Knox Christian Arts Ministries

2010-2011 Auditions!!

Actors

Auditions for Actors will be held on Tuesday, August 1, 7:30 p.m. by appointment, at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, 9132 Kingston Pike. Actors should prepare a 1-minute monologue from a published play written after 1970; avoid accents and character roles. Actors also will read from the script. Roles available: 1 young man age 17 – 25; 2 young women age 15 – 20; 1 high school girl who can play an 8th-grader; 2 men ages 40 – 50; 1 woman age 40 – 50. Some roles will be double cast due to heavy performance schedule. Actors must be available for rehearsals on Tuesday evenings and for “boot camp” rehearsal week August 9-13, 7-9 p.m. Contact jilllagerberg@cpsc.net or 291-5218 for more information and to schedule an audition time.

Dancers

Auditions for Dancers will be held Tuesday, August 1, 6:30 p.m. at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, 9132 Kingston Pike. Positions are open for up to 5 dancers ages high school through young adult who have a minimum of 4 years training in ballet, jazz, and/or modern dance. Dancers should come prepared to move and will be taught a short combo as a group. Dancers must be available for rehearsals on Tuesday nights and for “boot camp” rehearsal week August 9-13, 7-9 p.m. Contact jilllagerberg@cpsc.net or 291-5218 for more information and to schedule an audition time.http://www.knoxchristianarts.com.

Singers

Auditions for Singers are now underway. Positions are open for singers ages high school and above for the 70-voice SATB Choir and the Men’s Ensemble. Singers should have a background in choral and/or solo music and must be available for rehearsals on Tuesday evenings and for “boot camp” rehearsal week, August 9-13, 7-9 p.m. Contact jilllagerberg@cpsc.net or 291-5218 for more information and to schedule an audition time.

Instrumentalists and Handbell Choir

Auditions for Instrumentalists and Handbell Ringers are now underway. Positions are open for instrumentalists ages high school and above who have a minimum of 4 years training. Instrumentalists must be available for rehearsals on Wednesday and some Tuesday evenings. Handbell ringers should be experienced players and must be available for rehearsals on Tuesday evenings. Both groups must be available for “boot camp” rehearsal week August 9-13, 7-9 p.m. Contact jilllagerberg@cpsc.net or 291-5218 for more information and to schedule an audition time.

Support the Ministry

Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries is an outreach ministry of Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church and is funded by the church.  If you would like to designate a gift to this ministry, we thank you!  Please make your check payable to Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church and write “Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries” on the memo line.  Mail to:

Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, 9132 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN  37923

Join Us

If you are a Christian singer, instrumentalist, handbell ringer, actor or dancer who feels called to share God’s love through the medium of your art, we want to know about you just as much as you want to know about us!

Is Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries right for you?

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I an experienced choral singer, instrumentalist, handbell ringer, actor or dancer?
• Have I participated in and enjoyed high school, college, church, community and/or professional groups?
• Am I excited about the possibilities of sharing God’s love through the arts?
• Am I looking, perhaps longing, for a place to serve?

If you answered yes to the questions above, KnoxCAM can be an avenue of ministry for you.

The Choir, Men’s Ensemble, Handbells and Instrumentals accept new members by audition throughout the year.  Auditions are held twice a year in August and January for actors and dancers.

Please click on the above links for complete information about each of the groups and how to contact us.

Prayer

We are excited as we watch God leading this new ministry.  KnoxCAM would very much appreciate your prayer at all times but especially on Tuesday evenings as the group works together on this mission.  If you want to pray for us, we thank you!  Please pray

• that the group will continue to evolve in such a way that no one will be able to say anything except “God did this!”
• that we will be the group He wants us to be, one that He can use to share the good news of Jesus Christ wherever He takes us.
• that He will send us performing artists who long to share God’s love through the medium of their art and feel called to this ministry.
• that He will guide us to the places where what we do will truly glorify Him and bring His love and blessing into the lives of those we serve.

