About us
ARTS+ was started by leaders of Christian art initiatives who recognize the importance of being connected. It comprises a group of visionary arts advocates and leaders who collaborate in order to catalyze forward progress in the arts landscape across Europe and beyond.
Inspired by “Hope for Europe,” national round tables were formed, first in Switzerland. In 2009 the European Arts Summit at Schloss Mittersill hastened an expansion of the European-wide network and a sharpening of the vision.
The ARTS+ network and vision continues to expand across Europe and beyond focusing on the four spheres of influence: Church and Mission, Artists, Academy, and the Marketplace.
Above all we are a relational group of arts visionary leaders who are intentionally trans-denominational and open for trans-cultural connections. Embracing common core values, we are unified in our desire to see God glorified in the Church life, educational endeavors, the public square, and mission initiatives.
MISSION
ARTS+ is a network of Christian art initiatives which enables Regional, National, Continental and Global Round Tables for the purpose of information exchange, mutual encouragement, and co-operation.
“The intelligent public is [...] waiting to hear from art what it does not hear from theology, philosophy, social theory, and what it cannot hear from pure science. Out of the struggle at the center has come an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are, and what this life is for."
(Saul Bellow, Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, 1976)
MODUS OPERANDI
The focus of ARTS+ is to act as a catalyst in the formation and nurturing of Regional, National, Continental and Global Round Tables. These comprise Christian faith-based art initiatives across all art forms and denominational borders, who are active in art education, mentoring of artists, art & church projects, media, missions, etc.
The ARTS+ has gathered together over the last 16 years in a different countries across Europe, with the aim of encouraging the ongoing formation of National Round Tables. This has resulted in synergistic collaborations in the fields of Church & Mission, Marketplace, Academy, Artist’s Mentoring, and Creative Mission Strategies, and the development and expansion of Round Tables from the Regional and National reach to a Continental and Global reach.
ROUND TABLES | INTRODUCTION
Based on the pan-European model, the development and formation of Arts Round Tables at Regional, National, Continental and Global levels is a core activity. ARTS+ recognises the importance of bringing arts leaders together for mutual awareness, encouragement, prayer, and potential collaboration.
Round Tables are for key people who both work and network in the 4 spheres of influence within ARTS+:
Artists, Academy, Church & Mission, and Marketplace. Round Tables help foster connection and dialogue for networkers, initiators, artists, creatives, pastors, educators and visionaries (e.g. artists with a vision of connection, church leaders with influence etc.)
Find a list of the current Round Tables here.
CATEGORIES
MEET THE TEAM
Executive Leadership Team
(ExecLT)
John Baker
(UK)
John organised the European Arts Summit 2009 in partnership with Beat Rink, Colin Harbinson and Jim Mills. Since then he has organised all the Annual Meetings of Arts+Europe and pursued, with the Leadership Team, the formation of RoundTables of Artists in various European countries. He and his wife, Heather are members of The Royal Academy of Art in London and are avid Gallery visitors wherever they travel. John pursues photography as an artistic outlet. He is a Board member of QVI.
Dr Jill Ford
(UK)
Arts Programme Leader and Lecturer at All Nations and Strategic Global Arts Networker at ARTS+/WEA since September 2022. Jill has a background in music, theatre and performing arts and experience in teaching, performing, conducting, directing and orchestral playing. She has designed and developed the Arts modules for the All Nations curriculum at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has introduced a variety of creative projects and events at the college, including multicultural worship. Jill has recently completed a Doctorate in Worship Studies at the Robert Webber Institute in Jacksonville, Florida.
Dr Jim Mills
(BE)
Dr. Jim Mills along with his wife Anne oversee the arts network of Creative Arts Europe. Jim chairs the USA non-profit Creative Missions Int’l (CMI) and is an ordained minister. He obtained His Doctor of Ministry in Intercultural Studies in Scotland & the USA in 2012 focusing on a Christian world-View and the arts.
Jim currently serves as an adjunct professor for Visible Music College & Störling Conservatory of Dance in the USA.
