A Catholic priest who founded a global Christian art platform has said its growing international audience has inspired the launch of the first Christian Art Conference in London this Autumn.
Fr Patrick Van Der Vorst, founder of Christian Art, said the event will bring together artists, theologians and cultural figures to explore the relationship between faith and creativity.
The conference is scheduled to take place at the QEII Centre in Westminster on 14th November 2026.
Christian Art is an online platform that has paired daily Gospel reading with a work of art and a short reflection. It has reached more than 150,000 daily subscribers worldwide, while its YouTube videos on art and spirituality have attracted hundreds of thousands of views.
Fr Van Der Vorst, a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Westminster and former director at Sotheby’s Europe, said the online community that has formed around the platform helped inspire the event.
“Our Gospel readings and art reflections offer a daily moment of prayer and beauty and have fostered a global community keen to explore the deep relationship between faith and creativity,” he told Premier Christian News on Monday.
“Many members of the community have told us they would enjoy the opportunity to meet in person to discuss this theme further and in dialogue with one another, hence our first Christian Art Conference.”
The one-day event will include keynote talks, panel discussions and live performances exploring how the arts can shape spiritual life and culture.
Fr Van Der Vorst said the Church has historically used art to communicate the Christian message.
“For 2000 years, we've been really serious as a Church about art. That's what we want to discuss, this long-term beautiful tradition,” he said.
Organisers also hope the conference will create opportunities for contemporary Christian artists who can struggle to find platforms to show their work.
“I think the big problem at the moment is that none of the commercial galleries or the national galleries want to represent Christian artists,” Van Der Vorst told Premier.
“So what we want to do is try and offer them a platform to display their artwork,” he added.
Alongside the conference, organisers plan to hold an exhibition of contemporary Christian art in central London featuring selected works by artists.
Fr Van Der Vorst said Christian artists often approach their work differently from others because their creativity is shaped by faith and community.
“With a Christian artist, it’s always about more than just the individual,” later adding that, “They paint Christian art because they want to convey a message to people who see these beautiful artworks.”
Speakers at the conference will include theologian and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, and writer and broadcaster Neil MacGregor.
Other contributors include composer and producer AnMari, psychiatrist and crossbench peer Sheila Hollins, Dominican theologian Timothy Radcliffe, and Vatican official Paul Tighe.
A Mass for artists, led by Richard Moth, will take place at Westminster Cathedral the evening before the conference.
Fr Van Der Vorst said he hopes the gathering will encourage people to rediscover the joy and beauty of the Christian faith.
“We sometimes don’t say that enough… we have to rejoice in the beauty of our faith,” he told Premier Christian News.