Catching up - and a frantic reflection on Peace

So....Peace Day 2010 has now come and gone, and after a year of work in the build-up to those events, we thought we would now be taking a short breather  - but things at Listen for Life seem to be even faster-paced (and therefore less peaceful? or maybe not) than before!

My last blog entry was written from Europe, so a little catch-up report and reflection might be necessary:
In mid-September I was honored to give UN Peace Day-related performances in Croatia, Bosnia, and in England, before returning to Oakland California 2 days prior to Listen for Life's inaugural launch of Peace Day events for our home city. None of us knew what to expect from our 1st Annual (we hope) Festival for Peace in Oakland, in terms of audience turn-out, reaction to the scheduled programs and events we'd put together, any press attendance/coverage, or the overall response to our year of work on the part of the city, the participant listeners and performers, or the dedicated volunteers who helped us dramatically in the final 24-hour push after my return.
In the end, the day (and its aftermath) has been an absolute roller-coaster of emotions, reactions, and energy levels, for all of us....a "top ten" list of those emotions might read as follows:

1. Urgency: In the hours prior to Peace Day we had been offered the opportunity to place musicians in yet another additional venue which was in an important downtown location, so on September 21st after 3 hours asleep we awoke at dawn to create last-minute flyers that volunteers then handed out to nearby office workers, city hall employees, and passers-by in an attempt to draw an audience there unannounced.

2. Gratitude: Busy with that urgent task, I couldn't get the chance to visit a city senior center/shelter and soup kitchen where one of our musicians James Brooks (JB) was meanwhile serenading the elderly guests with songs of their era, but I heard later from the staff there that everyone loved his suave voice and outgoing, friendly participation in their Peace Day activities so much that they are begging him to come back on a regular basis  - and he has generously agreed!

3. Excitement: Thanks to the proactive work of one of our enthusiastic senior volunteers, another senior center in town picked up the Peace Day purpose in a big way and had an entire day of activities including a meaningful drum circle where the Alzheimers patients, especially, were a huge success!

4. Surprise (and gratitude): Some press showed up! So did our wonderful ally at the Special Events commission, Jim McIlvaine, who gave us tremendous encouragement and moral support in trying to "put Oakland on the map for a positive reason" over our last 11 months of work. And so did our equally supportive and very active city councilwoman Nancy Nadel, who was kind enough to respond when I spontaneously invited her to come up to the mic and speak to the audience and press with me, in front of City Hall, about the year-round significance of Peace Day for our city. Her words were very moving and exactly on target - I couldn't have hoped for more, if we had planned it!

5. Dismay: despite the hard work of our Listen for Life team and volunteers over many previous weeks/months and the assistance of seasoned PR professionals on our team - contacting newspapers, radio, TV, online Oakland blogs, and printing/distributing over 7,000 color flyers that listed all of the venues for free music concerts throughout the city - we learned the hard way just how challenging it can be to start something new! We had been warned that when looking at all of the really big, successful music festivals or city celebrations in any community, it is easy to forget that in their first one or two years, very few people knew about it or participated. These things apparently take a long while to spread by word of mouth, and some people wait to see the quality of the event and the artists in the first year or two before getting involved. But that didn't alter the feelings of exhausted disappointment while surveying the smaller-than-hoped-for crowds at each of our venues on the day, we have to admit!

6. Joy (and gratitude):  The musicians, at every single one of the venues, were absolutely incredible! And they played with heart regardless of the number of people in their audience. I felt so gratified that these nationally and internationally renowned performers had all agreed so freely to come out for Listen for Life on a weeknight and donate their time - and amazing talents- in an attempt to build something positive and new for the citizens of Oakland through the sharing of cross-cultural music. It was wonderful to watch the joy that they gave to their listeners, and it was even more wonderful to see the musicians stay to listen to each other perform, create new friendships amongst each other, and discuss future jam sessions combining their instruments and cultures. This was an unplanned but very important result from the year of planning!

7. Pride: Listen for Life was proud to have the support of so many fantastic musicians for this cause that we could create non-stop cross-cultural music programs at several different simultaneous venues across Oakland. And without exception, at each of those venues, every audience member asked our volunteers if those particular musicians would be back next year, saying that they had never, ever heard such incredible musicians perform, all under one roof, and all for free. They also thanked us for creating such a nice way to raise awareness of the message and meaning of Peace Day for Oakland.........

