Activate: Schedule + Workshops + Artist Bios

Esther Lightcap Meek

BA Cedarville College; MA Western Kentucky University; PhD Temple University) is Professor of Philosophy emerita at Geneva College, in Western Pennsylvania. 

Esther contributes published essays and podcasts, leads workshops and classes, and speaks at churches, universities, schools and conferences. She lives in Steubenville, Ohio. Her website is www.estherlightcapmeek.com. Her most recent book is Being Seen: Philosophical Formation in the Welcome of Mothers and Friends (Cascade, 2025).

Andy Squyres

writer songwriter poet priest

Andy Squyres is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Santa Cruz, California but after moving east in the late 1990’s, he’s spent the last few decades carving songs out of the foothills of his North Carolina home. Heavily influenced by the poetics of Leonard Cohen, Squyres leans heavily into the lyrical tradition of artists like Bob Dylan, The National, and John Mark McMillan, having a passion for words that are equally worshipful and honest.

Thursday:

6:00–7:00pm: Conference Check-in
7:00pm: Kick-off and Liturgy for an Arts Conference with Emma Stephens, MFA
Opening Concert with Andy Squyres
8:30–9:30pm: Post-concert mixer (with food) - Mercy Trio jazz band

Friday:

8:00am: Morning gathering – coffee/breakfast and mixing
9:30am Keynote: Esther Meek, PhD: For the Makers: A Philosophy of Welcome and Communion with the Real
11:00am: Break-out #1
· Esther Meek, PhD - The Structure of Artful Discovery
· Andy Squyres songwriting workshop
· Premier Arts Collective therapeutic arts experience - Fully Loved
· Edwina Shannon - Using Letters for Expression
· Poets Live open mic/Mercy Trio jazz band
· Sandra Bowden - Watanabe Tour or Talk (TBD)
· Chelsea Fraser - How Can the Church Serve Artists?
· Gabby Prairie - Storytelling Through Movement
· Virginia Russo - Windows and Overlaps: Everything is a Relic, an Icon, or Both
· Anna Brown - Where Meaning Matters–Theatre as Relationship
· Jay Bopp, MFA - Finding Your Place in the Church as an Artist
· Erin Naler, PhD - Risk-Taking for Cowards
· Emma Stephens, MFA - Hallowed Hometowns: Building Poems from Mundane Memories
· Michelle Radford, MFA - Mother-Maker: May I?
· Paul Radford, PhD - Bread Art

12:30pm: Lunch catered on-site for the whole conference
1:30pm: Visio Divina – Lewis Carl
2:15pm: Break-out #2

· Esther Meek, PhD - Your First Welcome and Natal Philosophical Formation: The Mother’s Smile.
· Andy Squyres songwriting workshop
· Premier Arts Collective therapeutic arts experience - Fully Loved
· Edwina Shannon - Using Letters for Expression
· Poets Live open mic/Mercy Trio jazz band
· Sandra Bowden - Watanabe Tour or Talk (TBD)
· Chelsea Fraser - How Can the Church Serve Artists?
· Gabby Prairie - Storytelling Through Movement
· Virginia Russo - Windows and Overlaps: Everything is a Relic, an Icon, or Both
· Anna Brown - Where Meaning Matters–Theatre as Relationship
· Jay Bopp, MFA - Finding Your Place in the Church as an Artist
· Erin Naler, PhD - Risk-Taking for Cowards
· Emma Stephens, MFA - Hallowed Hometowns: Building Poems from Mundane Memories
· Michelle Radford, MFA - Mother-Maker: May I?
· Paul Radford, PhD - Sweet Pastries

3:30pm: Final merch/mixer/break
4:00pm: Closing worship (Andy Squyres) Examen – Erin Naler, PhD
5:00pm: End of Conference Dinner: On your own in the downtown area

Saturday:

Various Field trips (details TBD)
Harrison Brooke - Improv Premier Arts Collective - Triune Mercy Center Art Room Porch Pairing: Activating Ecological Hospitality - Aeryn McMullin & Michelle Grover Brandon Fellows at GCCA Tours Lenz Gallery Tour - Docent or Sandra Bowden (TBD) St. John of the Ladder Icon Tour Creative Co-Working at The Intersection

12:00pm: End of extended Conference