About CARe

Mission & Vision

The Center for the Arts & Religion (CARe) promotes scholarship, reflection, and practice in the arts and religion to serve the Graduate Theological Union and to benefit the community.

CARe aspires to be the arts center of the Graduate Theological Union, providing and coordinating opportunities in the visual arts, dance, theater, music, and literature for students, faculty, staff, and the community.

History

The Center for the Arts & Religion (CARe) (then known as the Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education) was founded in 1987 by Doug Adams, a professor at the Pacific School of Religion, one of the member schools of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) consortium. As an independent non-profit affiliate of the GTU, the organization's goal was to help individuals and institutions integrate the arts into religious practice, and to support student and faculty research and study in the arts and religion. 

In 2009, the Doug Adams Gallery was founded to exhibit work that demonstrates the connection between art and religion/spirituality. The Doug Adams Gallery shared space with the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology in the Pacific School of Religion's Holbrook Building. Over time, the Doug Adams Gallery grew to become a center for student programs and public events, in addition to presenting three exhibitions each year.

In 2016, the Center for the Arts & Religion became an integrated program unit of the GTU. This shift was accompanied by the relocation of the Doug Adams Gallery to a newly renovated space in the GTU's North Building. In 2023, CARe and the Doug Adams Gallery underwent yet another move, this time to the GTU's Louis Kahn-designed Hewlett Building, sharing this central hub with the GTU Library, faculty and staff offices, and classrooms.

What We Do

  • Present exhibitions and programs in the Doug Adams Gallery and online
  • Offer workshops and courses in the arts & religion
  • Give modest grants to GTU students and faculty for arts projects
  • Participate in an wide array of art & religion activities and projects
  • ​Promote community partnerships 

Doug Adams

Doug Adams, Pacific School of Religion Professor of Christianity and the Arts, played a leading role internationally in the field of religion and the arts. In 1987, Doug founded CARe to inspire GTU students, religious leaders, and community members to integrate the arts into practice and worship.

In 2009, the Doug Adams Gallery was dedicated in his memory.