I have this grandiose, unreasonable, impractical and unlikely-to-ever-happen-in-the-way-I-want-it-to idea.

(Full confession, I have a lot of these, but this one feels more urgent – it beats in my chest.)

I want to create events in which we use art (music, poetry, photography, dance, film, painting, etc etc) to make open, inclusive spaces for encounter…

A kind of circus for the spirit.

What do I mean by ‘encounter’? I made this list for us to pick from. You can have all of them, just one, or any combination inbetween;

• thinking deeper
• connecting
• laughing together
• collectively hoping for better
• Lamenting all that we have lost
• making spiritual connection
• protesting where it is overdue
• lyrical, poetic, sensonry immersion
• imagining a healing for our broken world
• including those who have be excluded
• chaotic collaborations between artists and disciplines
• weeping together

I am sure this list will get longer, but questions may occur to those of you who are (justifiably) suspicious of my religious intent. Am I just trying to reclaim my long rejected evangelicalism? What am I selling? What version of god am I re-hashing? My only answers are that we all approach these things through our own experiences and limited perspectives, but what I am dreaming about is a space in which, broadly, we accept difference.

I could spout truisms about being ‘intolerent of intolerance’, but if I’m honest, some of my prejudices are precious to me, so I may have to work hard to stay open. (I suspect most of us are the same, to variable degrees.)

There is a tension here too in that art of the middle ground – inoffensive and safe – is very much not what is in my mind. Art has to challenge, divide and even outrage, not because that is an end in itself, but because it seems to be an emergent quality of good art, as well as an emergent quality of any attempt to engage with our culture in a prophetic (as in failthfully critical) way.

As for the god I reach towards, what I said above applies too. I long for a movement towards good, and feel sure that art and activism are vital components of the pre-political, spiritual journey that we make individualy and (perhaps more importantly) collectively.

Whether the idea of god (or God) is helpful to us as we make this movement is ambigious to me – I think this position is consistent with my (current) understanding of the teachings of Jesus, but I am interested too in how other faith traditions – or none – might illuminate our open spaces.

What might this circus look like? How might it happen? Where would it happen?

Don’t spoil my dream with practicalities! Dreams don’t have to be tested by reality. Except I really hope this one is, so here goes…

Think of a theme… something fairly broad and abstract but likely to provide a window into which we project and see. Perhaps it could be a subversion of an old religious idea like ‘redemption’, or a more opaque concept like ‘obscure’, or a politically charged idea like ‘equality’.

Invite artists and co-conspirators to consider the theme… this is where we need to be well networked, to invite a wide range of creatives into our ‘big top’. The community that develops must seek to include, to treasure, to encourage, to mutually inspire. They will bring their egos too, so each event will need a curator – someone who can see the whole picture and put together a story…

Find a space and time… we need venues prepared to host us and take risks. Perhaps these might be underused church spaces? I love the idea of doing things in forests too. Each artist ‘owns’ this space and time, so they use their own networks/social media to create anticipation.

Collaborate… on day one, the artists bring their work together. Poems and songs are woven with pictures and film clips. People dance and bang drums. There may even be juggling. An order is agreed. Technology is made ready.

Perform… on day two, the big top doors are thrown wide and members of the public are invited inside. The event unfolds. People laugh and cry. They catch glimpses beyond and long for better.

How do we pay for all of this? (There you go again, with your dream-bubble popping.)

Is art of this kind every capable of funding itself? I don’t know. It depends on what artists need to get out of it, I suppose. Ticket sales might cover some if not all costs, and artists may have their wares to sell… artists have to live after all, we can’t exist on ideas alone.

There are other values- the community, the friendship, the tribal nature of the happening. Then there is the wider exposure, the potential spin-off colaborations, the love of the art and the ‘experience’, but I am painfully aware that many artists get frustrated with these kind of discussions. Artists have to eat and pay the rent too, so my dream also contains the hope that we can pay a fair wage.

I suppose I would be upfront here and say that I don’t think the circus of the spirit will make any of us rich- otherwise it will cease to be of the spirit and be increasingly of the wallet.

I would love to know what my artist (and non-artist) friends think of my unreasonable idea…