At the intersection between great art and a powerful voice for all people is the foundation of a new project called A Concert for the Human Family, an artistic collaboration created by The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication and Racial Reconciliation and Justice Team. We’ve been dreaming around the question, “What could happen, what movement could begin, what conversation could be started or amplified, if our churches and cathedral spaces once again rang out with the promise and hope and power of Good News?”
A team of musicians, artists, creatives, and church leaders gathered to begin dreaming about what such an initiative might look like. Working alongside The Episcopal Church’s Becoming Beloved Community program, which focuses on the work of racial reconciliation within and beyond the Church, we began to shape a musical journey intended to stir listeners, share sacred stories of human experience from many perspectives, and start powerful conversations around the reconciliation work that’s so needed within the communities our churches and cathedrals call home.
To bring this dream to life, we partnered with Kory Caudill, a Nashville recording artist, pianist, and composer. For much of the past year, Kory and his team of talented musicians, engineers, and producers have worked to create an album of original music to guide audiences in an exploration of the human experience. The concerts, designed to highlight a variety of musical and cultural traditions, stories, and reconciliation work, will serve as a centerpiece for deeper and more long-standing conversations around racial reconciliation “on the ground” in host communities.