Hope Center for the Arts

The Center for the Arts at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman, Montana, is a brand new initiative infusing the church with creative arts for our generation. The Center welcomes interdisciplinary artists to experiment with innovative and collaborative approaches to liturgy, contemplation, and worship. The Center sponsors residencies for artists and ensembles, hosts creative worship experiences and performances, and offers retreats, facilitation, and consulting for artists, institutions, and congregations.

Maren Haynes Marchesini, Director

Maren is a choral director, cellist, vocalist, composer, and ethnomusicologist with interests in congregational music, contemplative practices, ritual, and community formation. She has served in music ministry at ecumenical churches and seminaries in Montana, Washington, California, and Arizona, and she has a passion for diversity, community, collaboration, and innovation in church music and arts. Maren works as Director of Worship and Music at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman, and as co-founder and Director for The Center for the Arts. She also serves as Interim Director of the Bozeman Symphonic Choir, President of the Board for the Kaj Seifert Foundation for Aspiring Young Artists, and performs with Roots in the Sky Chamber Choir, Opus Treble Ensemble, Hemispheres instrumental duo, and with John Hermanson.

John Hermanson, Associate Director and Artist-in-Residence

John is an award-winning songwriter and composer of the acclaimed acoustic duo Storyhill, indie bands The Hopefuls and Alva Star, as well as independent and commercial music spanning orchestral, world, pop, and rock genres. John has served Lutheran communities in Minnesota, Washington, and Montana, and his sacred music is in regular rotation at centers of Lutheran liturgy like Holden Village, Christikon, and House of Mercy. Rooted in prophetic and mystical traditions, John's sacred songs raise ancient yet urgent questions about radical love and mutual responsibility. 


John works at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman as the Director of Sound and Technology, and as co-founder and permanent Artist-in-Residence of The Center for the Arts. He is serving as Christikon’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence in summer 2025, a partnership between The Center and Christikon Camp.

The Center is delighted to host Artist Residents in Summer 2026!

WILL CHILES

May 2-16, 2026


Born into a log cabin in the Missouri Ozarks, Will Chiles dropped out of school at the age of seven. Most of his early education came from books, music, elders, and the trees and wonders of the forest.


Drawing on the media of gatherings, music, design, ecological restoration, writing, and living land art, Will explores what a flourishing ecosystem of human and non-human relationships could look like. He appreciates the paradoxes of joys and sorrows, solitude and community, faith and doubt, and the answers that a good question provides.


His formal training includes classical music, philosophy, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, Gordon Music Learning Theory, Victim-Offender Mediation, and Wilderness First Response. He has also worked as a camp counselor, videographer, cook, event producer, carpenter, librarian, janitor, farmer, choral composer, community organizer, touring musician, nature educator, and as co-founder of the experiential themed event creative group, Airglow Studio. 


Currently, Will Chiles is the Executive Director of the Sac River Arboretum and the manager of Rockspan Farm, a 250 acre family tree and agricultural research farm in the Missouri Ozarks. Will is also a performing singer-composer and public nature educator.

COURT VONLINDERN

June 1-5, 2026


Court VonLindern (they/he) is a white, queer, and trans spiritual director, theologian, and facilitator living on the lands of the Salish and Kootenai people in Montana. They provide spiritual care, support, and accompaniment to people seeking to cultivate an authentic relationship with g*d, Spirit, or whatever it is they call the Divine.


Court was raised in the United Methodist Church, and briefly pursued the ordination track in the UMC. He received his Master of Divinity from Iliff School of Theology, and chose to step away from ordination when he realized that they felt called beyond the Church walls and institutions. Court has a long background in creating LGBTQIA+ centered spiritual spaces that honor the inherent dignity and worth of queer and trans beloveds. 


You can typically find Court encountering Spirit in lakes, rivers, trees, and in moments of whimsy with their partner, greyhound dog, and tortoiseshell cat. 


You can learn more about Court at campcounselorcourt.com

Artwork by Court VonLindern


Dear friends at Hope Lutheran Church,

I participated in Hope Lutheran’s Artist in Residence program in early June, 2026. Going into the program, I intended to spend my time curating a workshop focused on “How to Cultivate a Spiritual Life”. This workshop had the intention of weaving knowledge, learning, and ritual together to allow for real-time integration and practice among workshop participants. My arrival in Bozeman, and the spaciousness that followed, allowed for something different to take emerge.


Maren and Johnny had previously asked me what kind of “arts” I like to engage in during a brief visit in Missoula. I held this question over the course of several weeks, and as I prepared for my time in Bozeman, I was reminded that the art of collage-- both physical and digital-- was a kind of art that I often found meaning and the movement of Spirit in. With this in mind, I took the original workshop theme of “How to Cultivate a Spiritual Life” and turned it into a meditation on what spiritual life even is. I pondered this question in contemplation, in relationship to the land (shout out to Graf Park, BurkePark, and a wildlife refuge I’ve forgotten the name of), and in thoughtful conversation with Maren and a couple of friends and acquaintances in the area. These conversations and meditations led to the curation of a “zine” (known in alternative cultures as “self- published magazines”) with the working title “Musings on a Spiritual Life.” This Zine so far includes 4 digital art pieces inspired by these conversations, and the start of reflection pieces and reflection questions to encourage readers to go on their own journey of what makes a spiritual life.


The Center for the Arts Artist in Residence program provided me with a spacious, no-pressure container for this project to emerge. I was surprised and delighted by the ease of it, and I valued the lack of urgency and expectation to produce something for the sake of producing something. This allowed for Spirit to truly meet me where I was, and for me to be in collaboration with Spirit and others to create something I otherwise wouldn’t have created.


Thank you to Maren Haynes-Marchensini and Johnny Hermanson for the invitation and mentorship; thank you to the staff at Hope Lutheran for a warm welcome; thank you to Maren’s parents, Debby and George (and their dog Thor!) for their hospitality; thank you to Hope Lutheran for this program; and, lastly, thank you to the mountains, birds, hills, wildflowers, water, other critters, and trees of “The Valley of Flowers” your welcome and company. I am deeply grateful for all the ways I met Spirit during this opportunity.


With gratitude,

Court VonLindern



Upcoming Center Events

Hang tight while we look up scheduled events...

Past Events

SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 7:00 PM • Their Sound is Gone Out: Pentecost Evensong at St. James Episcopal Church with the Chancel Choirs of Hope Lutheran Church & St. James Episcopal Church, directed by Logan Henke


FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 7:00 PM • Opus Treble Choir in concert (Erin Henke, Maren Haynes Marchesini, Beth Campbell, and Mandy Bowker) at Peace of Christ Church


THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 7:00 PM • Hemispheres Acoustic Folk Duo in Concert (Kate Plummer, guitar, and Maren Haynes Marchesini, cello) at Hope Lutheran Church


FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 7:00 PM • World Refugee Day Benefit Concert • John Hermanson & Maren Marchesini, Edis Kittrell, & Celtic Collective at Pilgrim Congregational Church


JUNE 30-JULY 3 • Maren Marchesini, John Hermanson, and Megan Makeever serving as Music Faculty at Holden Village


JULY 7-10 • Contemplative Retreat for Artists led by John Hermanson and Maren Marchesini, Christikon Camp