Final preparations are underway for the 2012 Festival of Faiths, which will take place November 14-18 at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage (1701 W. Muhammad Ali Boulevard, Louisville, Kentucky). The theme for this year’s Festival of Faiths is Sacred Fire: Light of Compassion. Our Festival programs will direct attention to the sacred fire of compassion that enriches our lives and motivates us to be good stewards in our congregations, workplaces, environment, schools and our neighborhoods.

Calling All Artists
To illustrate the Festival’s theme and enhance the experience for Festival attendees, we are inviting local artists, congregations and community interest groups to contribute to a Shrines of Compassion exhibit, which will be centrally located at the Festival venue.

Shrines of Compassion will symbolize the artists’ personal passions, faiths’ way to express compassion (for example: prophets, saints or divine beings), compassion expressed in ways of ordinary life and how compassion personally inspires and illuminates us. They will also focus on the call to answer social justice issues among people or groups that the shrine artists admire and feature fire as a symbol of compassion.

Festival of Faiths Shrines of Compassion spaces are 15 inches wide and 11 inches deep. The shrines themselves can stand between 2 feet and 6 feet in height and must be free-standing (nothing affixed to wall behind the shrine).

See the Exhibit Space
On Thursday, October 11th, the Shrines of Compassion exhibit space will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. Potential and committed artists who wish to see the exhibit space are welcome to drop by during those hours. Festival of Faiths staff and the curator of the Shrines of Compassion exhibit will be present to answer your questions.

Deadline and Registration
The deadline for artists to make a commitment to displaying a Shrine of Compassion at the 2012 Festival of Faiths is MONDAY OCTOBER 15. Although the shrine itself does not have to be complete at that time, artists must provide a brief description of what the shrine will feature.

For questions and to make a commitment, call the Festival of Faiths at (502) 583-3100 or email festivaloffaiths@interfaithrelations.org.