UPDATE on Partners:
Arts in Sacred Places Success Story (continued)
At the most recent Open House in May, each spacesharing partner was invited to stand before the
congregation and speak about his or her mission,
vision, and values. What happened instead was an
outpouring of gratitude from tenants toward the
church. As Reverend Kinsey described it, “The artists
were so complimentary of the space and so thankful for
having the space – so thankful for their relationship
with us.”
This emerging sense of community and kinship
between the artists and the congregation has inspired
a new work by Francesca Peppiatt, Artistic Director of
Stockyards Theatre Project (STP). In addition to using
space at Unity for performances by STP, Peppiatt is
developing site-specific work that would dramatize the
history of the congregation.
Unity has origins as a storefront church. In 1905,
members of the congregation began to gather in a
commercial building six blocks from the church’s
current location. In 1917, the church consecrated its
new home, a neo-gothic building designed by Ivar
Viehe-Naess, a Norwegian graduate of the Chicago
School of Architecture. By 1920, the seeds of the
congregation’s relationship with the arts had already
taken root: Unity Players was launched, and the
company has been in residence at the church ever
since. As the congregation approaches the celebration
of a century in its building, Peppiatt’s play will tell the
story of the congregation and its community, using the
building as a character. The audience will move through
the spaces of the church, learning Unity’s heritage as
they explore the church’s physical plant.
Reverend Kinsey describes the evolution in thinking
about space sharing at the church in this way: “When
we started, we thought it was just about money. But it is
about much more. We see now how this work is integral
to our mission, to our outreach to the community.
We’ve gotten to the point where we recognize that
we need to be intentional. We need to find the right
group, the right fit for the congregation and for the
community.” Both Reverend Kinsey and Amy Wood,
Space Sharing Marketing Manager at Unity, credit
13 • Sacred Places • www.sacredplaces.org • Spring 2013
At Unity Lutheran in Chicago, IL, Open House is a quarterly
event that introduces the congregation to the artists and
nonprofits that use space in the building.
the AiSP training and Partners as important steps for
getting to where they are. “Our building has new life.
Our congregation has new life. And it’s spreading out
into the community, too, [reaching] all of these artists,
new people, and new projects. Partners has been such a
catalyst for us.”
With the knowledge gained from the AiSP training,
growing word-of-mouth referrals, and a steady
stream of interest in the church, Unity’s leadership
is beginning a stra Y