Be a Local

An Exciting Announcement from Inkwell

WE FINALLY HAVE an answer.

We’ve heard the longing through your poetry, art, essays, as well as your messages, feedback, and emailed questions:

Where can I find in-person creative community? Where can I share my work and grow in my craft? And maybe the biggest question: Is my city mythic, too?

For months, we’ve been building an answer, and today, we are thrilled to share it with you.

INKWELL LOCALS are a catalyst to form faithful creative groups in any place you live. They will take shape as grassroots gatherings of 4-10 people meeting in warm spaces: living rooms, cafes, diners, pubs, and bookshops that become neighborhood haunts of depth and truth.

You know your city best. You have friends who are driven by a similar creative spirit. You want to grow in faith and craft. You are ready to construct communities and spaces that create, publish, excel, and experience transcendence together.

Together, you can make your city mythic. It’s time for the myth to meet the map.

WE FIND OURSELVES here because of a unique cultural moment. The lack of support for creative Christian spaces and projects is palpable. Major streams that once watered the literary and artistic ecosystem of the American church seem to have dried up. Both budding artists and seasoned writers feel left to fend for themselves.

And yet, there’s an undeniable awakening to our core need for the arts and beauty—rooted in an ache for wonder that so many of us carry. In this pivotal time, Inkwell has received the powerful opportunity to invest deeply and richly into the ecosystem that we care so much about. We will plant seeds with care and intention, hoping to yield a harvest of new artistic possibilities.

Over the next few years, we hope to build something with long-term sustainability. We’re ready to try new things and to push the boundaries of media. We’re experimenting with video, commissioning animation, and want to co-create with you—recording podcasts, writing fiction, hosting workshops and events, and maybe even pouring fuel on the fire of that creative dream that’s been sizzling in the back of your mind for years. All the while, we remain dedicated to featuring and the voices of rising writers and supporting their work for the long haul.

While institutional resources go a long way, we know that cultural change comes from local pockets of friends alive with the Holy Spirit. We would be honored to support you and the art that bubbles up from the wellspring of your Inkwell Locals group—whether you’re creating in the expansive buzz of the big city or the rooted quietness of small town USA.

IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, we have come to a clear conviction that collaborative, embodied friendship is the only way forward for the art and faith movement—where meals are enjoyed, poetry is read, and there is laughter and music that echo through the rooms. Digital content can reach far and wide, but real culture is created and redeemed around the table.

A heartfelt thanks to each of you who has been with us along this journey. Inkwellians have been staunch advocates for the power of beauty in everyday life—keeping paperback novels on hand, starting bold new creative projects, and always keeping their eyes open for moments of awe. We’re filled with gratitude for the countless poets, writers, visual artists, and beauty-appreciators who helped us build the Old World of Ekstasis that has now blossomed into Inkwell.

To both new friends and familiar faces, come dine with us! Now is the time to bring Inkwell to your community in an embodied sense, letting it find expression in your specific locale. As a creative leader, you have the opportunity to shape the next era of art and faith.

We have a vision—maybe even a goal—of 1000 Inkwell Locals speaking to each other and cross-pollinating their creative energy. Let’s tell the story of the next generation. Will you help us build this New World together?

Be a Local.

---

How to Start Your Inkwell Local

Gather your friends.
Become a paid subscriber.
Download the Starter Pack.
We’ll see you on the inside.

---

Got questions? Send us a note over at inkwelllocals@gmail.com.