8. Relief:    So......the musicians all thought it was fantastic, and I am humbled that so many of these world-class musicians have taken the time to write us thank-you notes (for letting them share their gifts for free?!), saying what a wonderful experience it was and how appreciative the audiences were and to definitely put them down for "next year" .....the venue administrators have all written to say how impressed they were the performances and how gratified they felt to be part of this inaugural Festival for Peace in their city, and to please put them down for "next year" (adding that they promise to help more with publicity-sigh)......the volunteers and press have all told us they thought it was a huge success......

9. Exhaustion:  (compounded with jet lag, and regret about lack of TV or radio coverage, but enough said....)

10. Discovery:  We have learned a tremendous amount. We started this process a year ago at the request of UN-related organizations in Geneva that have asked  Listen for Life to create music festivals or concert performances around the world to raise awareness of the UN Millennium Development Goals and/or of UN Peace Day. We already knew that some of our musicians would be performing in Peace Day-related events in various countries, like my concerts performances in Croatia, Bosnia, and the UK. But we looked around our US headquarters in Oakland and thought about the tremendous positive impact that the celebration of Peace Day - and the use of cross-cultural music to create that celebration - could have on this city. If we had known how much work it would take over an entire year, for our very small Oakland based team of volunteers - in the midst of our many other separate and simultaneous projects like the MusicMessage Campaign and Notes for Nourishment and the Travels with Music production series - I do not know if we would have started. But once we started, our team became "the little engine that could". When one of us got discouraged with the lack of resources or hours in a day, another person would jump in with energy and enthusiasm. We took turns encouraging each other and sharing tips on how to stay awake on long nights of work! But in the end, what we have realized is that OUR mission is to the MUSICIANS. Pure and simple. 
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What we have learned is that the Peace Day performances were NOT, as we had thought, the completion of a year-long work process but were actually the celebration, beginning and LAUNCH of a whole 365 day process of planning, working, and thinking about ways to promote peace in our hearts, homes AND community - through music!   We have no intentions to be the event-planners for Oakland Peace Day the next zillion years hence. Our role is as the catalyst - to create the model, let other organizations (hopefully!) run with it, and simply continue to provide the musicians who have heart enough to do this - not only in Oakland, but in cities and towns all across the world, wherever we are invited and wherever we have Listen for Life musicians and volunteers to make it happen! 

So here is what I said to the 120+ musicians who took part in our 2010 Festival for Peace when I wrote to thank each one of them this past week: 

"What we have realized is that OUR mission is to the musicians themselves - to YOU! 

Our mission is to inspire YOU and to help you create the opportunities to continue to share your gifts in ways that will inspire OTHERS. Only then will we have fully succeeded. Only then can we rest a little bit. And between the Listen for Life work and my own global concert tours each month, believe me, I could use a little rest - so please, come be inspired and come join us in inspiring others! 

If you like the idea of giving performances in your own community or countrywide YEAR-ROUND to help raise funds for various causes, then check out our newest global project called Notes for Nourishment (www.listenforlife.org/notesfornourishment) and tell other musicians you know in ANY location and any country about this concept, as our goal is simply to be the catalyst for more events, ideas and positive musical ACTION worldwide. If meanwhile you have thoughts, venues, volunteers, suggestions or ideas for next Peace Day in your own communities please let us know asap! If we organize things NOW for next Peace Day (September 21, 2011) it will be ......maybe?.....a little less frantic and a little more Peace-filled....."

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One activity we will be launching in the next 1-2 weeks is the creation of a short weekly video on YouTube that will outline steps/action items for any musicians in other cities/countries wishing to organize Peace Day music concerts in their own communities for next year. Some of those initial steps need to happen this month and next, so if you do know musicians or groups in other cities/countries who were excited and inspired by what you did for Oakland, get them to watch these videos or let us know who they are and we will be happy to contact them with support and help. 

As for me, I have spent the days since Peace Day trying to play catch-up with some of the other Listen for Life projects, including upcoming Notes for Nourishment concerts in Hawaii November 15-22 and in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia November 28-December 8. 
But meanwhile, Listen for Life musicians Winnie Wong (China) and Vanessa Vo (Vietnam) are combining forces (and cultures) in a very rare duo concert later this month in San Francisco so our immediate project is to help with the PR and get the word out about that - so please stay tuned! [Please see this post for full concert details!]

Know any teachers? or Students? of course you do! (I hope!)

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay of several days now since my last posting but I have had several performances in the interim - as singer, pianist, and/or conductor - in different venues. I really appreciate all of you who have taken the time to share your comments on my first posting, and am especially grateful for your enthusiastic encouragement for our mission!

