I want to see more people making more things for more good purposes more people asking more people to make more things for more good purposes more lasting traditions of community-focused healing creativity in my wake
One sentence summary of my job: I help communities use their arts to solve their problems.
My core life project is promoting arts-energized, communication-focused appreciative inquiry for better futures. My current spheres of engagement are expressive arts therapies (individual, small group); Christian mission (cross-cultural spread of Christian faith); and Community development (thriving, shalom, health).
I create in genres like song (pop, blues, soul); spoken word; Schräg; writing (cultural observation story, scholarship, How-to Guides); anchor beads; musical romance (jazz standards, comedy); Powerpoint; lecture
My main contributions to human thought
An explanation of the kinds of interaction between novel and known elements of creative action that result in thriving traditions – the infrastructure dance. DjeDje; Sanneh; Titon & Pettan.
A scalable way to engage with any community that results in people drawing on their arts to improve their lives. Creating Local Arts Together (CLAT), Make Arts for Life. Krabill.
Research and application seamlessly integrated into one discipline: ethnoarts.
Nuanced case for reengagement with representatives of longer traditions. Titon & Pettan.
My current community foci are people affected by Huntington's Disease; ethnolinguistic minorities; missionaries, missional Christians; ethnomusicologists; marriages and families; unreconciled races
My life values include rigorous thought; humor, wit; Big Ideas in Practice; protect, nurture the small, weak; persistence – aspire to long obediences in the same direction; unwavering, flexible, beautiful orthodoxy; purposeful creativity; risk when right; forthrightness; loyalty, assume goodwill in others; save some for later (Heaven Now Index)
My theological foci, always practical, include Heaven, kingdom of Heaven; Revelation 5 | 21; creation; imagination; incarnation, kenosis; reconciliation; worship; spiritual formation; doubt
Some relevant literature
Schrag, Brian. 2016. “Music in the Newer Churches.” In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Christianity, edited by Lamin Sanneh and Michael McClymond, 359-367. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell.
Schrag, Brian. 2015. "Motivations and Methods for Encouraging Artists in Longer Traditions." In Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology, edited by Jeff Todd Titon and Svanibor Pettan, 317-347. Oxford University Press.
Schrag, Brian. 2013. “How Artists Create Enduring Traditions.” In Resiliency and Distinction: Beliefs, Endurance and Creativity in the Musical Arts of Continental and Diasporic Africa. A Festschrift in Honor of Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, edited by Kimasi L. Browne and Jean N. Kidula, 415–444. Richmond, CA: MRI Press.
Krabill, James R., managing ed.; Frank Fortunato, Robin Harris, and Brian Schrag, eds. 2013. Worship and Mission for the Global Church: An Ethnodoxology Handbook. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
Schrag, Brian. In Krabill 2013: "Ethnoartistic Cocreation in the Kingdom of God," pp 49-56; "The Love Motive," pp 192-193; "Worship in My Language," pp 355-356; "Determining Your Role as an Arts Advocate and Facilitator," pp 364-366; "Planning an Arts Showcase Event," pp 481-484; "Evaluating and Improving Local Arts," pp 485-491.
Schrag, Brian. 2013. Creating Local Arts Together: A Manual to Help Communities Reach Their Kingdom Goals. General editor, James R. Krabill. Pasadena: William Carey Library.