How exactly will Renaissance Canada reach the artist community?

There are currently three major areas of need:

The Artists | There is a mental health and affordability crisis among Canadian artists.

The mental health crisis is at an all-time high within the artist demographic in Canada. Research has shown that 73% of artists experience anxiety or depression. This is significantly higher than the general population in Canada.

In 2024, over 50% of artists reported a yearly personal income of under $40,000. There is an affordability crisis among Canadian artists, and with the rising costs of living, this makes it increasingly difficult for artists to continue working as artists.

Nearly 70% of artists struggle with feelings of isolation, and 60% report mental health challenges tied to the pressures of their work. Artists are facing more than financial obstacles— they’re navigating a culture that often feels hollow, dark, and devoid of real purpose. 

Artists are among the marginalized community in Canada. With these statistics, we must respond. We cannot afford to continue losing artists to mental health, to a loss of passion or purpose, or a lack of support, encouragement, or care. 

As we are reminded by scripture, Humanity is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Humanity is also God’s greatest creation; masterpiece; the magnum opus. As God, the Creator and Master Artist, has endowed us with this likeness, we hold an inherent responsibility to create. We have a task to partner with the Creator in liberating creation from its bondage to death and decay, bringing it into the freedom and glory that we, as children of God, experience (Romans 8:18-23). While we are all called to that, artists have a unique ability to outwork this call through their creative calling; through their artistic abilities. Through the fundamental act of creating, we step into this commission, joining in God’s restorative work through our craft.

The Arts | There is a culture crisis affecting how the arts are represented and understood, which is a deeper issue concerning a theological understanding of beauty.

The arts are not only sacred, but biblical. Throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, we witness the sanctity of creating, crafting, and making. In Exodus 31, we encounter Bezalel and Oholiab, who are specifically called to engage in ‘all kinds of crafts.’ Bezalel is filled with the Spirit of God, receiving wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to fulfill the task before him. Remarkably, this is the first recorded instance of the Holy Spirit coming upon a person in Scripture — and it is for an artistic purpose. This underscores that God not only values the arts, but sees them as an integral part of building His kingdom here on earth.

However, as we are reminded in Romans 8:18-23, all of earth is subjected to bondage and decay as a result of sin. The once-beautiful thing that God had always intended the arts to be, has been distorted as a result of human destruction and carelessness. The arts are also broken, resulting in a culture crisis. The arts are not what they ought to be: a source of beauty, truth, and goodness. As we’ve seen from scripture, this is how God had always intended the art of making and creating to be— for all skilled people to join in the task of making the broken into beautiful. To reveal God’s glory through art, through story, through beauty. This is so that we may be able to bring healing, justice, and transformation to a world in need, through the language of beauty.

The Church | There is a theological gap in understanding the intersection of faith and the arts.

Historically, artists were commissioned by the Church to portray the gospel message of Jesus Christ through various kinds of artistic work: music, opera, painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, stained glass design… Artists were once incredibly important to society, playing an integral part towards human flourishing: often contributing beautiful works that caught the attention of royal families, nobility, and the clergy. Many artists and their works have a significant mark and legacy throughout history.

Artists have always carried this unique calling and commission: to restore beauty in the world through their work. However, this has not been easily seen or understood by the Church. As a result, artists and their gifts have not been seen or cared for in the ways that need to be. This is a problem that can be remedied through community, mentorship, and intentional care. However, this doesn’t speak to the larger problem at hand— there is a significant theological gap in the understanding of the intersection of faith and the arts within the Church. This is in part, due to the lack of understanding of artists’ role in society. What once was an important role for human flourishing has been reduced to artists and the arts being at the bottom of the societal chain. This back-and-forth has caused great divide and suspicion between the Church and the Art world. Yet, artists are needed. They were needed in biblical times, and they are needed now more than ever.

The Arts and artists have the power to shape culture, tell stories, and inspire change for a better future. The Church must respond in creating spaces for artists to not only come to Jesus, but to create spaces for artists to once again create works that would call the attention of the world back towards the Creator of all that is beautiful.