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Beauty matters and so do those who create it
We're transforming Birmingham by cultivating its creative community
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We believe in restoration, reconciliation, and redemption. We believe beauty is what will transform the world. We believe in cultivating Birmingham's creative community so our city will flourish.
For Artists
“Being an artist can be a lonely occupation. InSpero is an empowering tool. It’s a place to come be encouraged and inspired.”
Adam Wright, Founder, Act of Congress
You may feel alone or discouraged, and wonder if your work matters. InSpero nurtures artists and artisans by creating opportunities to connect and collaborate in community. We need you, your work, and your voice for the good of our city.
For Participants
“InSpero’s artful ways of practicing hospitality and community are so needed, and I can only hope others will catch the vision they embody so winsomely.”
Allen Levi, Singer-songwriter
When we fail to slow down and enjoy beauty, life can lose its meaning and we end up disconnected from ourselves and others. InSpero organizes gatherings to inspire people through music, hospitality, story, and art.
For Birmingham
“Artists are prophets who remind us of beauty, truth, and goodness in a broken world. When I hear those words, I think of InSpero's impact on Birmingham. Our artists remind us all that beauty matters."
Melissa Loudon
We believe in Birmingham. Since our first event in 2013 to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, we have empowered creative community to help bring hope and healing to our city.
For the Faith Community
“InSpero communicates the importance of the arts by encouraging local artists, facilitating conversations between pastors and artists, and bringing in speakers to help our community grapple with how we can reclaim beauty and the arts for the church.”
Gisela Kreglinger, PhD, Author and Theologian
InSpero provides a bridge for the church to reach out to the creative community to better serve our city. We also bring beauty into the church through collaborations with artists and musicians.
For Pastors
“InSpero offers a natural bridge for churches to reach out to artists in authentic mutual relationships where we seek the good of our city together.”
Joel Brooks, Pastor, Redeemer Community Church
InSpero sees pastors as artists and prophets, sharing their gifts and voices for the good of our churches and city. We help support and encourage you to stay in your story and calling and provide ways for you reach out to the creative community.
For Donors
“InSpero’s thoughtfully planned and well-executed events always leave me thirsty for more. I’m reminded that my story matters and to persevere in my vocation as an artist and employer of artists. My heart is full and enlarged for the greater good of my city."
Susan Gordon, Founder, Susan Gordon Pottery
We need you to join us in this beautiful story of redemption, restoration, and reconciliation. We believe in the long-lasting fruit which comes from authentic relationships and small things done slowly over long periods of time. Believe with us, for the good of our city.
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InSpero loves to gather people together in events of beauty, hospitality, art, music, stories, food, and hope. Sign up to get updates in your inbox, and download the calendar so you know what's coming up.
Upcoming Events
December 5, 2024
South Highland Presbyterian Church is excited to partner with InSpero to welcome the broader community of churches and friends to sink into the Advent season together. Immanuel is a Christmas concert of folk-pop songs, with nine originals and one classic carol retelling the Christmas story through the perspective of the angels and people who were there. Melanie will be accompanied by a live band with musicians from both Nashville and New York.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
Dec 5, 2024
South Highland Presbyterian Church is excited to partner with InSpero to welcome the broader community of churches and friends to sink into the Advent season together. Immanuel is a Christmas concert of folk-pop songs, with nine originals and one classic carol retelling the Christmas story through the perspective of the angels and people who were there. Melanie will be accompanied by a live band with musicians from both Nashville and New York.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
Join us →
Dec 5, 2024
South Highland Presbyterian Church is excited to partner with InSpero to welcome the broader community of churches and friends to sink into the Advent season together. Immanuel is a Christmas concert of folk-pop songs, with nine originals and one classic carol retelling the Christmas story through the perspective of the angels and people who were there. Melanie will be accompanied by a live band with musicians from both Nashville and New York.
Learn more about Beauty for Ashes here.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
Get tickets →
Past Events
February 23, 2022
Please join us for a rich night of story, song, and community set inside the historic Cahaba Pumping Station (circa 1887) featuring beloved master storytellers and folk artists: Mandi Mapes and Mo Leverett .
