Our True Hearts

Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,

We are seeing authoritarianism increase rapidly across the world today: in the United States, in Poland, in Germany, in Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, India, Hungary, Holland, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Morocco, Algeria…among other places. In the United States, a national police force is emerging that keeps itself masked and refuses to show identification. People are arrested on the streets without warrants. Citizens and non-citizens alike are deported without due process.

What can we do when compassion and respect are vanishing and brutality is taking their place?

Eight-year-old Meredith Miller knew the answer: that the whole world could make a painting together. She saw that the path forward for humanity lies in finding a common goal and working together towards that with inclusion and equity and celebrating our diversity.

Students at University of Texas at El Paso's World Water Week

Every Singing Tree® is a step towards finding a goal shared by humanity as a whole. These steps may be small—but they are essential. The Singing Tree® Murals and community actions taken around the globe aim to affirm an awareness of our common humanity and to foster the connection and compassion that will give us the strength and courage to stand up for each other and fight for the worth of every individual.

Today we are excited to share The Desert Willow Branches to Roots Singing Tree of Propagation and Regeneration. This  project was funded by a grant from the Planet Stewards program of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who has had the care and monitoring of our climate and weather as its mission. That agency, and the grants it has been  making, such as the one that funded this project, are now under attack as part of the impulse of authoritarianism that the federal government has unleashed. It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to find the funding we need to bring the Singing Tree® Mural  Project to community organizations and groups.

The Desert Willow Branches to Roots project was conceived by UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) PhD student and Singing Tree® Facilitator Fernanda Lugo and co-led by Laurie Marshall. Fernanda has combined the creation of the mural with a citizen science project propagating native trees. You can see more about this at www.branchestoroots.ecoelpaso.org

More than 175 people from the El Paso area, ages 7 to 82, contributed to the mural, as well as project partners including UTEP's World Water week, Keystone Heritage Park, Benito Martinez Elementary School in Ft. Hancock, Eco El Paso, the YWCA's spring camp and environmental advocate Edith Jaurrieta de Velasco.  Participants creatively depicted the water cycle - from glaciers to rain drops to rivers to trees.  Below are contributors at Keystone Heritage Park and Benito Martinez Elementary School.

This project shows how we can come together as individuals from diverse backgrounds to care for nature, on which the life of every person depends, and to create the world we know is possible. 

On Wednesday, June 11, at 6pm MT, please join us for a webinar called "From Turmoil to Teambuilding - Three Outrageous Keys to Accelerating Trust". This is part of our initiative to use the Singing Tree® process to inspire corporate and other teams to build trust, compassion, and respect for each other and thereby contribute to the well-being of their larger communities as well.

Celebrating the value of every human being, 

Laurie and the UTC Team

PS. We have been out of touch for a while as we have been undertaking an extensive project with the CASA Autogroup in El Paso that we'll tell you about soon. 

Free webinar: From Turnover to Teambuilding

Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,

Join us for an hour-long, free webinar called From Turnover to Teambuilding: 3 Keys to Inspiring Committed Employees. The training will be on Wed., March 12 at 11:00 am PST, 12:00 pm MST, 1:00 pm CST and 2:00 pm EST.  Bring your magic markers or colored pencils and a piece of computer printer paper.  We'll be exploring how to build TRUST - the foundation of all relationships in business, in our family life and in our democracy.  To register click here.

We can't wait to put hearts and minds together. Once again, to register click here. Hope to see you there,

The UTC Team

Selfless Acts of Kindness - Sonda Folk Cheesbrough

Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,

This month we share artist/educator Sonda Folk Cheesebrough’s Selfless Act of Kindness. We honor her as the representative of all K-12 teachers who devote their lives to the growth and well-being of the children in their care. Last week, we remembered Daniel Dancer's 900 student "Art for the Sky" earth-mural in Morgantown, West Virginia, inspired by Sonda's 2012 Singing Tree of Diversity. We spoke with her about her experience facilitating the 22nd mural of the Singing Tree Project.

Sonda started her journey as a painter. She became a teacher begrudgingly, only to discover that teaching was exactly what her soul needed. The subject matter and the direction of her art  were transformed after working with children.

“I started creating art that projected innocence and hope. It is the part of myself that I got validated from children and it’s the part of myself that I want to share. Children have a great positivity, they always think everything is going to be okay, and the trust that they put in us is just so beautiful.”

“Everything I learned that’s worth knowing came from elementary children”

Sonda was continually inspired by her students' uncensored, spontaneous generosity and kindness. Time and again she saw that the children, who can seem like black holes of need that know no bottom, were her teachers in countless selfless acts of love. 

She taught students from over 50 different countries in the Monongalia County School system in West Virginia. Every student was fascinated by the cultures around them and proud of their own culture. She cultivated an environment where the children shared stories, food, and experiences. They researched the shapes of leaves from trees in their country to add to the Singing Tree. Over 900 students contributed to the mural.

Singing Tree of Diversity II

Two years later, Sonda and her students had the joy of seeing the Singing Tree of Diversity transformed into a massive "Sky Art" piece by Daniel Dancer. The students didn’t know what they were making as they put on different colored t-shirts and curled up next to each other on the ground. They trusted that it was okay not to know what was going to happen and had fun doing something on a massive scale. It wasn't until the students watched the video of the process that they saw the whole and understood the power of what they had created together.

The Singing Tree of Diversity Sky Mural

“Working with children is the most important job we do. There is nothing of more consequence than helping children collaborate together and be kind to each other. I am clear that I always get back more than I am giving when I am working with children.”

With the Singing Tree Project, Sonda was willing to try something she had never done before, taking up the invitation for the whole world to create a painting together and making the impulse her own. She trusted her heart in a selfless act of love that continues to serve her students and the world.  

Sending you joy in these uncertain times,

Laurie and the UTC Team