C.cada is the artist’s wing of Cornerstone Church. It is a place people gather to discover their talents, develop their talents and deploy their talents in community. That is a simple definition of a makerspace. C.cada was birthed almost five years ago and since then our artists have met one Saturday a month at our church to practice using their talents in community and to figure out how do we use those talents to enhance our region.

Every month I am amazed at how much work can be accomplished by these dedicated folks in just one day: This month a group of ten artists met via Skype with  Kidzark, a drama ministry in the Netherlands. Our team participated in a read through and editing workshop of Kidzark’s newest play (scheduled to go up fall 2015). The prayer shawl  ministry met and put the finishing touches on 48 new shawls slated to go out sometime this month to sick and hurting individuals around the world. While that was happening two of us met to edit next month’s newsletter. Our circulation of this letter has recently found an open door in a prison church about 40 minutes East of here and some of their members have begun writing devotional articles for publication. I met and interviewed with another young artist who is looking for ways he can collaborate with us for community monthly even though his work is not transportable and while I was meeting with him one of our  members was giving music lessons to a group of elementary students. All the while individual artists were working throughout the building on instruments or easels. Finally in the afternoon twenty of us met for  a choir practice in preparation for Holy Week.

This is makerspace, people coming together to be creative in community and to better their community…and the world. We are not a group of geniuses or prodigies. We are just regular people who don’t want to neglect the gifts God has put in us any longer and so we have decided to be intentional and set aside time to use those gifts. We know that most of us will never make a living off of our art. That doesn’t mean our art can’t produce a better life for us or those around us.

If you would like more information about C.cada you can view our website at artistdayapart.com or you can contact me directly at 978-297-3125 xt. 105

Pastor J