Speaking of that "mission", I will be writing from Geneva (Switzerland) next week! I will be there February 22-28 for a variety of meetings with individuals, organisations, NGOs, UN-related offices, and potential funders for our projects. I have also been asked to speak at an international conference there, about the creation of online communities and cybervolunteering as a way to improve cross-cultural sharing and human rights issues. Since Listen for Life, the global non-profit that I founded, has projects or affiliates in 45 countries worldwide, we are endeavoring to set a real model for cybervolunteering (as well as on-the-ground teams in each location, of course).

I mention this trip to Geneva in particular, today, because I want to tell you about one of the organisations there that we are working with. They are called GenevaWorld and they have a beautiful website (well, in my opinion anyway) in both French and English at www.genevaworld.com ...There you can find a separate section about their "191" project - a group of 191 art works created by children around the world, expressing their own cultural views to the world and to each other - with the intention of touring this exhibit worldwide and letting the youth inspire the adults towards a desire for unity.

Listen for Life has now committed to organising some music from all of these same cultures/countries to be performed at each exhibit location worldwide, including some representative youth performers on each concert. And we have received one generous offer of a host venue for this touring "191" exhibit (and concert) in the USA, for which the GenevaWorld directors are very grateful - and they will be even more excited, I know, if more significant host venues are forthcoming so that people across North America can be made aware of the project.

But that is not the main purpose of my writing this post today. Jean Cordey, the GenevaWorld founder, is a wonderful visionary, constantly seeking ways to let children and youth be the inspiration and driving force for peace and cross-cultural understanding. He is launching a new project and touring exhibition this year, similar to "191" but with a different focus and theme - that of "Children's Views of Child Labour".
To quote him directly:
"We are looking for children (maximum 16 yrs) from all over the world, who are or have been child workers - as well as children who have never been exploited in this way, {but will hopefully have learned about the issue in school from their teachers} - to express their feelings, and share their suffering and/or hope, through their artworks".

There is more specific information about the Child Labour project on the GenevaWorld website, of course, but the important thing to note is that the deadline for receiving the artwork in Geneva is March 31, 2009. That is only 6 weeks from today. Jean tells me that they have activated their own network of correspondents, schools, and teachers throughout the world and they have already received many many drawings....but they can only choose one or two from each country that are submitted, because ideally they want to have representation from each country and culture of the globe in the final exhibits. However, they do not have many contacts in North America and they would ideally like to have 100-150 drawings from this region to choose from, so Jean asked me to get the invitation out to as many teachers/students as I can, as quickly as I can! (there are also some other specific regions where he has fewer contacts, so if you are reading this blog from a location that you suspect may not be included in his current submissions, by all means contact him - or me).....

There were some inspiring discussions that arose from my last posting, about music teachers and the pivotal role they can sometimes (even unknowingly) play in the lives of individuals. In matters of sociology, citizenship, or cultural understanding, parents and teachers (whether in a classroom or home-school environment) again play a pivotal role in creating opportunities for discussions that raise awareness of critical issues around the globe. Both the youth and adults in North America can sometimes run the risk of being isolated from news about human rights or cultural issues that, at first glance, may not seem to affect their lives directly - but once the students learn that their peers in other countries do experience a direct impact from these injustices, then the students in general tend to respond very strongly and with a very empathetic desire to DO something. If we , around the world, can use art and music to harness that instinctive and generous response to action, then Jean Cordey believes that global change on these issues can occur - and more quickly than any governmental bodies would be able to inspire. Don't you agree?

SO- if you know any children up to age 16, or know any teachers (of any subject) with access to students up to age 16, please encourage them to discuss the issue of child labour- its existence, its causes, its impact on the lives of these youth - and to check out the GenevaWorld website for more information on the type of art works being requested, as well as the address and instructions for mailing them.
And once all of the artworks have been submitted in March, and 1-2 have been selected from each country, culture, and age group for the exhibit locations in Geneva and elsewhere, then you are also invited to tell me/us of gifted young musicians whom you might know from each culture, as we begin to plan the cross-cultural music performances that will accompany these powerfully emotive artworks, wherever possible.

Have any of you been directly impacted by child labour issues or experiences, and in what country/culture? I know that we are certainly not immune to these challenges in North America, even if it is less prevalent, obvious, or accepted.

There is an increasing use of music or art as "therapy" to encourage and help people of all ages to express their subconscious feelings about an experience or situation. All art forms can provide a powerful outlet for non-verbal communication, without any need for special skills or years of training in order to benefit from the activity. Some of us probably respond more to music, and others to visual art, while others are helped more by dance and physical movement. General wisdom holds that music is a more "universal" language for use in therapy of this sort, but I am sure each of the art forms will have its supporters. Any thoughts or experiences you would like to share or discuss?