Via Affirmativa values the power of affirmation in helping artists excel in their particular expressions. This affirmation is different than saying, “Hey, you are doing a really good job” or, “Keep up the good work.” VAF affirms artists towards a vision of the future in which a creative and redemptive way of living actually forms, rather than simply responds to, the communities in which we live.

You might hear us say that ‘Life is Art.’ This is just our way to emphasis that all of life is a skillful working out of our creative gifting. We view life as it could be. We believe that if you have no hope in the future, you have no power in the present. We believe a narrative in which God is present and also creatively at work in the world around us—drawing humanity towards a redemptive future. We hope to participate.

This does not mean, however, that we are required to place ‘John 3:16’ on our artwork. Art does not have to possess a secret message to be related to God. Maybe there has been too much teaching truth and not enough exploring the complexities of beauty and goodness. We encourage (affirm) artists to delve into the fears, anxieties, and questions involved in pursuing our deepest longings for beauty, goodness and truth.

We do not recommend doing this alone. Our desire for relationship (both divine and human) gives context to our longings for beauty, goodness and truth. In this context, Via Affirmativa, respects and finds value in the disorientating zigs and zags of our creative journeys, but together we seek to affirm individuals right where they are to imagine that which is beautiful, good and true. In the end, we believe this will result in creative and redemptive living.

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