Conceived of by music composer/producer and filmmaker Clifford White, The Spiritual Arts Foundation is the first of its kind: an organisation dedicated to promoting UK arts products, events, workshops, projects and other creative endeavours in which the creative producer strives to express their spiritual beliefs, feelings, thoughts and ideas through their chosen artistic medium, weather that be through art, music, theatre, film or literature. In addition to promoting creative producers and their works, we will be running a range of workshops and courses throughout the year to inspire and stimulate people to develop and enhance their own spiritual creative abilities. The Spiritual Arts Foundation has been created in answer to a call to highlight the sheer wealth of spiritually inspired creative talent that exists in the UK, and to stimulate, support and nurture it's growth as an artistic movement in it's own right.
"Spirituality has always been present in the arts. To acknowledge this, one only needs to glance at a few of the works of William Blake, Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky or Vincent van Gogh. Or hear a few bars of the music of Claude Debussy, Vivaldi or Vangelis. Or marvel at the wealth of books published by Hay House, Watkins Books and other established publishers. Perhaps your mind has wandered to the ethereal tones of Enya, or been beguiled by the hypnotic sound of Tubular Bells? Or perhaps you felt something mysterious and magical move through you when you watched the film 'What Dreams May Come', or the classic 'Heaven Can Wait'? Spirituality has been all around us in the arts for hundreds of years, yet many might prefer to pretend that it doesn't exist at all. To my knowledge, the art world has never formally acknowledged spirituality as an art movement in it's own right, and there are no organisations or associations I am aware of that properly represent it. It's astonishing to me that something like this has never been created before, but my personal mission is to ensure that spirituality is represented. Hence why I created The Spiritual Arts Foundation."
Art, music, film, theatre and literature are all explored by The Spiritual Arts Foundation. We seek out spiritual filmmakers who produce thought-provoking short films and features. We hunt for spiritual artists who paint the most exquisite pictures of paradisiacal worlds and higher beings beyond our own. We strain our ears to catch the subtle tones of spiritual musicians and composers who create the music of the spheres. And our quest to find those books and literary works that seek to illuminate and inspire is our passionate endeavour. We leave no stone unturned in our mission to reveal the true spiritual artistic talent that we know exists here in the United Kingdom.
"We already know there are so many people in the UK creating spiritual media, but the majority of them have no route to market. Apart from a handful of magazines that they might be able to convince to review them, there are pitifully few ways for artists to promote themselves, and this is especially true if they have a spiritual message to convey. It is so ironic that we live in a time of so called diversity, equity and inclusion, yet still the mention of spirituality results in exclusion, derision and mockery for many artists. One could almost argue that spirituality is one of the last (and yet one of the oldest) social taboos to be openly acknowledged, accepted and welcomed as a valuable part of our cultural heritage."
Indeed, as you can already read on the pages of this website, our artists are encouraged to express their own particular views on spirituality, whether those views agree with the consensus or not. We welcome all positive spiritual views at The Spiritual Arts Foundation, even if they might contradict with the status quo. And this is not the whole story either.
"Although some might not wish to admit it, the subject of spirituality crosses all religious borders. Whilst the specific tenets, practices and beliefs of many faiths differ, all religions generally agree that the meaning of spirituality is the same: a connection with the divine. This essentially means that The Spiritual Arts Foundation is able to represent all religions. A rare platform where all religions may have a voice in harmony. We sincerely hope to foster this opportunity: in time to welcome creative producers of all religious persuasions, and to encourage tolerance, discussion, and perhaps even collaboration. There can be no greater goal than that." - Clifford White.
