Festival of Faith and Music Engages Pop Culture

Musicians, critics, journalists, artists and listeners are convening from March 30 - April 1 on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. for the eighth biennial Festival of Faith and Music (FFM).

The Festival attendees discuss and celebrate music that explores, in some significant ways, issues of faith.

This year’s performers include Julien Baker, whose debut album Sprained Ankle has garnered wide praise, well-known indie rocker David Bazan, and Jamila Woods, who issued her acclaimed debut album HEAVN for free on the streaming service SoundCloud.

Keynote speakers at FFM include Ann Powers from NPR Music, Jessica Hopper from MTV, and Katelyn Beaty, a 2006 Calvin graduate and the  author of A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home and the World.

Fifteen workshops will be given throughout the festival, as will academic panels on hip hop, folk, literature and music theory.

Since its formation in 1993, the college’s student activities office (SAO) has provided teaching context for the concerts and movies shown throughout the year at Calvin.

Discussions are offered around movies and concerts as a way of educating and engaging the audience And with its start in 2003, FFM has worked at providing this type of education and engagement in one weekend.

“We want to see where Christ is at work in pop culture. We want to graduate students who are not afraid of the world; who care for and love the world, fully knowing it’s twisted and being ruined by sin and that it’s our fault, but that we can be agents of renewal anyway,” said Ken Heffner, the director of FFM.

“If Christians care about the renewal of the whole creation, which is a central tenant of Calvin College, and that Christ is making all things new, pop culture matters.”

Heffner said that a primary goal of the weekend is for attendees to learn how to become good audience members. He said Calvin believes that an audience has a responsibility to actively engage with the art they’re experiencing, instead of passively taking it in.

“SAB [Student Activities Board] opened a door for me by creating a safe space to explore the goodness of art that isn't ‘Christian’ by label, encouraging me to ask difficult questions about why I love the things I love,” said junior Kendra Larsen, who serves as a member of the FFM committee.

“The festival gets us [students] to dialogue with people who may have different opinions or understandings of the world, pop culture, and faith.”

Although there is a history of Christians rejecting pop culture, Heffner says Calvin addresses this aspect of culture as a “square inch” of creation that Christ is very much concerned with.

Heffner says that non-Christian artists are often initially skeptical about coming to Calvin, but their mentality usually changes.

“For most non-Christian artists who play here, this is the first and only Christian college they’ll ever play at because the thing these bands dedicate their life to is, for the most part, mocked by Christians,” Heffner explained.

“We try to reverse their suspicion by honoring what they’re doing and taking care of them while they’re here, making sure to market them professionally, providing them an adequate crew, and by having conversation pieces with them."

To this treatment, artists are typically very appreciative and recommend Calvin to other artists. “Being taken seriously and having their craft honored and respected, knowing full well that we don’t necessarily agree with everything they do, is a positive experience for [these performers],” Heffner said.

“The festival gets us [students] to dialogue with people who may have different opinions or understandings of the world, pop culture, and faith,” said Kendra Larsen.

For a full list of festival speakers and performers, visit www.calvin.edu/go/ffm.