Kevin Denholm - Film and TV Director
Kevin has been working in film and television in Auckland NZ for years. As a husband, father and good church going guy, he wanted to find a way to support and encourage the other media types in his city. He's good at what he does (probably the best TVC director in the country) and wanted to create an opportunity that added to his work with Prison Fellowship Int. The result was SPAM.
St. Paul's Arts and Media is a group created by Kevin and James Bowman (who works for Ogilvy NZ). They meet once a month and make stuff. Media stuff, like short films, better Christmas cards, Art installations and gatherings for their friends in the industry who do not follow Jesus). Every now and then they have a bit of teaching and input, but it's mostly about getting together and collaborating across various giftings from fashion design to editing to music... Have a look on the site to see some of the results. Pretty amazing stuff. (http://www.spam.org.nz/public/about_spam/)
What I notice in Kevin and his Vicar Mark Norris, is that they are great delegators. They don't hold the info and power, they share it and create with others. Kevin as a sharp guy in terms of identifying the key elements in the story. He uses this skill to encourage and challenge his cohorts towards excellence. I think this is another mark of this growing group of breakout (from religiosity) artists, that they have super high standards and don't see their faith as a reason to water down their creativity. They have also moved past art as a means to sell Jesus to others. They do excellent stuff because excellence is good enough. They enjoy what they do whether it's commercial or pro bono and they have the same standards for both.
