12 Grants Totaling $2.2 Million To Support Art Initiatives
The Creative Arts Collective for Christian Life & Faith (CAC) today announced its 2025 Spring Grant Program recipients. Twelve faith-based arts programs are being funded with a total of $2.2 million. The programs encompass a range of artistic forms, including dance, film, live performance, music, storytelling, poetry, art exhibitions and more. The recipients, selected from 25 finalists, comprise individual artists or collaborative groups, church leaders, scholars, arts-affiliated organizations, other non-profit organizations and institutions of higher education.
A total of 158 applicants from 32 states submitted proposals within just three weeks for the Spring Grant Program, which carried the theme of “Performing Shalom.” The recipients’ grant cycle will begin on July 1, 2025, and run through June 30, 2026. This was the first competitive grantmaking initiative for the CAC.
The 2025 Spring Grant Recipients are:
Adonai Arts Academy Program Expansion
510 Foundation of Nashville, TN
Adonai Arts Academy (a ministry of 510 Foundation) provides music, art, dance, and theatre opportunities to children and adults in the local community. This thriving program will now be able to expand its reach to offer additional free/reduced price opportunities and programs for adults and underserved students, including choir, theatre, art, dance and expansions of the after-school arts clubs currently offered in local elementary schools, and its arts-focused summer camps. A ‘Shalom Showcase’ will conclude in Winter/Spring 2026.
Gardening in the Peaceful Kingdom
Joel Schoon-Tanis of Holland, MI
Gardening in the Peaceful Kingdom is an immersive touring art exhibit of visual and interactive art images, accompanied by an art book with reflections, live presentations and a piece of collaborative art. It is Schoon-Tanis’ goal with the program to help viewers experience God’s creation by exploring garden and shalom moments throughout the Bible. At its conclusion, the project will carry over into the digital world through social media and YouTube videos.
Ordet: The Word, a cinematic adaptation of the classic story of faith
Burn Barrel Films of Nashville, TN
A cinematic adaptation of Kaj Munk’s 1925 play, Ordet: The Word is reimagined for a contemporary audience and aims to challenge viewers to reflect on faith, family and reconciliation. The film, set in rural Tennessee, will seek to inspire audiences to experience the transformative power of forgiveness and grace, fostering meaningful dialogue about faith and its role in personal and communal life.
Painters Prophets Poets (PPP)
HopeWords of Oklahoma City, OK
As a multi-faceted initiative of HopeWords, which seeks to cultivate Christian imagination by gathering people from all vocations and walks of life to learn from artists, the Painters Prophets Poets (PPP) program was developed in the belief that God calls us into His work of restoring and remaking the world through abundant hospitality and grace.
This grant will allow PPP to host a vocationally diverse in-person gathering for the purpose of networking with each other and learning from artists, writers and makers, featuring the Rev. Dr. Malcolm Guite, Dr. John Swinton, and others from the OKC region. Along with the gathering, which will focus on how necessity/need fuels the imagination that ultimately leads to wholeness, healing and sacred connection, there will be a video series produced and an artist-in-residence initiative. With the intent to increase the visibility of the arts as a means of flourishing and unity, PPP will continue to educate and inspire makers from diverse vocations to perform shalom within their own callings.
Peace by Piece
O’More College of Architecture and Design at Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Peace by Piece seeks to foster community engagement and artistic expression through machine and digital knitting workshops through which artists will create unique fabrics and abstract art pieces symbolizing unity and the diversity of God's creation. This project aims to take participants along a journey of discovery and increased awareness of the healing properties of creativity and faith, and promote a sense of community through collaborative art making.
Peace by Piece will conclude with an exhibit on Belmont’s campus showcasing the knitted art pieces, a film and photography documenting the process, as well as talks and demonstrations of the knitting machine. The project’s aim is to initiate conversation about faith, technology and the arts while sharing a unique craft that offers mental, physical, and spiritual benefits for the participants and develop a community of makers.
Performing Shalom Through Music and Storytelling
Adams School of Music and the Arts/Gordon College of Boston, MA
Performing Shalom Through Music and Storytelling was birthed to address the challenges posed by Boston’s diverse Christian landscape and seeks to overcome cultural, linguistic and theological barriers to promote unity and understanding through collaborative arts. This grant will enable the program to develop a multi-denominational choir to perform in diverse churches, offer storytelling sessions, along with visual arts workshops and a documentary.
At its core, the project will prioritize the voices of immigrant and marginalized communities, providing a platform to share unique stories and perspectives. Each element is designed to engage participants wholly—mentally, physically and spiritually—and act as a conduit for expressing and living out Shalom.