We are thrilled to offer such an honest offering--a night filled with authentic stories of brokenness, loss, longing, death, resurrection, and hope.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
February 23, 2022
Please join us for a rich night of story, song, and community set inside the historic Cahaba Pumping Station (circa 1887) featuring beloved master storytellers and folk artists: Mandi Mapes and Mo Leverett .
We are thrilled to offer such an honest offering--a night filled with authentic stories of brokenness, loss, longing, death, resurrection, and hope.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
Learn More →
October 18, 2021
We're excited to feast in community and listen in as musicians Pierce Pettis and Byron Thomas lead us into their unique stories and sounds. Watch artists around the greenhouse create LIVE in response to the music.– all paintings will be up for auction that night! Artists creating live include Amy Stone, Michael Carpenter, Amhad Austin, Amanda Blake, Myrna Gates, Catie Radney, Vaughn Pursell, & Jared Knox. Dinner included by Little Donkey – drinks, wine, and beer available.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
October 18, 2021
We're excited to feast in community and listen in as musicians Pierce Pettis and Byron Thomas lead us into their unique stories and sounds. Watch artists around the greenhouse create LIVE in response to the music.– all paintings will be up for auction that night! Artists creating live include Amy Stone, Michael Carpenter, Amhad Austin, Amanda Blake, Myrna Gates, Catie Radney, Vaughn Pursell, & Jared Knox. Dinner included by Little Donkey – drinks, wine, and beer available.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
Learn More →
September 30, 2021
We're thrilled to have our dear friend and singer/songwriter Sandra McCracken with us for "such a time as this." We believe that beauty and radical hospitality and generous grace without agenda can help break down walls, build bridges, and bring hope and healing to our city. In respect of Covid, this event is in an open-air garage theatre and we are limiting attendance. We recommend masks for those unvaccinated. There will be beer, wine, and desserts available.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
September 30, 2021
We're thrilled to have our dear friend and singer/songwriter Sandra McCracken with us for "such a time as this." We believe that beauty and radical hospitality and generous grace without agenda can help break down walls, build bridges, and bring hope and healing to our city. In respect of Covid, this event is in an open-air garage theatre and we are limiting attendance. We recommend masks for those unvaccinated. There will be beer, wine, and desserts available.
Check Back Soon
Sold Out
Learn More →
“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving" (Madeleine L’Engle).
November 20, 2023
Mary Madeline Schumpert reflects on Inspero's Creatives Connect at Exvoto in Mountain Brook.
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February 2, 2023
Billy Ivey reflects on Inspero's 2023 Vision Retreat at Storybrooke Lodge.
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January 21, 2023
Artists and visionaries from Birmingham and Nashville gathered at Storybrooke Lodge January 2023 for InSpero's annual vision retreat. This year Stephen Roach of Makers & Mystics spoke on "Restoring the Heart of the Artist."
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November 9, 2022
Board member and artist entrepreneur Lucy Farmer reflects on her visit to the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama.
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September 29, 2022
Sara Groves and Dylan Spencer in conversation about how creativity and beauty change the world.
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June 27, 2022
It was at Rivendell the hobbits think through the vocation they have been given, carefully working out the who and what and where of the odyssey that will be theirs. But integral to all that they were, and to all that they would need to be, was the table at Rivendell, a place for the best conversations and the best food and the best drink — simply said, a wonder of wonders." Steve Garber
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April 19, 2022
The never-ending hope of Easter, Writer Andrew Shaughnessy shares reflections on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and why hope and beauty matter. "We hope because we know a day is coming when, to paraphrase Sam in The Lord of the Rings, “everything sad will come untrue,” when our Creator King will dry every tear and bind up the broken hearts and restore the sundered cities and turn the world upside down."
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February 7, 2022
Photographer and writer Erin Nolen, shares her reflections on our winter retreat.
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December 29, 2021
Emily Thayer, a writer and baker, invites weary people into a life of rest.
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August 11, 2021
Amanda Blake, InSpero Advisory Council member, artist, entrepreneur, advocate, and teacher speaks about her experiences as an educator and muralist.
