Our community is growing — and it’s all thanks to you.

Dear Friends of the Singing Tree™ Project,

I need your help so that Unity Through Creativity can keep serving the world with its peacebuilding efforts.

“The greatest thing about making the Singing Tree mural was the deep sense of community that developed as we went along. … I saw kids working together who don’t normally choose to be together, and I saw so much kindness.”

This year has seen a great intensification of our work. We have had 13 Singing Trees in progress, most of them completed and a number still in progress. You can see the full year’s work here.

With your support, our work is making a difference throughout the United States and across the world, in places such as Cyprus, Uganda, Japan, and England.

One of the most important events for us was our first in-person event in El Paso, Texas, where we organized a celebration of the International Day of Peace with our partner, the Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest. Please watch the video below to get a taste of this joyful event.

With the El Paso community, we created the Nectarine Singing Tree of Peace. Over 120 people attended the event, marked by addresses by Pastor Mike Grady and Prof. Neema Soratgar and featuring such local artists as Grupo Folklórico Valle del Sol, featured in the video.

I learned that if we could come together to make a mural in a short time, then we could come together to change global warming.

If we can come together to make a Singing Tree mural, we can come together to do anything—this is the lesson people are taking from the Singing Tree Project.

What the world needs right now is people—children, youth, and adults—experiencing that each individual’s voice matters and that what they do can impact their own lives, the lives of their communities, and the entire world. With your help, we will launch into 2023 and extend our work of bringing empowerment to thousands of people around the world and the confidence that they matter and can bring about change and peace. Please—join us in our work and give generously.

With many thanks, Laurie Founder and President

A work in progress with 3rd -12th graders at East Oakland Boxing Association, with Certified Singing Tree™ Facilitator Leslie Rein

El Paso Celebration of the International Day of Peace

Unity Through Creativity Foundation and the Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest hosted a celebration of the International Day of Peace Keystone Heritage Park and Botanical Garden on Sept. 21st, 2022. It was attended by 120 people. This event was part of over 4500 celebrations of the 40th anniversary of this international holiday.

The Unity Through Creativity (UTC) Foundation is a visual arts organization dedicated to bringing connection, compassion, and creativity to address discord in community. The Singing Tree™ Mural Project is UTC’s flagship program, with over 110 murals completed over the last 20 years.

The Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest is part of the nationwide Interfaith Alliance. The Interfaith Alliance seeks to offer opportunities to promote mutual understanding and respect through education and dialogue. They are celebrating their tenth anniversary on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 23rd.

Grandma Bea Villegas and Maria Cadillo hold the opening ceremony. Photo by Patricia Delgado

The International Day of Peace featured nine speakers and performers and 18 vendors. Television and radio broadcaster Monica Gomez emceed. Grandma Beatriz Villegas gave the ceremonial opening to the day. The speakers included:

• Neema Soratgar, a guest Scholar in Women Studies at University of Texas in El Paso, spoke about her experience narrowly escaping with her children from Afghanistan in 2021. She was the first woman to drive in Afghanistan in 2001 when the Taliban first fell and carried the Afghanistan flag in the Olympics in 2004.

• The Rev. Michael Grady spoke about "Ending Racism, Building Peace" and the recovery of his daughter from the Walmart massacre in August, 2019.

• Jacklyn Correan, 16, of Loretto High School, won the essay contest sponsored by Unity Through Creativity and the Interfaith Alliance. She read her essay, "One Must Work AtIt", about Eleanor Roosevelt's writing of the Declaration of Human Rights.

• Bettina Escudero led a guided meditation, accompanied by the cello playing of ProMusica.

• Laurie Marshall, the founder of Unity Through Creativity and the Singing Tree Mural Project, spoke about the neurobiology of creating peace.

• Fernanda Lugo led the attendees in Yoga throughout the day.

• Young Tigua men shared the Eagle dance, and the Grupo Folklorico Valle del Sol invited everyone to join in the dancing.

• The day closed with songs of Anna Maria Rosales, a native of El Paso whose works have been featured on Grey's Anatomy.

