We work with Christian artists
Our name, Sputnik, means ‘fellow traveler’. In a sense, that sums up what we’re about. You don’t need to have ‘made it’ to be part of Sputnik, we just need to be traveling in the same direction.
Regarding faith, that means we work with anyone who calls themselves a Christian, whatever shape that may take in their life or theology.
Regarding art, that includes artists who are just starting out, through to those who have been doing this for decades.
We work with churches
As well as working with artists, we also work with churches to help them to become more welcoming communities for artists. Bridges have been burnt. On both sides.
Let’s rebuild: so that local churches know the benefit of loads of artists in their communities, and artists don’t have to work out how to follow Jesus on their own, or just with other artists.
We work across denominations and cultures
Sputnik was started by a rapper and photographer from the Catalyst family of churches, but we welcome involvement from anyone who wants to take part.
Very occasionally, we may choose not to publicly promote individual pieces of art that clash with personal convictions, or our church roots. But we support, profile and fund artists on any form of Christian faith journey, even if we wouldn’t put all the dots and crosses on the same i’s and t’s.
To put it simply…
We want to see a whole load of new artists join the likes of JS Bach and Flannery O’Connor. TS Eliot and Lecrae, Marilynne Robinson and Sufjan Stevens, Makoto Fujimura and Sally Phillips (and, yes, maybe even Lewis and Tolkien).
To put it another way, we want to see more Christians making powerful, beautiful, provocative, gut-punching, throat-grabbing, brain-melting art.
And we want to help you do it.
How can you get involved?
If you’re a Christian-identifying artist who wants to make art for a universal audience, and pursue excellence in your field, we’d love you to get involved in Sputnik. Read this to find out where to start.
If you’re a church leader who wants to serve artists more effectively, we’d love to hear from you and chat through how that may work – send us a message here.
We also need patrons to make all this possible. For as little as £5 / month, you can help to support a huge range of Christians who are pursuing excellence in the arts and engaging with their local communities and wider culture. In return, you’ll receive a regular anthology of their work. Find out about our patronage scheme here.
But why bother? Why are the arts so important?
Good question. If you’d like to explore this in a bit of detail, put aside 10 minutes, grab a cuppa and let Jonny Mellor, the founder of Sputnik, explain it in a little more detail. Or check out some further reading, below.