts leadership conference, but the ideal would be for an InterVarsity staff worker to come with a team of students. That way they can return to campus with a shared experience and then start making plans to continue to meet and reach out in their own campus communities.

In fact, if five or more people attend from one campus, we’ll lower the cost by $30 per person. We want those teams to come!

StudentSoul.org: Beyond the afternoon personal arts times, will the group “do” any art at SALT?

Dick Ryan: There will be free time in the evenings as well as the afternoon personal time. After the official program ends, people will want to hang out and share art. All the way through, there will be plenty of informal opportunities among groups of people to say, “I’m working on this poem; can I share it with you?” or “We’ve been working on this dance; can we demonstrate part of it and see what you think?” We hope visual artists will feel free to bring electronic portfolios that they can project on the wall or play for each other. We’ll all be artists all the time!

StudentSoul.org: The kind of sharing you’re describing requires a sense of community, safety and trust. Will artists feel free to be themselves?

Dick Ryan: That’s exactly the atmosphere that we want to create. That’s why the tagline of the conference is “Freedom to be . . .” For students who often feel isolated, driven and overwhelmed on campus, we want to create a place that is just the opposite. The atmosphere will be fun, very relaxed and safe — not performance driven. Five days in that environment will be worth its weight in gold!

 
For more information and to register for the SALT 2009 conference, go to www. salt2009.org.