by MEREDITH M. GRIFFITH

Special to the Sounder

Can crabbed age and youth live together? Judging by his sonnet on that theme, Shakespeare had his doubts.

The question will be explored by academics, artists and mere mortals on Orcas Island at KindlingsFest July 25-28.

“At KindlingsFest we want to explore how to create a richer intergenerational future,” says Dick Staub, Kindlings founder and pastor of the Orcas Island Community Church.

KindlingsFest is the fifth annual “celebration of art and ideas where they intersect with the spiritual.” Folks of all spiritual and religious traditions are welcome at the four-day event held at the community church.

This year’s theme is “Crabbed Age and Youth Cannot Live Together: Towards Creating An Intergenerational Future In A Fragmented Age.”

“The Kindlings is a relational, intergenerational movement whose mission is to rekindle the spiritual, intellectual and creative legacy of Christians in culture,” says Staub.

By Staub’s observation, post-World War II marketing strategies sliced and diced populations by demographics, resulting in communities divided by age groups, with the young cut off from the wisdom of their elders and the gray-haired missing out on the energy and innovation of youth.

By way of contrast, Staub notes that our past was rich with guilds and apprenticeships, Socratic dialogue at The Academy, mentors and spiritual directors, saying that it is only in recently that culture has lost those inter-age connections.

The KindlingsFest schedule will include lectures by Cambridge University theologian and poet Malcolm Guite, daily meditations by C.S. Lewis scholar Dr. Jerry Root, performances by UK-born guitarist and composer Jason Carter, indie band Family and Friends, and contemplative Celtic music from Jeff Johnson, Wendy Goodwin. Also presenting will be Fulbright scholar and painter Jeremy Mangan, writer Jim Riordan, Dr. Jeff Keuss, actor Nigel Goodwin, photographer Dieter Zander and more.

The event will also feature an evening BagEnd Cafe with open mic, an artwalk in Eastsound, and three films selected from the annual Sundance Film Festival that relate to this year’s theme.

“Orcas Island’s older generation has a wealth of experience and our younger generation is hungry for learning,” says Staub.

He invites islanders and visitors – young and old – to come and join the dialogue, making merriment, art and memories together at KindlingsFest 2012.

For more info or to register, call 376-6422 (10 a.m.-3 p.m. M-F), or visit www.thekindlings.com/kindlingsfest/.