The Red Vineyard (RV) Project
Goldenwood Inc. of Princeton, NJ
Created as a unique nine-month journey for multi-generational singer-songwriters, this program will be led by artist Sandra McCracken in partnership with Goldenwood to bring together 8-12 artists in cohorts for in-person retreats, monthly mentor-led workshops and collaborative songwriting and recording opportunities. The RV community is to build a dynamic space where “decelerating” rhythms of listening, rest and collaboration lead to lasting fruitfulness—for the individual artist and the broader world. RV models a new way of making art—one that is deeply rooted in God’s character of spiritual authenticity, relational generosity and communal flourishing.
The Resilient Artist Project
Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts/Fuller Theological Seminary of Pasadena, CA
The Resilient Art Project is a response to research about the decline in community and mental and spiritual wellbeing among artists.The project is designed to help artists think about spiritual and mental health in tandem with their creative practices. Through the grant, the Brehm Center will invite artists of any medium to join a one-year cohort to practice spiritual formation, explore therapeutic methods and build resiliency as they collaborate in their respective creative practices. They will participate in retreats, monthly online conversations and curriculum. The project will result in a group arts event featuring artist collaborations, the development of an online course, and a short documentary film.
RESOUND: A Strategic Launch Initiative for Arts-Driven Spiritual Renewal in Orlando
RESOUND of Orlando, FL
With a focus on revealing God's love through the arts, RESOUND encompasses theatrical performances and artistic gatherings designed to bring Scripture to life and foster spiritual renewal through worship, witness and the Word. Programming will include faith-based theatre training for middle and high school students, mentorship for worship and arts leaders, a major concert at a premier local venue and outreach performances in schools, hospitals and senior centers.
Seeing Shalom: A Contemplative Exploration of the Local Landscape
St. Olaf College of Northfield, MN
Throughout her grant-funded project, Michon Weeks will bring her artistic practice and spiritual reflection in a series of 20-25 small-scale egg tempera and oil paintings and mixed-media drawings. Inspired by natural and built environments within her community, each piece of artwork will be a collaboration with the landscape, transforming familiar scenes into meditative explorations of the inner and outer worlds and portraying the landscape as a living, sacred and contemplative entity.
Sharing Shalom Through Story
Windrider Institute of Meridian, ID
The Windrider Institute creates, curates and responds to film and visual media, sparking thoughtful conversation around the most significant topics in our culture. Rooted in the belief that God's Spirit is active through the arts, Sharing Shalom Through Story will facilitate interactive connection through the curation and distribution of faith-filled film and conversation resources to large networks.
The grant will also be able to bring three components to life - content acquisition (curation and licensing of ten award-winning short and/or feature films to illuminate culturally relevant topics at the highest level), engagement acceleration (creation of ten correlated film/resource packages to connect the films' themes to faith themes for usage among existing and expanding influential Christian networks), and network expansion (in partnership with Wedgwood Circle to serve as an initial convening to illicit broader local network partnerships between dense, overlapping, and aligned Christian organizations).
Unlocking Potential: Elevating the Voices of BIPOC Creatives
Made for PAX of University Place, WA
With a mission to provide mentorship and instruction for emerging Christians of color with a focus on peace, justice and contemplation, “Unlocking Potential: Elevating the Voices of BIPOC Creatives” will elevate approximately 66 fellows to participate in multiple PAX Fellowship creative cohorts, including visual storytelling, poetry, songwriting and writing.
When emerging Christians of color are given the mentorship and vocational resources needed to thrive in their careers and their callings, they create art that changes the world. Rooted in their cultural and spiritual identities, the fellows will be further encouraged to embrace a wild and beautiful spirit of creativity, and the fellowship itself naturally becomes a place of healing and restoration.
The Creative Arts Collective grantmaking initiative supports expressions of the Christian story and faith that inspire moments of awe and wonder through art and art experiences. The program was developed to support initiatives nationwide that create and curate works of art, educate and nurture Christian imagination and cultivate and sustain a thriving network in Christianity and the arts. Grants are awarded bi-annually to support a broad array of projects and programs such as events, performances and exhibits; commissioning art of diverse forms (including visual, architectural, musical, narrative, film, and live performances); enhancing arts in the church; and capacity building for organizations aligned with the Creative Arts Collective’s aspirational aim.
The CAC’s current grant program, Fall 2025’s “Finding Freedom in the Wilderness: Learning to Follow the God of Surprising Deliverances,” recently closed its online Letter of Inquiry (LOI) form. Approximately 20 applicants will be invited to submit full grant proposals in the competitive process this summer, and grant awards will be communicated to applicants in November. To find out more, visit the grantmaking page at CreativeArtsCollective.com.