Cole Moreton is an author, journalist and broadcaster exploring who we are and what we believe in. He writes a weekly report for the Independent on Sunday and cover interviews for Event, the magazine of the Mail on Sunday. Cole has been nominated three times for Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards. His first book Hungry for Home (Viking Penguin) was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize alongside White Teeth by Zadie Smith. His latest book called Is God Still An Englishman? (Abacus) explores and celebrates the great changes to British culture, national identity and spirituality over the last 30 years. It points to the 26 million people who say they believe in God but do not attend church, temple or mosque and looks at the beliefs and rituals emerging as expressions of new British spirituality, from roadside memorials to High School proms. Cole has covered many of the biggest stories of our times, from the 2012 Olympics to the funeral of Nelson Mandela and is a regular commentator on radio and television including the Today programme and The Big Questions. He lives on the south coast and is a founder of Wild Spirit, a multi-faith gathering of people seeking to encounter the divine in the natural world.
MARTIN POOLE is a parish priest and former actor and TV producer who worked in TV design, branding and promotion for over 20 years. .
Highlights in his professional career included creating the last set of BBC2 “Two’s”, helping to launch Al Jazeera, arguing with Rupert Murdoch’s right hand man about the rebranding of SKY, relaunching the main commercial TV channel in Russia to a live audience of 75 million people one New Year’s Eve and working alongside Spike Lee to launch a major public service initiative in South Africa .
In 2008 he set up BEYOND to create artistic/spiritual event which has ended up with him installing a ton and a half ice sculpture at the Greenbelt Christian arts and music festival, persuading Brighton shopkeepers to take part in a Lent themed shop window art event, showcasing jazz and opera on Hove Lawns for Midsummer and organising the worlds first Beach Hut Advent Calendar featuring huts opening their doors every night in December to reveal a home grown art/performance on a Christmas theme.
He is an experienced broadcaster, art curator, marketer, strategist and priest with a passion for finding new ways to make faith relevant in the 21st century.
LINDA WOODHEAD is Professor of Sociology of Religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion at Lancaster University. She is President of Modern Church, and previously served on the Doctrine Commission of the CofE and taught at Ripon College Cuddesdon. She was Director of £12m AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme between 2007-13, Chair of the Theology & Religious Studies REF 2014 sub-panel, and is a member ESRC Council. Her books include Christianity: A Very Short Introduction (2nd ed 2014), Prayer in Religion and Spirituality (with Giuseppe Giordan, 2013), Everyday Lived Islam in Europe (with Nathal Dessing and Nadia Jeldtoft, 2013), Religion and Change in Modern Britain (with Rebecca Catto, 2012), A Sociology of Religious Emotions (with Ole Riis, 2010), Religions in the Modern World (2009), The Spiritual Revolution (with Paul Heelas, 2005). She is the co-founder and organiser of the Westminster Faith Debates and a regular commentator on religion on radio and television.
AMY MASON is a writer and performer whose work is often personal and funny. Her debut novel The Other Ida won the Dundee International Book Prize and is published by Cargo. She has also produced a lo-fi musical The Islanders as a collaboration with Jim Moray and Eddie Argos which won the Ideas Tap/Underbelly Edinburgh Award. Her solo show, Mass, was produced by Bristol Old Vic and deals with her relationship with faith and how although she considers herself to be an atheist, there are elements of religion which she thinks might be useful, both for her and for society as whole.
The show came about when she was on a London bus that ran two people over and she found herself praying for the first time in years. This made her question the way Iwe, as an increasingly secular society, respond to tragedy and how we form our own ideas about morality.
Amy was brought up as Catholic, and the show is told using the form of a catholic mass, with the central character as a kind of wonky secular priest.
JOHN VARAH is artistic director of Same Sky who produce a number of community art events including the Burning of the Clocks in Brighton. He is a lighting designer and theatre devisor who has worked as a director of Industrial & Domestic Theatre Contractors creating one off specialist shows for various sites including lakes, swimming pools and industrial spaces. He was a founder ember of Eye Level Studios and Gallery in Brighton and is now Chair of the Phoenix Arts Association.
His work is mostly concerned with the “human situation” and with perception and reality and involves assemblage of found objects and often takes the form of interactive peepshows or dioramas with quasi moral messages. These pieces are very influenced by the ideas of narrative, both linear and non linear that he has brought from his theatre background.
CLARE AMSEL is a leading international Producer and Director on Olympic and Public Ceremonies and in the development and management of public cultural institutions. She was the Senior Producer on the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Producer of the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony and Senior Coordinating Producer of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies. She has held Management and Board roles in Creative, Strategic & Cultural Organisations in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Greece and Argentina and has advised at senior government level across two continents. She is a graduate in Religious Studies from Lancaster University from whom she received an honour for outstanding international achievement.
CLAIRE RAFTERY is Artistic Director of Periplum, an international theatre company specialising in site specific outdoor and indoor performance. Periplum have had shows commissioned by The National Theatre and festivals across the UK & Europe. Accolades and nominations include Edinburgh Fringe First Nominations 2000 & 2001, Guardians Critics Choice and Independent 5 Best Plays. She is a visiting lecturer at Northbrook College of FE/HE working on the BTEC, BA and Foundation Drama degrees and is Course Leader for the Foundation Degree in Site Specific Performance. Claire has been a Drama Tutor with Pavilion Tours since 1995 & became Performing Arts Consultant for the company in 2002.
IAN ADAMS is a poet, writer, photographer and priest working with themes of spirituality, art and culture. He is a partner in the Beloved Life project and co-director of the StillPoint project. Ian is the creator of Morning Bell on social media, and the author of 'Unfurling: poems', 'Running Over Rocks' and 'Cave Refectory Road' (all Canterbury Press). He is Mission Spirituality Adviser for CMS and an Associate Missioner with the Church of England Fresh Expressions team.
ISABEL RUSSO worked as an actress in theatre, film and television for 20 years before becoming a humanist celebrant in 2009. Isabel then worked as a funeral, wedding and naming celebrant for four years, before becoming Head of Ceremonies at the BHA in May 2013. The role of ritual and storytelling in shaping and influencing community has been a central thread throughout her working life.
JOHN HARRIS is one of the partners in T Cribbs and sons funeral directors and star of the TV series ‘Grave Trade’ on the History Channel. The family business has offices all over the East end of London and has branched out into work in Africa through it’s understanding of multicultural services.
John has an MA in ‘Death and Society’ and is a founding member of the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors. He won Funeral Director of the year in 2013 and is often featured in the media commenting on the funeral business.
JEREMY BROOKS is a parish priest in Buckinghamshire. He has conducted over 600 funerals over the last 20 years and is part of a working party for the Archbishops' Council looking at how the Church of England carries out its funeral ministry. He completed a doctorate in 2012 into current funeral practice in England and is the author of Heaven's Morning Breaks. A collection of funeral readings and prayers, Whispers of Love, will be published later this year
JAMES NORRIS is the founder of DeadSocial, owner of Social Media Strategist Ltd & Lecturer on Social Media & Digital Marketing. DeadSocial was launched at SXSW in Texas in March 2013. It allows anyone to create a series of messages that are only sent out to their social networks once they pass away. In doing so it allows us all to extend our relationships, forge a digital legacy and live forever on the social web. James is also a lecturer and mentor on digital & social media at University College London (UCL)