Nectarine Singing Tree Mural of Peace in process. Photo by Laurie Marshall

Other presenters and vendors included Rainbow Borderland; Pax Christi; the Veterans’ Administration Care Giver Support;Annunciation House; Abara Frontera; Quakers of El Paso;The League of Women Voters; Dialogue Institute Southwest; Volar (serving those who are differently-abled), and the St. Columban Mission for Justice, Peace and Ecology, who sold handbags embroidered by women trapped in Juarez; the Desert Bloom Healing Collective; and artist Pamela Vigo Sanchez.

Raindrop Turkish House contributed meals to all the vendors and offered Turkish savory and sweet food to the public.

Participants expressed surprise at the number of peacebuilding organizations that are working in the El Paso area. Takeaways included:

• There are many amazing, interconnected organizations in El Paso working towards Peace.

People who attended commented,: “I loved meeting many positive, committed, serious and fun-loving people.” “ It gives me hopefulness for peace in this city and in the world.”

“I need to become aware of my local charities and pick some to be active in.””All different communities came together for good and to make a difference..”

Women trapped in Juarez make handbags sold by St. Columban Mission.

The attendees identified these issues now confronting El Paso that can be addressed through the peacebuilding effort of Unity Through Creativity, the Interfaith Alliance, and the other many peacebuilding organizations in and around El Paso:

• Racism and prejudice

• Food deserts (areas devoid of groceries stores)

• Housing instability

• Environmental degradation

• Distribution of wealth and opportunity

• Migration

• Gender equity

The public can add their voice and vision to the Nectarine Singing Tree of Peace at this free,

fun family event on Sunday, Oct. 23rd, 3:00 – 5:00 pm at Keystone Heritage Park.

International Day of Peace

In 2001, my mentor, Avon Mattison, saw the proposal she made to the United Nations come true - the establishment of the International Day of Peace. Since then, on September 21st each year, there are worldwide cease fires and increased efforts to make peace a reality. Avon, whose name rhymes with Heaven, made that happen. Whenever she talked with me, I felt bathed in Divine Love. She always inquired enthusiastically about Singing Tree Project, which gave me strength to keep going in the face of obstacles.

Avon saw the United Nations' as a "Divine Plan for the Unified Souls of all Nations to move from a culture of war, violence and separation to one of regeneration and peace." She also said "Peace is a verb. It includes actions for the benefit of ALL life... We don't know what the future holds. We cannot be attached to the outcome."

Avon passed away at the age of 80 on Oct. 13, 2021, leaving Pathways to Peace to carry on her work. I have kept her last message on my phone. When I am struggling, I raise my vibration by listening to her angelic voice.

This time last year, Unity Through Creativity celebrated 20 years of the Singing Tree Project - on-line. What a gathering of Peace Leaders that was! It affirmed the power of creativity and collaboration to pro-actively build a culture of peace. Thank you to everyone who joined us for that rich dialogue.

This year, we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the International Day of Peace at Keystone Heritage Park in El Paso, Texas - in-person. We will be remembering Avon Mattison, the visionary founder of this international holiday. We will also be exploring the UN's 2022 goal of the day: End Racism, Build Peace. We are proud to partner with the Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest, whose extensive network in El Paso is helping us bring together the multi-cultural, mutli-racial, multi-generational Village that is the basis of a healthy democracy.

Here's the beginning of the Singing Tree Mural that will be unveiled and contributed to at our celebration. Our focus is on Peace with the Earth, Peace with Each Other and Peace Within Ourselves. Please share what you are doing to celebrate the Fall Equinox and the International Day of Peace. Let us amplify the waves of Peace - doing conflict well - as an alternative to letting our differences destroy our planet and each other. We'd love to hear from you...

To end, I'd like share another commentary in El Paso Matters on-line newspaper about the power of Connection, Purpose and Creativity to help end gun violence. Please share your ideas and actions to heal, regenerate and transform the disfunction and harm we are witnessing. We are in this together.

With Gratitude,

Laurie