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July 14, 2021
Bruce Herman shares his thoughts on the role of perspective and self-forgetfulness in relationships.
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July 7, 2021
Melodi Lewis, our summer intern, sat down with songwriter and storyteller Taylor Leonhardt about the power of keeping a tender and open heart in storytelling.
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June 17, 2021
We are so excited to introduce our summer intern, Melodi Lewis.
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June 2, 2021
We were stirred by Jonathan's discussion of territories vs. hierarchies as it relates to artists and writers. As a writer himself, he encourages creators to push past the tendency to compare and tend to their own journeys as creators.
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May 14, 2021
A poem written by InSpero Board Member and author Marjean Brooks in honor of her beloved brother and artist.
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May 6, 2021
Author and spiritual director Charlotte Donlon writes about how art will help us heal from our pandemic loneliness.
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April 21, 2021
Watch short documentary of E. Bruce Phillips, Jr. as he shares his perspective on art and life in Birmingham. Produced by Bruce Nix, filmmaker with Under Cover Entertainment
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April 9, 2021
Allen Levi and Andy Gullahorn shared their love of story, their friendship, their music and much laughter on March 5, 2021.
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December 21, 2020
Matt Redmond, counselor, author, and pastor shares why he believes as artists are in a unique place to help us break through the darkness and see what's real and see what's ahead.
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November 10, 2020
Melissa Loudon reflects on why "Hamilton" made her realize why beauty matters so much. . . . especially now.
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July 17, 2020
Gina Hurry and InSpero were featured in the July edition of Birmingham's B Metro magazine.
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June 1, 2020
As InSpero acknowledges the deep racial wounds of our city, our posture is one of kneeling, not standing.
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April 15, 2020
Recent events before Covid. Resources for artists during COVID-19.
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February 6, 2020
Last year, Gina and Nancy boldly asked you to join us in sustaining InSpero in this year of growth and opportunity.
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September 25, 2019
A few images from our amazing sold-out 5th annual Magic City Storytellers at the Clubhouse on Highland
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May 20, 2019
InSpero cares deeply about beauty and those who create it.
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February 26, 2019
From a contemplative retreat to begin the Lent Season to an intimate evening with David Wilcox and Andy Gullahorn followed by a songwriters' workshop to our annual Magic City Storyteller evening, there's something special coming up.
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December 7, 2018
Preview of David Wilcox, highlights of Advent retreat
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October 10, 2018
InSpero packed its fifth birthday celebration on September 14.
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August 7, 2018
Gina attended a ]ymposium given by artist Mako Fujimura and InSpero board member Dr. Steven Garber in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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June 9, 2018
Andy Gullahorn, amazing singer/songwriter from Nashville, connected with a group of InSpero’s creatives this week
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May 15, 2018
InSpero's Fourth Annual Magic City Storytellers is just a month away on Thursday, June 14.
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March 16, 2018
InSpero invites you to see the works from thirty Birmingham area artists who have created art in response to the Victor Hugo quote "Those Who Do Not Weep Do Not See."
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February 2, 2018
We invite the creative community of visual artists, artisans, visionaries, and those who love our city to join us to discuss and create around Victor Hugo's quote "Those who do not weep do not see."
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December 28, 2017
HOW YOUR CONTRIBUTION HELPS FULFILL OUR VISION FOR BIRMINGHAM: InSpero believes in the power of creative community to help bring beauty, hope, and healing to our city and churches.
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September 25, 2017
As InSpero celebrates its fourth anniversary, Gina and I look back in amazement and gratitude.
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May 18, 2017
Make room for an evening of stories and songs at the Clubhouse on Highland at InSpero's Third Annual Magic City Storytellers.
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April 27, 2017
Stories give us a thread of hope that there’s more to come and we can survive.
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February 20, 2017
Heaven has been described as: "The regions where there is only life and therefore all that is not music is silence.” Lent retreat and Thy Love Inspires
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November 23, 2016
Before the holidays hustle you away, slow down this Sunday, November 27 at Creation Waits
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November 13, 2016
Dr. Gisela Kreglinger, a German theologian raised on a vineyard invites us to come to our senses.
