Diversity
We celebrate diverse and marginalised voices as we engage with our context and times. We acknowledge privilege and seek to learn from those outside
Safe Space
We aim to create safe places for people to meet, support and encourage one another. This means trying our best to contain difference, whilst working for justice
Creative Hubs
As well as collaborating across disciplines, we are developing ways for artists of the same discipline to support each other.
Recent Blog Posts
- Proost poetry podcast with Kenneth StevenThe other day I had the great pleasure of making a journey into deep Argyll, over Loch Fyne by ferry (whilst it was still dark) then up to the Isle of Seil, to meet with poet, novelist and artist Kenneth Steven. The pretext of this visit was to record a podcast, but the truth is, it was about time we met! Two blokes, both about the same age, both living in Argyll, both writing poetry inspired by the spirituality of wild places – oh and we have connection to Iona and the Iona community too. How was it that we did not already know each other? Kenneth and his wife Kristina were the perfect hosts- despite an earlier failed attempt to record over the internet which I messed up by getting the time wrong! They live in a beautiful place and I very much enjoyed our chat. We hope you do too! You can listen on Spotify, Apple or Youtube – Here is the spotify link; If you don’t already know Kenneth’s work, here is the blurb from his website. Kenneth Steven is first and always a poet. To survive as a literary author he’s had to become many other things as…
- Advent day 25, a Christmas prayer
Here at the end of this Advent journey, we start a new one, through Christmas and on into the pergrinatio we are called out towards. May you be blessed by friendship and love and may you bless in return. Happy Christmas everyone. We are profoundly grateful to you all. Here is a prayer written and read by our friend Mark Berry God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be God’s people, and God will be with them and be their God.‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” In the dark of night a song rang out high above the earthThe divine reached down and stirred the air with melodyThe Holy sang amongst the fields and housesHarmonies swirling between streets and hedgesThe call has gone out, the journey is done, the dance has begun. God has come to dwell with us,God has come to dwellin us, God has come to make all things new. We are called… - Advent day 23, there shall be music…
Thanks again to Jaclyn for her stunning image. When we think of Angels, why are they always singing? Below is a recording made on a rough old piano, at around 3 AM, when weary mucicians come home after a gig, still wired and slightly high on the buzz of performing, glad of each other and the deep magic we make through weaving sounds into something that is deeply human. There is amazing talent here, but there are notes that do not qute work. It is the very best of us, I think – a little capsule of beauty and deep humanity. If it is true that the deepest, truest and most authentic part of the world is made of God, then I think this might be where music comes from, filtered through everything we put in the way, but still it leaks out. It reeks of the divine. May your carols sing into the darkest nights. (With thanks to Joe, Will, Emily and Sally for the late night gift of beauty.) - Advent day 23, the journey is not over
I heard someone say recently that the journey is often something we should treasure more than the destination. This seems more true of advent than most things – not because I do not wish your Christmas to be full of beauty love (I most certainly do) but because this journey is about finding light, despite the darkness. Finding hope despite all evidence to the contrary. An invitation to faith not as destination but as process. It is all there in the Christmas story. A nation longing for a different kind of Messiah than the one born in a stable. An on-going occupation. A despotic king. A clueless pair of parents who have only the slenderest hold on what they have brought in to being. Homelessness. Refugees fleeing violence. Rich men who promise solutions but merely reveal the vast inequality gap. This year, let’s try to remember that we are not the first generation of Advent travellers to fear the way things are going. The journey is not over though, even if the destination remains so very far away. Let’s keep walking. Thanks to all of you who have walked with Proost this year, may we make more miles together yet.… - Advent day 22, mother
It should be no surprise that at the centre of the advent story is a mother, for surely, through them the world is made new. Without mothers there is no hope for the world. Because of mothers, the world might yet be changed. But this is not the whole story. ‘Mary’ is a name thought to be used through the bible as an archetype. Another way of saying ‘woman’, as if individual women did not need their own name. Yet one particular Mary is recorded as singing this song; 46-55 And Mary said, I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.God took one good look at me, and look what happened— I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him.He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts.He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud.The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold.He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled… - Advent day 21, let the prophets speak
Yesterday we reflected on cycles of violence, and the urgent need to break them. There is the need for the upheld hand, but this must accompanied by the outstretched hand of love. Today we look again at the Advent prophets who did both. Here at Proost we are interested in the idea of prophecy – not so much in the sense of foretelling the future but rather as a way of understanding the converging of spirituality and justice. The prophet, in this understanding, is one of those brave souls who is prepared to speak love to power. From this love flows the search for truth and the movement towards justice and peace. It is difficult and dangerous work sometimes because this kind of love tends to be resisted, suppressed and even criminalised. It is easy to identify modern prophets whilst looking back at those great liberation movements of the last century- Martin Luther King, for example. Despite his death, we forget the hatred he faced from many in power. Prophets always divide. They are stumbling blocks to marching feet. The great warriors of love have always known this and often been prepared to suffer for their words and actions. The…
What we do
- Community podcasts exploring art and spirituality
- Connecting and supporting creatives
- Artistic collaboration
- Creative workshops and meetups
- Digital spaces for collaboration and connection
- Publishing
Tune Into Our Latest Podcast!
Chris Goan
Community Organiser and Podcast Host
Chris is a half-English, half-Irish man who lives in Scotland. He is the author of several books of poetry and, after a first career in social work and mental health services, now makes a living through making ceramic art. He also writes a long running eclectic blog called this fragile tent. Chris has a long history with Proost as a poet and the editor of a couple of poetry collections. Chris is married to Michaela and has two adult children and now a little grandchild. He also grows vegetables.
Rob Hewlett
Community Organiser and Podcast Host
Rob first came across Proost many years ago through the Labyrinth set. Sometime in 2023, he started making tentative enquiries as to whether Proost had any life left in it, and once he started chatting more earnestly with Chris, things started to develop.
He is married, lives in Jersey and has two grown-up sons. He works in a second-hand shop for a social enterprise providing work and training for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions.
Cameron Preece
Community Organiser and Online Community Facilitator
Cameron is the Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator at Nazarene Theological College and a passionate poet based in Manchester. With a BA and MA in Theology, he has a keen interest in the intersection between poetry and prayer and the Hebrew poetry of the Bible. He loves playing piano, photography, anything to do with organising and tidying, and tinkering with computers. Cameron joined the Proost community after feeling seen by the podcast and has a deep curiosity about how poetry can inform and transform spiritual experience.
Looking for ways to explore creative spirituality?
Proost is a creative community that explores and expresses the divine through art—whether in words, visuals, music, or beyond.
We embrace imagination as a way to encounter the sacred and the good, crafting spaces where faith, justice, and creativity meet.