Rehearsal Boot Camp August 2010

KnoxCAM swings into action for the 2010 – 2011 season with our first annual “Boot Camp Week” – five nights of intense rehearsal for all of our groups to get a jump on our concert preparation.  Boot Camp is Monday – Friday, August 9 – 13, from 7:00 – 9:00 each evening at Cedar Springs Church.  With a concert that is highly integrated musically and dramatically, and our first performance in October, Boot Camp is crucial to our upcoming season!

Reflections on the Prison Concerts

A story is written in his face, that man in prison blues who just entered through the guarded doorway across the room.  For a moment you imagine you could get to know that guy.  Or maybe not.  Maybe your eyes meet his and suddenly a chasm opens between you.  In that glimpse you wonder what he sees written on your face.  These first moments are unexpectedly awkward, personal.

————/      /————

The prisoners’ faces are difficult to read, and we are told that this is a necessity of prison life, that too much information in a facial expression, especially an expression that conveys softness, will have undesirable consequences.  “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” we have been thinking wryly, from the moment the bus rolled past the glinting razor wire and the security procedure reminded us that prison is also about not letting anyone IN.

As we set up in the prison gymnasium, we sense that the noise of microphone checks, instruments tuning, and vocal warmups, familiar and even calming to us, is surely a curiosity to the prisoners filtering into the bleachers.  We fend off a wave of self-consciousness when we gather around for our final prayer of preparation.  We ask for help to focus on the mission, to bring into this place our truest worship expressed to the utmost of our abilities, to God’s honor alone.

“This is not about us,” we chasten ourselves.  “This is not even about these prisoners,” the Spirit within us whispers.  This is about the King, the sinless Savior, who imprisoned Himself in our flesh to be like us, to die in our stead, to conquer even death and bring us to glory beyond imagining.

What happens next is harder to describe.  Everything we think we know about our program slips out of our hands and into His.  Within these stark prison walls we witness with our inner eyes the sun of righteousness rise, the healing radiance of the Lord God.  His light breaks through to our SEEING EYES!   We see one tiny flicker, then another, then more, each becoming more recognizable in those faces whose stories we could not read before.  When we think we can hardly bear any more, we see our BROTHERS looking back at us!

Time is suspended, physical place becomes an illusion, and we hear ourselves proclaiming freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.  We sing and play and dance the Song of the Redeemed because we ARE the Redeemed!

Sylvia Wolfe, KnoxCAM choir member

Welcome to Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries

Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries is a community-wide organization of Christian choral and instrumental musicians, handbell ringers, actors, and dancers who desire to use their gifts in ministry.  Its mission is:

1. To minister in the Knoxville area and beyond by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ through the medium of the performing arts.
2. To minister to accomplished Knox-area Christian performing artists by providing a place for them to serve God through their art.

KnoxCAM is an outreach ministry of Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church and is open to performing artists throughout the Knoxville community.  Presently, its membership includes people from fourteen different churches.  It presents concerts in prisons, inner-city ministries, homeless shelters, retirement centers, and other venues.  If you are an experienced performing artist, high school age and older, amateur or professional, Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries is a place for you to serve.

KnoxCAM provides opportunities for:

• Choral Singers
• Men’s Ensemble Singers
• Orchestral Instrumentalists
• Handbell Ringers
• Actors
• Dancers

To learn more about your area of interest, click on the Get Involved tab above, then choose Join Us

History

In 2005, the Cedar Springs Church Sanctuary and Handbell Choirs travelled to Peru for a ten-day mission trip, where they presented concerts in a number of universities and churches in Lima.  They began to pray at that time that the trip would not be a self-contained event but would be the beginning of a continuing outreach ministry to the Knoxville area and further afield, as God led. The opportunities for service became so numerous that in July 2009 Cedar Springs commissioned Knoxville Christian Art Ministries as a ministry dedicated to missional outreach through choral and instrumental music, dance, and drama.  Its membership now includes people from 14 different churches in the Knoxville area who desire to share the gospel of Jesus Christ through their art.