Manifesto
Sputnik is a network of artists who identify as Christian, but don’t make ‘Christian art’.
All around the UK and beyond, Sputnik artists are making art that enriches us all, making art that is full blooded and honest and making art that can help heal our divided culture.
We operate out of the Catalyst Network, but we work with artists and churches of every denomination and culture.
Making Art that Enriches Us All
Our culture is an extremely commodified space. The arts are seen as valuable if they make money – which usually means advertising something. Artists are pressured to make what sells, not what will feed and enrich us.
The church, too, has often seen art and creativity as useful inasmuch as they serve the purposes of worship, evangelism or doctrine. If artists are encouraged beyond this, it’s assumed that commercial success would be their goal. As a consequence, artists often abandon either their church or their art.
We fund projects and exhibitions to help artists escape the pressures of the profit motive, freeing them to create art that enriches us all.
Making Art That’s Full-Blooded and Honest
At one end, popular entertainment hammers art forms into a marrowless pulp. At the other, the fine art world has spiralled into elitism, abstraction, and cynicism. Art is everywhere, but it often seems irrelevant to real, everyday life.
Similarly, churches often see art as a nicety, little more than a bit of self-expression or escape. But the best art explores what it means to be a flesh-and-blood human, by digging into the depths of both suffering and joy: it inspires reflection, discovery and even life-change.
We organise online and IRL events for artists to meet, share and pray: helping artists fight back at cynicism with whole-heartedness and generosity, creating art that’s full-blooded and honest.
Find out when our events are happening. →
Making Art That Heals Divides
A healthy culture is a common good: a way for us to gather, to have some kind of ‘common life’ beyond mere survival. It It even helps us to handle our disagreement and differences well. Needless to say, our own culture isn’t healthy in this regard.
Into this context, the church has often widened these divisions, engaging in ‘culture wars’, fighting a losing battle to be the loudest voice in the room. Art has been seen as a weapon on such a battlefield, with artists being expected to change what people think, not open up how people think.
We encourage artists to be champions of their artistic communities: creating a richer common life, being a faithful presence for Jesus, and making art that can heal divides.