It’s where art and ideas intersect with faith – and it all happens here on Orcas Island.
Now in its second year, KindlingsFest is a four-day celebration that will feature four artists in residence, a lecture series, catered lunches, a film festival, a community concert, and the “BagEnd” cafe. The festival runs from Wednesday, July 22 to Saturday, July 25.
Organizer Dick Staub, who is one of the pastors at Orcas Island Community Church, says around 100 participants have already signed up from off-island – including many from around the U.S. and beyond. The cap is 300, so locals are encouraged to register now at www.TheKindlings.com.
This year’s theme is “C.S. Lewis and Broken Beauty.” Dr. Jerry Root is back by popular demand with a new lecture series. Artists in residence include painter Bruce Herman, C.S. Lewis scholar/author Michael Ward, filmmaker Rick Stevenson and singer songwriter Michael Kelly Blanchard. All of the artists will be available for conversation and discussion.
“My belief is that people think our real common ground is being human,” Staub said. “And art is one of the ways we connect with each other on what matters the most to us.”
Root will deliver a lecture at 10 a.m. each morning; topics include “Madness, the Arts, and the Restoration of Sanity,” “Beauty and the Awakening of Desire,” “Art and the Awakening of Empathy,” and “Creativity and Personhood: the Discovery of Self.”
A buffet lunch, catered by the Orcas Village Store, will be held at noon each day for $12.
At 7 p.m. each evening Staub will host a KindlingsMuse event with the artists in residence. At 8:30 p.m. the group will head out for a BagEnd Café hosted by British actor and arts advocate Nigel Goodwin. The cafés are improvisational and participatory celebrations of the creativity of those at the event.
All of the daily events listed above will be at Orcas Island Community Church.
Thursday afternoon the community and KindlingsFest participants can stroll through island galleries during an artwalk through Eastsound. On Friday, several award-winning films will be shown at the Sea View Theatre, including Rick Stevenson’s “Expiration Date.”
A finale to the program is on Saturday night, with an outdoor community concert on the village green with Blanchard followed by complimentary root beer floats back at BagEnd Café.
“The concept is to present a relational program with plenty of time to hang out, eat, and just have conversation,” Staub said.
KindlingsFest is part of The Kindlings movement inspired by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers and a diverse group of gadflies and friends called “The Inklings,” who met in an Oxford pub each week for lively conversation. Staub founded the group in Seattle before moving to Orcas. He hosts weekly podcasts, events in Seattle and at the Sundance Film Festival, and The Kindlings Hearth (a weekend retreat for artists). The Kindlings aim is to rekindle the spiritual, intellectual and creative legacy of Christians in culture.
Tickets are by donation at www.TheKindlings.com; $50 per person is suggested, but no one will be turned away from lack of funds.Last year the event quickly sold out.
“It’s going to get full,” Staub said. “People should register as soon as possible.”
Anyone interested in listing their studio on the artwalk map should call Linsey Smith at 376-3328 or Shannon at 376-6422 during business hours with other questions.
