Will There Be a Season 2?
By Mykal Urbina
It started as a question: “Why isn’t there a singular place to find new works by LDS artists?”
That turned into an idea: “What if we could help track every new project by LDS artists, anywhere in the world?”
Which became a challenge: “We couldn’t, could we…?”
Then a concept: One year—one Season—of Latter-day Saint arts.
And, eventually, a publication (and a calendar, and a multidisciplinary editorial review, a holiday guide, playlists, media recommendations, a summer special issue, dozens of commissioned works: a whirlwind and a triumph).
We saw our role, initially, as aggregators, collectors of information, and distributors of data. We would raise the flag for every author, visual artist, composer, musician, choreographer, podcaster, and filmmaker who created something, anything.
In September 2022, Glen Nelson wrote The Season’s first In Mind thinkpiece, a captivating essay comparing the influences of Catholicism on Bruce Springsteen’s music to the influences of Mormonism on Brandon Flowers’ music: “Brandon Flowers’s Pressure Machine.” We commissioned artist Madeline Rupard to illustrate the article. Six months later, Brandon and two of his Killers bandmates appeared centerstage at a benefit event for our organization, where Brandon spoke candidly about the intersection of his faith and his music. Prints of Madeline’s work were given as gifts, now on display in dozens of homes. The event itself became one of the very kinds of current artistic experiences The Season aims to capture. Through that event we became aware of multicultural, all-denominational musical group, the KING will come, and their album releases and special events followed. Throughout the year, members and non-members alike connected with the Center for the first time, sharing the artists they know and love. The wheel keeps spinning. The Season set in motion so many wheels.
It begs the question, then, is it possible to immerse oneself in the art of your people without being inspired to create, yourself? To not then become a purveyor, consumer, advocate, and operator within the very ecosystem you meant only to observe?
Perhaps the very mission this project aimed to address gives us the answer: The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts exists at the intersection of divine creativity and cultural relevance.
We believe, wholly, that there is divinity in creativity. President Spencer W. Kimball taught: “I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away.”
To draw closer to divinity is to find more divinity and our Latter-day Saint artists are a verified fount of inspiration. Such was true of The Season–find one new artist, you’ll find ten more. Connect one artist to a newfound peer and friend, you’ll create an entirely new network. (For example, see author Bridget Verhaaren. See musician Jenn Blosil. See choreographer Michelle Dorrance.) For this reason, the Center will not become casual in its efforts to discover and foster our community’s artists, and in doing so, we will continue to offer another entry point to the Church, to its people, to our history, and to our shared culture.
So the question remains: “Will there be a Season 2?”
In its totality, no. The Season was always intended to be a one-year project, a snapshot in time, with learnings and discoveries that would inform the Center’s role in the Latter-day Saint arts community. But to lose that momentum–that direct line to the now–would be to miss perhaps the greatest potential that The Season uncovered, to continue building a community of Latter-day Saint creators and appreciators.
Here’s what you can expect from The Season moving forward:
The Season, if you subscribe, will appear in your inbox twice monthly. First, with an In Mind-style thinkpiece to keep you immersed in the goings-on of the Latter-day Saint art world. And second, a monthly profile in the much-loved My Sunday interview series that describes the typical Sunday for some extraordinary artists. The Holiday Gift Guide will return for Christmas 2023, connecting you with LDS makers and artists whose works would make beautiful and meaningful additions to your shopping lists. The Season will live on in its most impactful, most sustainable form, and we will continue to invite your participation along the way.
To our readers, thank you for your overwhelming support of this experiment, for sharing with us the artists you admire and the artists you know personally, for helping us blaze a trail to knowledge and awareness and inspiration. You are the heartbeat of the Center, and we can’t wait to press forward with you and for you.