Porchlight

09/29/2026

YOU'RE INVITED! ✨ Porchlight Festival will be October 23-24 in Dayton, TN. Save your seat: https://porchlight.art/festival/

Featured artists will include:
Anthony Quails
Ballet 5:8
Corey Frey
Hope Newman Kemp
James Koan III
Kristen Budde
Lorena Long
Luke Lillard
Make Sure
Matt Wheeler
Mauricio Vega
Moon Bride
Paula Fong
Son of Laughter
Spradley
Steve Chab
Trailand Eltzroth
Virtuous
Wilder Adkins
Zane Vickery

Porchlight Festival is presented by Renew the Arts, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to cultivating Christian communities by inspiring arts partnership and supporting artists.

This festival is supported by MainStreet Dayton, an organization dedicated to the vitality of Downtown Dayton.

We can't wait to see you there! ✨

09/23/2026

Meet Spradley Music, a family band from Columbia, TN! ✨ You can invite them to share music in your living room or another space through Porchlight and we’ll guide you along the way.

Swipe to learn more about their aim to inspire hope through their music.

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ARTIST BIO:

Blending indie folk, Americana, roots rock, and gospel-soaked soul, the family band SPRADLEY has spent years crafting music that doesn’t run from brokenness, but walks straight through it — finding grace, hope, and humanity on the other side.

This is not music built on polished perfection or empty optimism.
It’s music for the soul.

Their live performances carry the rare chemistry that only family can create: voices shaped together over time, harmonies sharpened by shared history, and a spirit that turns every room into something more than a concert venue. Something closer to communion.

Expect an experience full of wandering melodies, heartfelt storytelling, and the kind of spirit-filled atmosphere that reminds us why live, intimate music matters in the first place.

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Porchlight is an art + hospitality network from Renew the Arts with an aim to see Christian communities partnered with artists to enrich lives, shape homes, and love their neighbors. ✨ Link in bio.

📸: Lisa Taylor Gray

08/26/2026

Join us in Dayton, TN (just north of Chattanooga) for Porchlight Festival. Hosts, artists, attendees, and friends of Renew the Arts will gather around art and music Oct 23-24. Save your seat (pay what you can) at Porchlight.art/festival.

Renew the Arts welcomes its nationwide Porchlight art + hospitality...

04/08/2026

Check out pages 5-7 in our annual report for some 2025 Porchlight highlights.✨https://renewthearts.org/annual-report/

03/03/2026

Porchlight artist Joe Day has a song called “Blood Moon” which will be part of his upcoming album Wilderness. 🌖

You can financially partner with him via Renew the Arts to bring this album to life here: https://renewthearts.donorsupport.co/page/Joe-Day

Joe plays the song Blood Moon from his upcoming album Wilderness

12/31/2025

Last call, y'all! ✨Our goal is $26K before 2026 to be exclusively used by Porchlight artists producing new music with our studio partner, Still Small Sound, starting in the New Year.

Will you help us get there?

This season we're delighted to announce an official partnership with Still Small Sound, a trusted music recording studio in Blairsville, GA that will expand what we can offer to our Porchlight artists: music production. Our goal is to raise $26,000 to be exclusively used for producing new music begi...

10/31/2025

October has been FULL of art + hospitality. 🍂 Thanks to all the Porchlight Hosts making it happen.

James Koan III Music was just in Gastonia, NC this week and is headed to [ashling] Booksellers in Toccoa, GA tomorrow. ✨

Over the weekend, John Van Deusen played two house concerts, a studio space, and a church in Upstate New York.

See the next gatherings here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/porchlight-an-arthospitality-network-33415493477

And learn more at: https://porchlight.art

07/17/2025

Like many hosts, getting people to actually show up to a house concert can be a little tricky. “It’s sometimes hard to get people on board to come in and really be immersed in this music,” Emily expressed, “to take the time to sit and listen.”

Attention and listening are access points to an experience and need cultivation and care to thrive...

“The people who have come and been a part of it have loved it,” Emily continued, “I feel like it’s kind of hard soil. I don’t want to say it takes work because it doesn’t feel like work on my end, but it takes time. And you have to keep doing it over and over again in order to really get people to go like, ‘Oh, this is important. It’s more than just being entertained.’ That’s what I want people to experience.”

Catch the full blog from this day last year from Emily's perspective.

During Hume Lake's slower season, Emily hosts Porchlight artists for house concerts and an annual Creative Arts Conference.

06/18/2025

We invite you to the Tuned Up Stage on Sunday of for a mini-conference on .✨ We look forward to seeing you!

05/27/2025

Have you read, “Don’t Let a Messy House Stop You From Hosting: No One Cares as Much as You Do” by Allie Volpe at Vox?

Mockingbird recently shared this out and we wanted to share with you, too...

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"The primary goal of a host should be to pay attention to guests, not a stray toy. Davis says to focus your efforts on making the room where you’ll be hanging out comfortable for guests. Think practically: providing a place to sit (that isn’t covered in pet hair), making sure the floor is clear so people can walk around, offering drinks and snacks on fresh dishes, ensuring the bathroom is clean…

“In the moments where we are a bit imperfect or we’re a little raw or we’re a little unpolished,” Petersel says, “we’re actually giving other people permission to show up as their full selves.”"

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When we get a bit more specific about what is required versus what we mentally add on, hosting becomes much more manageable, right?

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Performative Tidying, The Most Rejected Generation, and Young People’s New Search for Religion