it was exciting this week when curating worship landed on my doormat! it's not technically out until august 19 so it was something of a surprise. if you order through amazon they won't issue it until then. but i have got a load of copies so if you want one soon you can order it through proost (of course!) or me direct. i'll organise a book launch in due course but it will probably have to be after greenbelt.
those of you that follow the blog may already know the back story here. but in case not, curation is a term usually used in the art world for the role of imagining and overseeing an exhibition or installation in a gallery or museum. but it has been picked up and used as a different way of thinking about leading worship in alternative worship circles for about ten years. it is pretty much universally agreed that this started with mark pierson and it certainly first appeared in print in the prodigal project. what's good about it is that it gives a very different model and way of thinking to the worship band leader or the president – not that those are bad – they are simply a different genre.
just over a year ago i was early for a wedding and visited an art gallery while waiting and picked up a couple of books on curating. inevitably a few blog posts followed. one of those books was a series of interviews with curators by hans obrist. i thought it was a great idea and began via e-mail some conversations with people who have inspired me, to try and get into the creative processes involved in curating. it was quickly very interesting. so i floated the idea to a publisher and to my amazement they instantly said they'd love to do it (thanks alison!) and in less than a year from that conversation (august last year) the book is out. it feels like it has happened by accident!
it's in two parts. part one is some reflections of mine expanding on some of the ideas in the blog posts on what is involved in curating – see [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] . then the second and main section is a series of twelve interviews. i hope it's helpful to anyone working creatively in putting together worship whether in a church environment or in public space. i have found doing the interviews incredibly inspiring. thanks to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for the book.
Like the nods to Pierson! … Respect!
Thanks for this work.
Meur ras ha Kres: much grace and peace (Cornish)
Marcus
congratulations, jonny, looks great!
looking forward to reading it
have reposted the book’s arrival announcement to advance awareness of both the book and the validity of innovative worship. thanks for writing it, jonny!
http://infuse.posterous.com/
http://infuse.blog.com/
http://members.worshiptraining.com/inspirit/
I just got back from New Zealand and spent 2 weeks with mark pierson. He was telling me about you, jonny, and this new book coming out.
I love your approach…exploring topics brought up in blog posts as well as interviewing others and their thoughts.
I’m currently reading an advanced copy of pierson’s book on curating and it rocks!
I’ll be ordering your book right away and can’t wait to dive in! This is much needed in the Church.
I’ve started teaching workshops on curation as a VJ and people are really responding to it and adapting this new language/approach in their conversations.
Thanks Jonny!
Hey, way cool site. I have been looking up a lot of websites that contain worship training and yours is pretty sweet. Thanks for that. http://www.virtualpraiseband.com/