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November 3, 2016
InSpero’s fourth annual Creation Waits invites you to go from the hustle of the holidays to the wonder of what the Christmas season truly means.
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October 11, 2016
Come experience the City Beautiful / Church Beautiful events with Steve Garber and Andi Ashworth
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September 23, 2016
Wellon was so gracious to allow us to use her art for the invitation for InSpero’s October events featuring Steve Garber and Andi Ashworth.
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September 3, 2016
Matt has been a friend a partner of InSpero’s for about two years.
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August 16, 2016
We met Connie through InSpero's Thy Love Inspires events.
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July 15, 2016
Charity Ponter has been connected to InSpero for about three years.
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July 9, 2016
This April, InSpero hosted a Pastor/Artist Dinner at Feast & Forest. Preview of other events
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July 1, 2016
InSpero is delighted to highlight Corey Nolen. Corey is a Birmingham-based photographer and musician.
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May 9, 2016
“Entertainment” gets a bad rap when confused with “amusement.” Amusement is literally activity done “without the Muses” — that is, mindlessly.
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April 8, 2016
A small gathering of musicians, potters, painters, writers, and other artists met with Sandra McCracken
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January 20, 2016
"Yet whatever else it may be, Lent should never be morose—" Shauna Niequest, Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter
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January 19, 2016
Everyone loves a good mystery. Words from Marjean Brooks
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November 18, 2015
Hundreds of people from around the city enjoyed great art, music, food and conversations at InSpero's Steel City Makers 5 Man Show
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October 19, 2015
Birmingham was birthed out of steel. Come to see 5 artists
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October 18, 2015
These five artists use different media, come from different backgrounds, and stir different responses. But together, they show a glimpse of what Birmingham is and will be.
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September 22, 2015
I'm speaking on "Does Beauty Matter?" at Q Commons Thursday, September 24
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September 10, 2015
"For a good life, knowing must become doing..." Steven Garber, board member of InSpero, in his book "Visions of Vocation."
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June 4, 2015
Two InSpero events last month show the power of creative collaboration to bring hope and beauty to our city and churches.
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May 5, 2015
InSpero shares the vision of Madeleine L'Engle of "showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."
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February 24, 2015
InSpero believes when creative community flourishes, the city will flourish.
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February 16, 2015
That question is the heartbeat of InSpero.
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January 19, 2015
“The forces that threaten to negate life must be challenged by courage, which is the power of life to affirm itself in spite of life’s ambiguities.
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December 30, 2014
"Disturb us, Lord when we are too pleased with ourselves..."
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December 4, 2014
As a native Floridian, the experience of seasons as a part of the rhythm of life did not come until my college years.
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November 25, 2014
Advent is the waiting for someone and something of extreme importance. That someone is not Santa Claus and that something is not more “stuff” under a Christmas tree or an elf on a shelf.
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November 12, 2014
InSpero will introduce you to each of our amazing Board of Advisors. We begin with Marjean Brooks, co-author of "The Way of Grace."
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October 7, 2014
“More than we could imagine” That’s what we keep saying as we look back on our first “official” year.
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June 9, 2014
My friends have a luscious confederate jasmine framing their front door.
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May 21, 2014
I find humor in a lot of things...
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May 16, 2014
I begin by saying I'm glad there is Someone bigger than me to blame for this Conversation I'm inviting you into.
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May 5, 2014
InSpero hosted Kate Harris at a lunch where she spoke on calling and creativity.
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April 17, 2014
Lent Day 39, Good Friday, April 18
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We are privileged for the wisdom, vision, leadership, and prayers of our Board of Directors. They guide, support, and advocate for InSpero, and hold us true to our mission to bring hope and healing to Birmingham through nurturing creative community.
Our Advisory Council shares InSpero’s vision to help Birmingham thrive through helping its creative community flourish. They advocate, endorse, support, offer insight, and invite others to work with us for the good of our city, our creative community, and our local churches.
InSpero cultivates hope and meaning for artists, churches, and the people of Birmingham by caring for our creatives and organizing opportunities for them to share their beautiful gifts with our city. Any questions? Please reach out to nancy@inspero.org.
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