THE SONGWRITER INITIATIVE (TSI), founded by Kip Fox ’03 in 2019 as part of the Center for Worship Leadership, held its second Songwriter Retreat in May, drawing 42 Lutheran composers from 14 different states for three days of fellowship and co-writing.
Demand was so strong that TSI had to cap attendance to keep the event small enough to be personal.
The three-day gathering was held on campus, where participants “filled up the Borland-Manske Center practice rooms writing songs,” says Fox, director of the TSI and a longtime director of parish music.
Attendees formed trios to write songs over the course of several hours in various sessions. “These were standard co-writing sessions, what they do in Nashville, L.A., and New York,” says Fox.
Over the course of the retreat, the musicians wrote more than 50 songs. Fox chose 13 to feature in an open concert for the Concordia community at the end of the retreat.
The retreat was a smaller, in-person manifestation of a vibrant TSI community of 130 songwriters around the country who talk online in a Slack channel. “Every day, somebody’s posting a new song in the Song Share channel,” says Fox. “People meet in small groups on
Slack and via Zoom. It’s all writers sharing life and writing songs together.” TSI also hosts a monthly songwriters Zoom for sharing songs.
“That’s how the whole Songwriter Initiative really got going,” says Fox. “This community has grown into a very supportive group of all different ages, vocations, and writer skill levels.”
TSI’s vision is to find, connect, and develop songwriters within the Lutheran church.
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