Artist Reformation Development

We are in the process of filing for official 501c3 status (non-profit organization).  We have legal representation from Andy Shawber, and we have some new executive board members. Dave Carter is our financial manager (not sure of his official title).  Joel Fariss is our second in command (also not sure of his official title) He has alot of experience in working with non-profits and is a freelance brand consultant.  Natalie St. Martin has also agreed to be a part of our executive board.  She is an amazingly gifted artist who is teaching art classes at Seattle Pacific University.  I am so excited to have all of these amazing gifted leaders on board.

As far as Arts center goes, We still don't have a name, however the team is growing. David Lawrence expressed interest in helping out.  I am planning on have a meeting with everyone interested sometime around the middle of may.  This will give me time to have something to present, and an organized structure to communicate.  I am really encouraged by the amount of vision, focus, and patience that God has been giving me in regards to this arts center.  We are pretty far out from having a space, but I am still really excited to get to work on building something like this.  

Just thought I'd drop a quick update.  There will definetly be much more to come. stay tuned! as always feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment if you have any feedback, questions, encouragement, or advice.  samueldavidhatch@gmail.com

moving forward

So things have been pretty busy lately at Mars Hill Church Downtown Seattle.

We did a showing of Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians.  It's a documentary about a team (community group) of christians that went to casinos around the country and took tons of money from a casino.  There was a Q&A afterwards with some of the guys on the team that help make the film, and a few pastors.  It was a great event, and I'm glad that it went off well.  

Coming up soon we are having easter at Benaroya Hall (an amazingly beautiful venue that seats 2500 people, it's where the Seattle Symphony plays) and there are a TON of logistics being worked out.  It's easy for more to get bogged down in the nitty gritty details of stuff and feel overwhelmed because of either lack of information, lack of volunteers to help, or lack of know-how in whatever it is that I am being asked to do.  Then I realize that God put me in the middle of a vast community of believers and ultimately it's his mission that we are all on, so we get to work together to get things done.  

Artist Reformation is moving and shaking as well.  Our current Executive board consist of: 

Jeff Bettger

Joel Fariss

Dave Carter

Andy Shawber

Natalie St. Martin

The lawfirm that Andy Shawber works for agreed to take us on as a pro-bono client, so we have legal representation which is awesome.  Jeff just signed all the paperwork in order for us to file as a 501-c3 (non-profit organization).  Once that clears, then we can officially start fund raising.  If you know any grant writers, I would love some help with getting some grants written for the city of Seatlle and state of Washington.  I got to touch base with someone involved in the Artist House aspect of our group, and I am excited to see the new direction that is possibly heading down.  

Please pray for the Arts Center, I only have a month left on my internship, and after that I will be a full-time server at Tutta-Bella, which will give me more time to devote to building the team, looking for a space, and just general direction and vision for it.  

As always feel free to hit the "donate" button on this page and give towards Artist Reformation.  At this stage we really need all the help we can get.  Also, if you have any advice or suggestions to offer me, feel free to either comment on this post or email me at samueldavidhatch@gmail.com.  

The ball is starting to roll!

two weeks ago a group of people gathered.  This group of people are artists who want to help other artists in a variety of ways.  

Cole and Luz Bratcher have rented a large house.  They have invited other artists (mostly those who are still in art school)  to live at their house.  They are building a community in which artists can live and be continually encouraged and challenged to create.  

Miguel and Whitney Aguirre (along with Brittany Swarthout) have started a women's dance class called 'Surrender Dance'.  "Surrender Dance strives to foster community among women in Seattle and support women throughout our city by promoting healthy living and freedom from bondage"(Surrenderdance.org) One of the things they spoke about was challenging our cultures concepts of beauty and encouraging woman to not look to societies ideas of beauty and self-worth.  

I joined forces with Jeff Bettger (who is now a Mars Hill Pastor!!) in his vision to open a post-college arts center so that up and coming artists would have a place to continue to work on their craft, learn, create, have a place to showcase their work, and feel welcome.  I know tons of musicians and artists who, because of the business of life after college, let their creative abilities and works slip into the realm of mere hobby.  Most become miserably complacent and accept the grayness of life.  We want to encourage people to continue to express themselves and grow creatively by offering a space, workshops, and shows to foster continual artistic expression.  

It was incredibly encouraging to be surrounded by people who are passionate about caring for creatives.  We are working with Joel Fariss who has worked with non-profits before and knows all of us.  Joel is schooling us on how non-profits are built and function.  

Basically we are applying for a group 501c3 and we will all function under the large umbrella non-profit.  Our next meeting is this saturday (2/11).  We will be discussing who we want to ask to serve on our board of directors as officers, and what we our name should be.

  I am really excited about what God is doing through all of our organizations and I would invite you to fervently pray for all of us as we move forward.  Everything that we are doing are things that God laid on our hearts, so pray that we would steward that well and that through these secular ventures that we would develop relationships with the people we are serving, and they come to know Christ through how we love and serve them, and not by shoving scripture down their throats.  

I'd also like to note that any donations that are made via Paypal from this blog will go towards opening the arts center.  so please pray and donate!  We also need a name.  So far I'm calling it the Fine Arts Center and abbreviating it like this:  F. Arts Center.  haha we need a better name.  and we need money, so if you could help with either or have any questions or encouragement please email me at Samueldavidhatch@gmail.com. Thanks again!