Hutchmoot is famously difficult to describe. If you’re like many, you’re packing your bags this week and making last-minute travel plans and deflecting lots of questions from friends and family like “What exactly is this Hootchmoot thing?” So last year we put out a basket and a stack of 3×5 cards and asked guests to write down how they would describe Hutchmoot to a friend. This is what they had to say. How do you describe Hutchmoot?
“A place where being a Psychology and English major is not questioned but commended. Plus C.S. Lewis.”
“‘Hutchmoot.’ ‘Hutchmoot? God bless you…and what in the world is that?’ A conference of (all my favorite) singer/songwriters, writers and artists to discuss truth and beauty and how it mirrors the creator in works of art, literature, and song.”
“Hippie commune.”
“A gathering of pipe smoking, tweed wearing, nerdy rabbits.”
“Readers, writers, musicians, lovers of all things beautiful. A place where “Me too!” resonates in the halls.”
“A gathering of speaking impaired rabbits.”
“Unexpected. Curiously delicious.”
“A chance to find out that all the Rabbit Room guys are just a little chubbier than you thought (and even more cool than you’d hoped).”
“I’m going to hang out with my nerd friends. Stop asking questions while I’m reading.”
“A gathering of Christians who try to tell the story of Jesus in all art forms.”
“I don’t.”
“A community gathered around a common cause: glorifying God through good art and restoring the world.”
“A time to learn and meet great people.”
“A place where a bunch of like-minded people meet to explore a work that has been started.”
“A creativity conference for Christ-followers in all walks of life—writers, musicians, artists, pastors, moms, bankers, doctors…”
“Jedi Council for the hopeless romantic.”
“It’s like summer camp for grownups.”
“A weekend foray into story, art, the virtues, and the pleasures.”
“An eclectic gathering of kindred spirits to the end of glorifying God through the conversations had, friendships birthed, and souls refreshed by the wonder of the world we are reminded of.”
“It’s a conference that helps us remember that we were called to take part in Creation with sessions on specific areas of living the creative life.”
“A conference about the intersection of faith and creativity.”
“A gathering of friends you’ve never met yet!”
“A time of encouragement with like-minded people to see God where he may be seen, to recognize the importance of our parts in telling the story, as the conduits, co-laborers, and beloved children.”
“Creative bunnies of all stripes meet, mate (intellectually speaking) and have an inestimable number of offspring!”
“If you have to ask then you don’t know.”
“‘What the heck is Hutchmoot?’ (they pronounce it Hootch-moot :/) ‘Um…it’s a…well, it’s a music conference…in Nashville. Yeah. It’s a music conference…*wince* Cool.'”
“A place where the arts intersect at the cross.”
“The intersection of art, thought, and salvation.”
“A place to be sad together and celebrate together.”
“Nerdy conference/retreat thing (I think at Hutchmoot #1 Jason Gray called it a “gathering around Christ-centered, story-focused community”).”
“Nerd mafia.”
“Where astronauts go to play guitar solos in front of stained glass windows and crucifixes.”
“Hutchmoot is like a man who traveled east to see the dawn, and saw it—its first beams piercing furtively through the trees, its advancing golden fingers stealing away the silver mists; its light dancing in resolute, hopeful eyes, and playing in limbs and fingers not its own. And the man, having seen it, traveled west, back to his home, to announce: ‘Dawn is coming!’ But his face betrayed him, so that even before he could draw breath to proclaim the news, a little girl walked up to him and asked: ‘Mr. Man, what is the morning light like?'”