UPDATE on Partners:
Arts in Sacred Places Success Story
he bartered his gifts and talents as a
carpenter in lieu of traditional rent.
Unity Lutheran Church in Chicago, IL, has benefitted in myriad ways from its
participation in Partners’ Arts in Sacred Places program. Photo credit: Frederick J.
Nachman.
“If we clean it, they will come.” It was with this
promise that Pastor Fred Kinsey of Unity Lutheran in
Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood motivated his
congregation to embrace space sharing. Less than a year
later, with the support of staff, lay leaders, members,
and neighbors, the church rummage rooms have been
cleaned out and Unity is home to more than half a
dozen artists on the city’s north side, serving as an
incubator for artistic innovation in theatre, dance, and
performance art.
Three of these artists – Stephen Murray, an
independent theatre director; Bryan Saner, a
performance artist; and Francesca Peppiatt of
Stockyards Theatre Project – met Unity through
Partners’ Making Homes for the Arts in Sacred Places
(AiSP) training. Saner bonded with Reverend Kinsey,
explaining, “The training allowed us to open a
dialogue and immediately we recognized that we had
philosophies in common.” Since their original meeting
in the spring of 2012, Saner has rehearsed several of
his pieces in the church gym. Building on the lessons
of the AiSP training, Unity’s leadership worked with
him to map out a space-sharing agreement in which
It has proved to be a win-win
arrangement: Saner has access to
much-needed rehearsal space and
the congregation has been able to
complete critical building projects. In
fact, the arrangement has proved to be
a win-win-win: the third beneficiary
is RefugeeONE, a nonprofit that serves
youth whose lives have been disrupted by
violence. The organization uses Unity’s
gymnasium for its afterschool soccer
program, and has long been in need of a
locker room. As part of his arrangement
with Unity, Saner built one – providing
RefugeeONE with youth lockers built by
an artist who rehearses his work in the
same space in which they play.
Sarah Gottlieb, referred to Unity by Saner, is exploring
the potential for a similar collaboration. Gottlieb,
a dancer who rehearses at Unity, is in conversation
with another tenant, Penedo Charitable Organization
(PCO), a mentoring program for girls, to explore ways
to weave PCO’s mission into Gottlieb’s art within the
setting of the congregation. This conversation, like
other collaborations between space-sharing partners
at Unity, was sparked at the church’s Open House, a
quarterly event that introduces the congregation to the
artists and nonprofits that use space in the building.
“When we started, we thought it was just
about money. But it is about much more.
We see now how this work is integral to our
mission, to our outreach to the community.”
Pastor Fred Kinsey of Unity Lutheran Church,
about their participation in Arts in Sacred Places
Sacred Places • Spring 2013 • 12