- Laurie Marshall
- Dec 18, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 24, 2024
I need your help in bringing Unity Through Creativity and the Singing Tree Project to a new, global level of impact in creating peace and hope. As one of our dear friends, commenting on this work, said, “When disparate peoples come together with a common goal, hope is created.” The Singing Tree is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year. There are now over 100 Trees in the Singing Tree Forest that have included over 21,000 people. Three programs are leading the Singing Tree into the future:
The 5x5 Program, linking five locales across the world in mutual support of making at least one Singing Tree a year for five years. These projects will include researchers Dr. Maureen Porter and two PHD students at the University of Pittsburgh to make a formal study of the impact of the Singing Trees on the communities.
The Singing Tree Facilitators Certification Program, which is training artists and organizers throughout the world to make Singing Trees, freeing this impulse from my personal involvement while keeping the Singing Trees connected with UTC. Trainees who have completed the six-month online training become members of the Singing Tree Facilitators Guild.
The Refugee Singing Tree Program, which is aimed at working with refugees in settlements throughout the world, beginning with Uganda.
We have already raised $51,300 towards our $100,000 Annual Fund goal. Your gift will support us in working on the many projects we will be undertaking this year which include:
The Kyangwali Refugee Settlement Singing Tree of Healing the Trauma of War, the pilot project in our Refugee Program. This will take place at the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda, home to over 125,000 displaced persons. We plan to expand this work over the next three years to all 19 zones of the settlement. The bare bones budget is $17,000 to get started.
Co-hearts 4, 5 and 6 of the Facilitators Training. Co-heart 4 is already underway. We are aiming for a total enrollment of 30. Many students cannot afford the full fee of $3000. Our scholarship needs are vast. Students receiving scholarships include two facilitators-in-training in Uganda and one in Fiji.
The Cyprus Singing Tree of Peace, part of the 5x5 Program, will be created with our partner, Visual Voices. Eight Turkish and Greek Cypriot young artists will gain leadership and artistic skills to create a mural that will hang at the headquarters of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force on Cyprus. The project will start in January after two years of planning. We've received $13,100 to begin the pilot.
|||. TheSinging Tree of Love and Inclusion at Biondi Elementary School in Yonkers, New York - facilitated by Kristin Linder-Holmes in a school for traumatized youth who have been incarcerated and hospitalized. Students in Workington England, who just completed the Singing Tree of Inclusion and Protection, part of the 5x5 Program, will be connecting to New York students to accompany them in their project.
These are just highlights of the many projects we have planned. We will feature these original collaborative murals in our newsletter over the coming year.
This is what your gift can do:
$25 = A Set of Prismacolor colored pencils for coloring leaves and birds on a Singing Tree mural
$50 = Two 8' x 4' Boards that will make an 8' x 8' Singing Tree
$100 = Paints and brushes for an 8' x 8' mural
$500 = 400 Posters and postcards to distribute the Singing Tree Image throughout the impacted community
$1000 = 3 days of Singing Tree Facilitation with 150 students working on a Singing Tree
$3000 = Full Scholarship for a Six-month Singing Tree Facilitator's Training for a deserving trainee
You can make your gift here or contact me for other giving options. Your support now will help ensure that we can expand the reach of the Singing Tree Project and affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the next 20 years
May the Holidays and New Year be filled with Creativity, Joy and Abundance.
With Gratitude,
Laurie Marshall
