An arts fair that gives rather than sells
Beauty for the Broken-Hearted Art Festival
There is comfort for you.
Sat Aug 29 2026
2-5pm
The Great Lawn, Tappan, NY
Artist-led booths where YOU create
Art show, music, poetry, spoken word
4pm Dance and drama about a true story of true comfort for a broken heart
… and food trucks!
It’s all about who you know. Tappan Reformed Church owned the park; they had a strong relationship with One Church. We were on!
One Church took the lead on the backend:
they got permits,
they put up yard signs (and re-put-up yard signs regularly because the town kept taking them down!),
they ordered the food trucks (high-demand ones too- like lobster!)
Randy got the whole crew to make tons of funny Instagram videos
they ran the kids’ crafts,
they ordered and managed the bounce house,
their prayer teams ran the Prayer tent.
they had a connection with the stage and sound crew, who were essential!
Their set-up and clean-up crews were abundant and super helpful. We needed every hand.
The vision was to use the arts as a form of evangelism and to partner with a church that could do the relational and spiritual follow up with the guests who came. One Church exceeded our expectations. It was an honor to partner with them.
Plus, their worship leaders jumped on the chance to write and record songs, to perform during the open mic, and to play their songs during the musical of Beauty for the Brokenhearted. Thank you Trey, Anna, Justin, and the One Church choir!
One visitor said this to me as her child drew at my tent:
“Thank you. This is different than other art fairs. You actually care about us. Other ones that come through don’t.”
I replied, “We do care. And there’s a local church with lots of the talent you see on stage and lots of this free stuff to enjoy that lives among you and will continue to care for you. Because this love is a gift.”
That was all I could get out with the time we had. The local church is needed.
Artist missionaries are needed too. This time, God used Dandelion to bring the vision, the artistic and spiritual meat; God used One Church and Reformed Church to be the anchor and follow-up. He gathered dear friends, artist missionaries, from PA to MA to ME who have the same heart too. We could not have done it without them.
· Dave Edwards produced the music and provided the musical anchor for all our songs
· Dan Miller (@dan.miller.art) designed the tile-making tent, which Andrew Loy ran from Redeemer Franklin
· Dan Sylvia and his boy band (the talented Isaiah, Eli, and Noah Sylvia) from Redeemer Franklin wrote, recorded, and performed
· Mariah and Mitchell from Lancaster, PA ran an artist tent and art project and performed
· Finally, God gave us a divine appointment with our dancer, Johnnier from New Generation Church. She was Skylar’s hip hop teacher last year. Skylar loved her; I met her when she sold popcorn for her church’s dance program. And another divine appointment was with the male dancer, James! It just so happened that James attends One Church. It also just so happens that Johnnier and James knew each other! It encouraged them as they prepared to take a risk in dance. Their dance really elevated the story. It’s like God knows what He’s doing ;)
This could be repeated. An arts festival outreach with a musical dance at the center, art-making tents in service to the theme, play-zone for kids, food trucks, artist missionaries and a local church(es). A missionary arts organization (like Dandelion or another) that partners with the local church so they can delight their neighbors with art, witness to Jesus’ grace in creative ways, and ignite their people to use their gifts to serve and witness.
listen to the original songs in BEAUTY FOR THE BROKENHEARTED on YouTube!!!!
It all started at the first official Dandelion Artist Retreat in January. There, we shared a vision to use music and art to share the Gospel in an outreach. Do you want to partner with us, we asked? Many did. One Church took the lead to host. On that retreat, 4 songs were written. I and other artists dreamed of art projects for a crowd. On the retreat, we looked at how Jesus binds up the brokenhearted women who then thank him by pouring expensive perfume on his feet mixed with their tears. The perfume is an artist’s artwork given to thank her redeemer. Expensive. Wasteful. Comes from gratitude and faith. Worth it. When we got home, Sean wrote two more songs for the woman to sing, making us all relate to her and all receive from Jesus. He narrated John 8, Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery who then leads into Luke 7, the sinful woman anointing Jesus’ feet with perfume and tears. He wove in Justin Taveres’ song and the Sylvia’s song as crescendos. We asked Johnnier if she would dance to it. We needed a Jesus… Pastor JP suggested James. We needed Pharisees. Brave non-actors stood in. We had the message: Jesus binds up our broken hearts, even when we do the unthinkable. His forgiveness redeems every pain. He is for you.
The artist tents: “Make your own art.” Each one had a different medium (material) and project. We all gave examples for guests to glean inspiration. We also hung our own art with our social media pages so people could gaze and ponder.
· Printmaking: Mariah cut lino prints for guests to paint and print with suggested Bible verses to explore later.
· Tile decorating: Andrew and Dan hosted tile decorating. Dan made wood ash to mix into paint pigment and acrylic medium. The wood ash symbolized beauty from ashes.
· Oil pastel on black paper: I hosted “bring color to the black page” with oil pastels. It was the most open-ended project, but that meant that people lingered. I could chat and listen.
· Group project: paint pen on wood. “Tell us about your broken heart. What makes you sad or mad? What breaks your heart?” This project invited the crowd to emote, to connect, to grieve. There was comfort in store.
Broken Heart collaborative art project. Our eldest ran this tent like a pro. People really got into it.
When it was time to start the musical, Rhyan and I reassembled the heart pieces. We carried it to the front. Sean began the story.
“This is a true story of how a woman with a broken heart was deeply comforted and it changed her life…”
Rhyan and I undid the heart pieces and threw them on the grass, then walked to the side. The dance began.
During the story, Pharisees (religious leaders) accuse the woman of adultery (not the man, though). They pick up stones to throw at her in punishment. The stones were the broken heart pieces. Jesus intervenes. He convicts the accusers of their own guilt. He forgives the woman and sets her free with a new identity, newly bestowed dignity, a new Love who will never abandon her. Rhyan and I picked up the heart pieces from the grass. We painted gold in the cracks as the woman and Jesus danced, revealing a cross in red. Every kind of art was used in storytelling, music, dance, acting, painting. The best part about it is that the story is true. And it’s for you.
We are deeply grateful to Creo Arts for kickstarting this project.
Thank you.
Your passion to see the beauty, goodness, and truth of Jesus magnified through the arts inspires us.
