Experience Forefront from anywhere.
We went virtual for 2020. In the replay from the event, learn from accomplished creators how to pursue authentic faith and excellent art in your favorite medium.
What do all the featured artists have in common? They're all Christians who do excellent work in their fields and are eager to share their art and ideas with others.
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Experience music.
Opening Keynote
Breakout Sessions
Nate Morgan Locke follows up his keynote with a special Q&A breakout session.
Additional breakout sessions (some video, some audio-only):
Melanie Penn writes pop songs at the crossroads of faith and culture. After studying classical voice, she moved to New York City and pursued musical theatre where she enjoyed several years as a mainstay in New York City’s theater scene. For many years Melanie also served as a worship leader at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, under the leadership of author and theologian Tim Keller. Called “a New York songwriter in an age of skepticism,” Melanie is in the process of releasing her 5th album, More Alive.
She leads a breakout that explores what God says about us as creatives, contrasted with what we say about ourselves.
Benjamin Myers was the 2015-2016 Poet Laureate of the State of Oklahoma. He is the author of three books of poetry and of numerous essays and scholarly articles.
He runs a breakout on incarnational diction: bridging the distance between word and thing, choosing language in writing that refers back to the incarnational nature of our Christian faith.
Kaynenn Parker is a pastor of Pillar Church in Fort Worth, TX. He has a passion for community engagement and a desire to see the church equipped to be culture shapers for the glory of God and the enrichment of its residents. He is a talented spoken word artist.
He leads an interview-style breakout session where he'll discuss cultural engagement and rap music.
Sasha Hallock is a contemporary abstract painter living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Geometric forms, vibrant colors, odd textures and sculptural landscapes populate Hallock’s paintings. Hallock utilizes a unique abstract language to express themes of play, joy and faith. Hallock has participated in group shows in New York City, Kansas City, and Fort Collins, Colorado.
He leads a breakout about the tension between abstract art and subject-focused work, and how that's affected by being a Christian artist.
Delvyn Case is a composer, conductor, performer, and educator who is committed to exploring the power of music to impact communities on the local, regional, and national levels. He is currently Associate Professor of Music at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, where he teaches courses in composition, theory, songwriting, and popular music, and conducts the Great Woods Symphony Orchestra.
He is co-director of Deus-Ex-Musica, an initiative that brings musicians, pastors, and non-musicians together for concerts and conversations about the intersection of faith and new music.
He runs a breakout with Josh Rodriguez in which participants hear, analyze and discuss original pieces of music based on the psalms.
Known for his energetic rhythms, rich harmonic language, and striking colors, Josh Rodriguez continues to gain recognition as an emerging composer on a national and international scale. Born in Argentina and raised in Guatemala and Mexico, Rodriguez's musical imagination has been formed by the colors and cultures of his childhood. Perhaps equally formative, however, was his love of stories: in particular the mutually enriching partnership of music and film.
He currently serves at the Collinsworth School of Music at California Baptist University as Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition, and is co-director of Deus-Ex-Musica, an initiative that brings musicians, pastors, and non-musicians together for concerts and conversations about the intersection of faith and new music.
He runs a breakout with Delvyn Case in which participants hear, analyze and discuss original pieces of music based on the psalms.
Closing Music Performance
Singer/songwriter Joy Ike paints with a broad palette that defies easy categorization. The Nigerian-American, Philadelphia, PA-based artist crafts music at turns soaring and plaintive, draped around a voice all dusky suede. Ike garnered praise from the likes of NPR's All Things Considered, who called her “...a voice and talent beyond her years,” and SoulBounce which described her music as “...a sensational slice of urgent piano-soul.” Live, she has shared the stage with Cody Chestnut, Allen Toussaint, Butterfly Boucher, and more. Drawn to both down-tempo folk and indie rock as well as mainstream pop, Ike writes from a place of purity, following her muse to create art that speaks from the soul.
She performs the closing concert at Forefront Festival: Virtual.
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