BILL BARNETT IS A MAN ON A MISSION. A MISSION HE’S BEEN ON SINCE 1991. A MISSION HE FIRST FELT WAS HIS LIFE’S CALLING 27 YEARS AGO.
That mission is to utilize his skills as an artist, combine that perspective with a passionate Christian faith, and create opportunities for artists — of all talents, styles and genres — to reach out to each other, as well as to persons (young to old) of our community who are in various ways challenged, to affect positive change and transform the course of a person’s life. If that sounds like a lofty goal, well, it is. But Bill Barnett is not aman to back down from tough circumstances, or his life’s purpose. Bill was raised in a single parent home, one of six, facing many challenges that would try to thwart his realization of dreams to one day make a difference in the world.
The arts were his passion. “I attended a high school for the arts in New York, with close to 2,000 creatives and a lot of pressure to perform. Creating art was my escape — my way of connecting with God and experiencing acceptance, love and affirmation, which relieved these pressures, and gave me true identity.” Eventually, Barnett left school, and began serving the church and community by starting a graphic arts business. “The burden that I felt as an artist,” he recalls, “relating with my peers and other creatives, led me to want to find ways to nurture creative souls, connect them with each other, inspiring them to heal and transform lives through faith and the arts.”
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