UIW Receives $1.25 Million Grant to Promote Children’s Faith Through Innovative Creative Arts Program

“Artful Worship” Program Seeks to Inspire New Generation In Catholic Faith

San Antonio – October 29, 2024 – The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is proud to announce that it has received a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant will be used over the next five years to fund the new, innovative creative arts program Artful Worship: Inspiring Children’s Faith Through the Catholic Imagination. The program aims to create enlivening and contemplative programming that engages children in prayer and worship through the arts.

PHOTO CAPTION: Dr. LuElla D’Amico/UIW Associate Professor of English

Artful Worship is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative, a national initiative designed to help Christian congregations more fully and intentionally engage children in intergenerational corporate worship and prayer practices.

“When I saw the Lilly Endowment call for the Initiative, I knew I wanted UIW to apply,” says Dr. LuElla D’Amico, UIW associate professor of English. “I’ve long dreamt about bringing a children’s art program here on campus that could deepen the faith of our students and our local community. I believe deeply in Incarnate Word’s Mission to develop the whole person, and I see our commitment to faith and the liberal arts as uniquely merging in this initiative. Through our faculty in English, theology, arts, music and education, we will be able to nurture and form the Catholic imagination in our student body and local community in unique and exciting ways.”

In the Artful Worship program, during the academic year, UIW students will take classes centered on the Catholic imagination, distilling what they learn to children by taking ministry arts programming to parishes and parochial schools in the San Antonio Archdiocese. Some of the collaborative activities UIW students will engage in include: spiritual journaling, where children reflect on their faith journeys through writing and drawing; literature and poetry, where children can read and write about the lives of Saints and connect literature with spiritual truths; theatrical performances, where they bring stories from the Catholic tradition and scripture to life on stage; visual arts, where they can create religious art inspired by our South Texas region; and music, where they can express their faith through song.

UIW will also host a week-long summer arts camp open to children ages 5-7 in the diocese called Summer Sanctuary. A hallmark of this innovative program, this week of formation aims to deepen children’s relationship with their faith. Children will reflect and become inspired by the art, beauty and rich Catholic tradition that is distinctive to San Antonio and South Texas.

PHOTO CAPTION: Dr. Sandra Guzman-Foster/Director, UIW Center for Teaching and Learning

“This initiative embodies the Mission of UIW by blending faith, education and community in a way that nurtures both the spiritual and intellectual growth of our children,” says Dr. Sandra Guzman-Foster, director in the UIW Center for Teaching & Learning. “Through the arts and culturally grounded worship practices, we are offering young people a unique opportunity to deepen their understanding of Catholicism while staying rooted in the vibrant traditions of South Texas. We believe this program will help foster compassionate, thoughtful leaders who live out the values of UIW in every aspect of their lives.”

“Recently, I’ve begun focusing my research on reading children’s literature through the Catholic lens, and I can’t wait to give some of this love I have for merging the arts and Catholic faith back to the children in our San Antonio diocese,” adds D’Amico. “I am beyond grateful to Lilly Endowment for the opportunity to serve children in our community through this initiative. I believe we can help our San Antonio children have the Catholic faith revealed to them in new, emotionally real ways that only the arts can inspire, and I can’t wait to begin this project on our campus.”

UIW is one of 91 organizations funded through the latest round of Lilly Endowment’s initiative. They represent and serve congregations in a broad spectrum of Christian traditions, including Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical, Orthodox, Anabaptist and Pentecostal faith communities. Several organizations are rooted in Black Church and Hispanic and Asian American Christian traditions.

“Congregational worship and prayer play a critical role in the spiritual growth of children and offer settings for children to acquire the language of faith, learn their faithful traditions and experience the love of God as part of a supportive community,” says Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. ”These programs will help congregations give greater attention to children and how they can more intentionally nurture the faith of children, as well as adults, through worship and prayer.”

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. The principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.