Authentic representation through legitimate presence.
Vision
Transform inspires artists to establish a legitimate presence in creative industries to authentically represent Christ in the worlds of art, media, and entertainment.
Mission
Transform seeks to encourage generations of artists who don’t merely maintain their faith, but also flourish and impact culture. We do this by providing space and time for artists to develop in four areas of life: artistic, spiritual, civic compassion, and leadership.
What We Do
Society is not structured to encourage the success of artists. The artist is often devoid of two resources - time and space. The arts are commonly under-valued and are therefore under-paid leaving the artist with little time outside of a day-job to pursue their craft.
The residency program provides artists with time via fund development training based on Cru’s Ministry Partner Development program. With this, the resident can dedicate time normally spent at work towards pursuing their craft, the integration of their art and faith, along with relationships with other artists in creative communities.
The second resource is space. Physical space is a rare commodity in a financial sense, but the more important space for artists is a communal space. The journey of the artist is lonely. Moreso for the Christian who feels disconnected from a church that has historically discouraged engagement with the arts. The residency provides creative space and communal space with a built-in community of creative believers journeying with them as they pursue their legitimate presence in the art world as a follower of Christ.
History
Transform began on NYU’s campus in 2001 as a response to the need for a thoughtful Christian presence in the arts. The ministry quickly expanded to include other art schools in New York City.In 2005 Transform began a summer program in NYC. This program brought college art students into the city from around the country to grow in the four areas of art, spiritual, civic compassion and leadership, with a desire to catapult these young emerging artists to pursue their faith and art with excellence.
In 2011 Transform began a year-long artist-in-residence program in NYC and expanded to Kansas City in 2013. Presently, Transform has a network of professional artists in 10 cities spanning from NYC to California, as well as Mexico City and Paris. In 2019 we began a new 4-month residency for local artists in NYC.
We hope to see Transform’s network continue to grow with artists both inside and outside of the church.
