CONFERENCE DIRECTOR
Dr. Colin Harbinson, International Director of StoneWorks
Dr. Colin Harbinson was born in London, England, and has been involved in many varied aspects of the arts and education for 40 years. Colin created the internationally acclaimed production Toymaker & Son that has been performed in over 70 countries. Dayuma, another of is internationally performed productions, completed a successful twenty-one city theatre tour of the United States.
Recognized internationally as a pioneer and leader in his field, Colin’s work as a writer, director and producer has won numerous industry awards, including the prestigious Golden Halo Award from the Southern California Motion Picture Council.
Colin is the Founder and President of International Festival of the Arts that pioneered Sacred Fire, the first East-West arts festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Love Without Borders festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Ode to Joy festival in Kunming China involved over 700 artists from 21 countries and was the largest international arts festival of its kind in the history of that nation.
He is a sought after teacher and conference speaker who has lectured in over 40 countries. He is the former editor of the Creative Spirit, a journal on the arts and faith. He also chaired the LCWE Redeeming the Arts Issue group for the 2004 Forum in Thailand and was appointed Senior Associate for the arts with the Lausanne Movement.
Until recently, Colin has served as the Dean of the Arts at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi for the past seven years. Colin currently works at Belhaven as the International Director of StoneWorks – a new Belhaven initiative on global arts partnership for cultural reformation. He lives in the United States with his wife, Maureen.
CONFERENCE COORDINATOR
G. Richard Ryan, InterVarsity Staff Worker
G. Richard Ryan (Dick) attended the School of Music of Northwestern University and received a Masters degree from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.
Shortly after graduation from Northwestern, he worked as Production Stage Manager for the Ravinia Festival – one of the largest Festivals in the Country. Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Louie Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonius Monk, and Bob Dylan were a few of the artists booked that summer. Dick got to know each one personally.
Dick then worked 7 years on the production staff at Lyric Opera of Chicago, bringing him into contact with many of the great artists, conductors and directors of the international opera and ballet world. During this time, he conducted Summer Stock orchestras in several states and formed a chamber orchestra in Chicago.
When Dick met his wife, Donna Ehrler Ryan – a professional ballerina and choreographer – they moved to Europe for three years, working there in several different countries. They settled in Michigan where Dick worked as Artisitic Director and Prinicipal Conductor of a regional music theatre for 17 years. As a producer, Dick established a large Summer Festival, featuring hundreds of touring artists and ensembles.
In 1989, Dick left the music theatre business, focusing on the healing issues that many artistic people need to lead rewarding lives. He now works full-time for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, traveling to universities to meet with students studying the arts – musicians, theatre/media people, visual artists, creative writers and dancers.
