The TheoArtistry Festival (5-6 March 2018) brought together theologians, composers, poets, and scholars of the arts to celebrate partnerships between the disciplines.
Hosted by the University of St Andrews, the festival celebrated recent collaborations between ITIA theologians and early-career choral composers.
As the theological researcher for a composition on ‘the burning bush’ (Exodus 3), my experience with fire performance art informed my part in the project.
As the University press release put it:
Among [the contributors] was Rebekah, whose doctoral research on fire in the theological and social imagination, combined with her hobby as a fire-spinner, gave talented composer Kerensa Briggs inspiration for a new piece of sacred choral music.
For those of us involved in the project, the partnerships offered new perspectives on the value of theologically-informed composition. Dr George Corbett has published an article on the collaborations.
Poetry collaborations
The TheoArtistry Festival also saw the culmination of the TheoArtistry Poets’ Scheme, where I had the pleasure of working with Edinburgh-based poet Christine De Luca on her poem, Nec Tamen Consumebatur (“And yet it was not consumed”).
The poetry collaborations were part of StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival (7-11 March 2018).
Rebekah M Dyer 