FROM FESTIVAL HQ

Dear Readers,

I’m of the belief a number of small miracles occurred at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. First and not least, there was the weather. The Saturday before the Festival, parts of Grand Rapids saw five inches of snow. By Thursday morning, as the registration line spilled out the doors of the Prince Conference Center and stretched down the sidewalk toward the bridge over the East Beltline, the weather was a saving grace. Most of our attendees took the delay in stride and were happy to soak in a little vitamin D. 

However, later that morning, when I returned to the registration desk from the commissioning service for the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing to find the line even longer and the clock ticking ever closer to our first keynote, I knew I was staring down my first Big Problem as director of the Festival. Was I about to have a riot of writers on my hands? Would they sharpen their pencils and go for our jugulars? Pull out their phones and live tweet my failures? I had to act quickly. I called over a few student committee members, threw three boxes of programs on a cart, and we wheeled outside. I called an audible. Everyone! Can I have your attention, please? Here’s what we’re going to do...

I went on to explain that we would not be checking badges at any of the doors for the rest of the day, and badges would not be required for entering venues. Attendees could come back to the registration desk at any point that day to pick up their badges, hopefully not all at the same time. The students and I walked up and down the line passing out programs and sending people on their way to hear Tobias Wolff, and soon the line had dispersed. 

I’m happy to report no fatalities by sharpened pencil or Twitter. In the weeks since we gathered, my team and I have put together a detailed history of the 2016 Festival that includes plenty of data. For the record, we had 2,125 registered attendees, the largest crowd in Festival history, with folks coming from 45 states and countries including Canada, Scotland, Northern Ireland, China, and Mozambique.

Beyond the data, I’m particularly grateful for the detailed feedback offered by speakers and attendees via emails, tweets, blog posts, and even handwritten notes. Your individual, on-the-ground perspectives provide invaluable guidance as we decide what to keep and what to change for 2018. One example: to ease the registration rush next time around, we’ll open the registration desk Wednesday night so people can pop by and pick up their badges and programs early.

Best of all, among the feedback we received notes that reminded us of the many small miracles that happen at the Festival --moments of connection with fellow readers, recognition of oneself as a writer perhaps for the first time, insight that stokes creative fires, the odd grace of deep community with strangers. I attended this Festival for 15 years before taking over last summer, and it’s my own private catalog of those experiences that makes dealing with the Big Problems nothing less than an honor. 
 

Warmly, 

DIRECTOR, FESTIVAL OF FAITH & WRITING

PS. I’m packing up and heading off for a little R&R, and second only to the essential summer reads I’ll be lugging around (still a sucker for paper even in the era of baggage fees) are the summer tunes. If you’re looking for a new playlist, play along here. And if you missed it, go back and check out the FFW 2016 playlist here.