Susan Bailey (SB) joined Disciples with Microphones (DwM) several months ago and has brought a depth of gifts to the community. She is a musician and the founder, publisher, and editor of GrapeVine Magazine. I was excited when she agreed to be interviewed.

DwM: You are the publisher of GrapeVine magazine. What is GrapeVine?

SB: GrapeVine is the premier online magazine devoted to performing artists of the Catholic faith. There has been a growing grassroots movement over the last several years of independent musicians of various styles who serve the Lord through their music. Some evangelize, others encourage, some just perform the best music they can to glorify God.

GrapeVine has a dual mission: First, to support the community of Catholic artists. Recognizing that proclaiming the Gospel through music can be challenging and at times isolating, GrapeVine seeks to build fellowship and friendship amongst all Christian artists which would then encourage a generous sharing of talents and knowledge, leading to further growth and excellence. Secondly, recognizing the power of music to encourage and evangelize, GrapeVine’s second mission is to expose this music to as many people as possible, that their hearts may be touched and encouraged by the Gospel message it proclaims.

GrapeVine at the moment is only available online and is free, supported by paid advertising. Readers can look at the articles and download the ads on the GrapeVine website; they also have the option of downloading a PDF file which contains a professionally designed, full color magazine which they are free to print out.

DwM: Why did you start the magazine?

SB: I started GrapeVine six years ago because of a prompting from the Blessed Virgin Mary. I recall sensing a short but strong message from her to start the magazine because I had all the tools at my disposal. I had always enjoyed encouraging and promoting other artists, and with my graphic arts and newspaper backgrounds, it seemed like the natural thing to do.

DwM: What is your assessment of the current state of Contemporary Catholic music?

SB: I believe that Catholic music is growing, slowly, but growing. The professionalism and quality of CD projects has definitely gone up over the past couple of years as the technology makes the recording of CDs more and more accessible to people. The writing, production and performance skills are improving all the while. But it is still a very underground, grassroots movement. While there is some recognition within in the Catholic Church, it is small. Music is not recognized on its own as a means of evangelization. It is an important component for liturgy and is used frequently to support talks, seminars, conventions and retreats, but the power of music to move hearts and aid in conversion is yet to be fully recognized and appreciated, in my humble opinion. Many Catholic artists feel they have been called by God to a vocation and they work tirelessly at their craft and their ministries without much formal support. Yet, only a very small percentage of Catholics know about them.

Artists must be commended for sticking together. If the artist community wasn’t so strong, Catholic music would not survive. As our Lord said, “Where two or three are gathered, there I am in your midst.”

DwM: Catholic musicians seem to be hesitant in adopting podcasting as a medium for promoting their music, do you see a change on the horizon?

SB: Not yet. I believe the problem is twofold: one, because artists do not understand what podcasting is and therefore do not realize its tremendous potential; and two, because there are no direct money making opportunities associated with podcasting. It is perceived as yet another “give-away” - understandable since it is so difficult to make money as a Catholic musician, and the bills still have to be paid!

I believe that podcasters need to make it a major priority to educate everyone they come in contact with about podcasts. De-mystify it. Speak about it without using a lot of technical language. A lot of the problem is that people associate it, naturally, with iPods, and if they’ve never seen or operated an iPod, the whole thing is a big mystery. I was quite surprised when I finally realized that podcasts are just big mp3 files, just like music files! And I consider myself fairly tech savvy.

If people who listen to podcasts have compelling stories about why they listen, they need to tell people! For myself, podcasts have greatly affected my spiritual life, changed the direction of my ministry, weaned me off of talk radio (which I listened to for many years) and opened me up to the world of digital recording on the computer. How’s that for a testimony! ?

If Catholic musicians could see the tremendous potential that podcasting offers to their ministries (especially since many artists are already familiar with digital recording and related technologies), they’d get involved in a minute! We need to tell them.

DwM: What can podcasters do to more effectively reach out to the Catholic music world?

SB: Podcasters need to venture beyond the internet world more and talk to people, including Catholic musicians, in real life - their friends, people in their parishes, people at work, wherever you can get together with someone and talk face-to-face. Show people exactly how a podcast works - help them download a program, or, burn a program to a CD and share it with them. Those of us who are blessed with computer savvy need to remember that there are many who are not, and it is up to us to patiently show them all the treasures podcasts afford them.

I also believe that podcasters very much need to advertise their podcasts in the print media, whether it is through postcards, a mailing, a newsletter, or other such options. People need to see something concrete to make it real.

I think tremendous strides were made at the Atlanta Eucharistic Conference with the Willits and Fr. Roderick. Through their patient effort to explain and demonstrate the power of podcasting, the Atlanta Diocese has given Catholic podcasting a desperately needed stamp of legitimacy. This is a tremendous accomplishment and promises many good things to come.

DwM: Thanks so much Susan.

Website: http://www.gvonline.net

Tags: Catholic Media, Music, Interview, Susan Bailey, Grapevine Magazine | 1 Comment »