WHAT IT IS:

 

CreateCultureYC is a powerful movement led by You Connection to influence and change culture through the Arts.

 

 

 

THE OBJECTIVES:

 

* To create a new artistic culture that embraces Christian and biblically based morals, values, principles, and lifestyles (for both the Christian and secular market)

 

* To create a vibrant, viable, and relevant Christian Arts market

 

* To encourage professional standards in Christian Arts

 

* To establish a thriving independent market where creatives can produce and distribute works for modest budgets

 

 

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE OBJECTIVES:

 

* The Arts is one of the most powerful influencers in the Western world, but it is mostly used as a negative or secular influence; this movement seeks to literally create a new form of artistic culture within society that embraces morally sound principles rooted in Judeo-Christian values, while maintaining the creative standards of the secular market

 

* Christian Arts often alienates a certain sector of the audience due to its limited creative output (most Christian works, especially film, tend to be inspirational stories or Bible stories); this movement seeks to provide hip, relevant works that are equal in creative standard to Hollywood, Broadway, Netflix, etc.

 

* Christian works still tend to be sub-par in acting, writing, and creative standards; this movement seeks to encourage extreme professionalism in Christian acting, writing, creativity, etc.

 

* The big-budget mainstream markets hinder many creatives from producing their works (leaving many creatives waiting for a producer to give them their “big break” with a multi-million-dollar contract); this movement seeks to raise up an independent market and to provide ways for indie creatives to produce their works on a modest scale to specific niche audiences

 

 

 

HOW DO WE “CREATE CULTURE”?

 

* Influence through content

The most obvious way to influence through the Arts is through the actual content, creating content that instructs, encourages, exhorts, and edifies the viewer.

 

* Influence through association

Many people have a misunderstanding of Christ and Christianity (such as, thinking it’s just a boring religion), but a Christian work which creatively resembles a secular work (such as, the play looks like Cats, Hamilton, or Matilda the Musical, not like a Bible play, but it has Christian content in it) can literally change a person’s perception of Christianity by associating it with something “cool” or something “relevant in culture”.

 

* Influence from within

Christian actors, writers, directors, musicians, and creatives need to be encouraged to see the Arts as a mission field, whether they produce Christian works or are simply Christians within the secular industry; the more active Christians there are in both the Christian and secular Arts industries, the more we can shape culture!

 

 

 

BUT HOW IS THIS MOVEMENT ACTUALLY WORKING?

 

* Firstly, You Connection models all of this in its structure, mission, films, plays, projects, and production team, so You Connection can be seen as an example of how this movement can successfully work! There are plenty of other ways to model it, but YC demonstrates it by:

 

- creating works that are on par with the secular industry (films that creatively resemble Netflix, not Pure Flix; theatre shows that creatively resemble Broadway, not church plays)

 

- creating highly imaginative and original works (being innovative, not simply copying other styles)

 

- extreme professionalism in writing, performance standards, theatrics

 

- showcasing high-quality works for extremely modest budgets

 

- as a nonprofit, YC is donation-based, so theatre shows are free admission, and the YC Web streaming site is free to view; this non-commercial approach demonstrates an alternate way of funding, and also demonstrates how the Arts can be used as ministry instead of a commercial operation (commercial is great, but YC simply wants to model alternative methods of production)

 

 

 

WE HAVE A 2-STEP PLAN FOR REALIZING THIS MOVEMENT:

 

1.) Finish positioning You Connection as an influencer

 

You Connection is already modeling all these things (we have been in operation for a dozen years already), but we want to be in a greater position in order to be an effective influence. We are achieving this by:

 

* Completely securing the necessary funds for YC’s ongoing needs

 

* Making necessary upgrades (equipment, moving to a new facility in 2026, salary upgrades, etc.)

 

* Expansion of YC’s name, mission, and reputation (who we are, what we’re doing, the effect of what we’re doing) in DFW, nationally, and globally

 

 

2.) Create expansive ways for others to spread the movement

 

The next step will be to include others in the movement, such as:

 

* Providing streaming platforms for modest budget, Christian indie films

 

* Licensing our own YC plays/creating a thriving Christian theatre medium (a sort of Christian Broadway)

 

* Provide forums for Christian playwrights to produce their plays

 

* Host events for showcasing indie Christian films, music, etc./promote the indie market