Beat Rink
(CH)
Beat has founded with his wife Airi, “Crescendo International” and has lead this movement since 1985. He is a theologian and ordained pastor of the Swiss Reformed church and has also a M.A. in literature and history. He has written several books and also his own poetry. He is president of ARTS+ Switzerland.
Verena Schnitzhofer
(AT)
Admin Person for Arts+Europe. Verena works as Executive Assistant for the Quo Vadis Institute
(Salzburg, Austria) which inspires and connects thought leaders in the guilds of e.g. Arts, Healthcare, Business and Religion to rethink and shape the future of Europe. Since 2019 Verena is part of the Austrian RT Leadership team.
Krisztina Tarjányi
(HU)
Actress, Leader of the Sostenuto Department of the Crescendo Summer Institute, works with Crescendo International and Crescendo Hungary.
Since 2020 Krisztina is coordinating the RT Hungary.
Steve Thrall
(FR)
Pastor with a heart for artists. Steve is the former director of the Pavé d’Orsay arts space in Paris.
He also serves as an adjunct professor at two universities and along with his wife Miki is running an Artists Retreat Centre in Normandy.
Zdravka
Samsonova-Stefanova
(BG)
Founder and director of “Ellion Arts” – Christian artist organization for culture and intercultural dialog in Bulgaria. Zdravka is Art-historian, curator of fine art exhibitions and manager of art events and art festivals.
Since 2022 she coordinates
the RT Bulgaria.
Advisory Board
Dianne Collard
(USA)
Dianne serves as the Europe Director for Artists in Christian Testimony International. She is also the Founder/Director of ArtsCharlotte in the U.S.
She is an international speaker and the author of “I Choose to Forgive.”, which is available in eleven European languages.
Bill Drake
(USA)
Bill serves as the International Director of Catalytic Ministries for Operation Mobilization.
Charles Kelley
(USA/Latvia)
Charles is a Painter and President Emeritus and Founder of Bridge Builders International.
Leen La Rivière
(NL)
Chairman Christian Artists, author of 28 books about the arts and faith. Founder of The Continental Singers groups in Europe; Speaker; Lector of the Masterclass Cultural Leadership; Chairman of the national music council.
I N L O V I N G M E M O R Y
+ Colin Harbinson
(CAN)
1946 - 2025
Colin Harbinson was the international director of StoneWorks - a global arts initiative for cultural restoration, and the recovery of the imagination in the life and mission of the Church.
Associates
Heather Baker
(UK)
Wife of John Baker who assists him in his Arts+ organising and hosting.
She was part of the ARTS+ Extended Leadership Team in the capacity of "Support team"
Emilee Irwin
(USA/FR)
Emilee served as missionary with Greater Europe Mission (GEM) in Paris, France from 2017-2025. She also was responsible for GEM’s Arts Impact Zone Leaders, forming partnerships and providing resources for the mission’s artists and musicians serving across Europe. Together with her husband she was involved in local arts ministry and in church planting. She was part of the ARTS+ Extended Leadership team until 2025.
Astrid Künzler
(CH)
Performance Artist, Choreographer, Cultural Worker. Astrid is the Vize-President of Arts+Switzerland. She was part of the ARTS+ Extended Leadership team until 2025.
Natalie Meeks
(USA/LV)
President / CEO of Bridge Builders International.
Natalie is also a freelance writer, she has penned articles about ministries all over the world, loves the classics (secular and spiritual) and enjoys reading and writing poetry.
Tamás Tarjányi
(HU)
Opera singer and general director of the Crescendo Summer Institute, Hungary. Works with Crescendo International and Crescendo Hungary. He was part of the ARTS+ Extended Leadership team until 2025 in the capacity of "Support team".
Amy Williams
(HU)
Amy is a dancer and a theologian who is passionate about connecting artists and the church. Originally from the USA she now lives in Budapest representing the Inspiro Arts Alliance (formerly OMArts) in Europe. Amy was part of the ARTS+ Executive Leadership team until the end of 2024.