A new dawn over Phoenix

I had recently been thinking about the concept of empowering people to advocate for Branded through the arts. The other morning I had been unable to sleep with my mind in high ideation gear and lots on the heart and mind. Seeing the sky start to gain the faintest signs of light, I decided to drive down to Van Buren (infamous for prostitution) and watch the sun rise over the city. It was there, as I sat moved by the new dawn through the skyline and onto a previously dark Van Buren, that the thought first surfaced. Later that day at Lux (a local coffee shop and my second home and office) I scratched out some rough ideas, but as I am not an artist, they are pretty poor. It started out with one thought, turned into another and colmulated in a combination of the two. The first piece has a girl, a tear, 3 birds on a wire and the downtown skyline silhouetted on a still dark blue night sky, the second piece taken from the same perspective only the sun is rising, birds are taking flight and the girl is turning with her back facing the viewer walking away towards the light. The concept could then be integrated into our new website as the first picture along with the words Advocate through the Arts as a link on the main page, which once clicked fades into the second image depicting the "new dawn over Phoenix" before going to a webpage with ways to advocate through art, video, music, drama, etc. I approached a local artist that also works here at Lux with the idea and he was super supportive, and volunteered his time right away.

On a related note, one of the guys from Soma North put a video together to go along with the song "God of this City." I was rocked hard by this, especially when a series of shots from Van Buren flashed across the screan.

Today I sat in a meeting with representatives from the Governors office, lawers, former Vice Mayor, VICE squad, City Initiatives, and several key social workers and church leaders, to go over safehouse related issues. I am tearing up writing this. It was so amazing seeing collaboration taking place. I also was invited to be apart of a meeting of 15 of the most influential pastors concerning collaboration early next year. For any of you who have followed my thoughts and heart concerning churches working together towards seeking justice and poverty I can't even begin to express what the knowledge that this is begining to happen does to my soul.