Search Results

Thank you to all our sponsors and partners! Become a Sponsor

Why Art for Peace 1. The act of making a decision and taking action in creating a work of art, no matter how small, uses the prefrontal and neo-cortex, the thinking brain. The artistic activity takes people out of using the basal ganglia/brain stem region, where territoriality and survival worry take place. Pain relieving endorphins, connecting serotonin and positive feeling oxytocin is released when creating art. Thus, people are in a different head and heart space than when there is only talking. 2. Creativity requires vulnerability, so people are automatically more open, often without even realizing it. 3. Expressing one’s inner experience and seeing the inner experience of someone else, increases trust. 4. Playing with each other allows people to shift rigid views. 5. Achieving the small visible goal of creating a work of art together is practice for achieving larger, more complex goals.

Scholarship Payment Singing Tree Mural Certification Scholarship Payment Form First Name Email Last Name Phone Number What are three goals you have in taking this program? How did you hear about the Singing Tree Mural Project? Comments Amount Due $ Proceed to Checkout Thanks for your order!

0fffd9a0-2f59-4fe5-a89c-ec4cc989c82a Back to Gallery Mural # 30 Singing Tree of Living Waters 1/1 The Singing Tree of Living Waters made by students in Stephanie Gleeson Ripka's K - 6 Art Classes in Penn's Valley Area School District, Pennsylvania and students in Ghana. The design was made by a student to honor the connection between young people in these two countries who are studying the effect of global warming on the water and diseases of their lands. This mosaic is 4' x 6'. 1200 students participated. Stephanie will be presenting at a symposium in Africa. Date: February 7, 2014 Facilitator: Stephanie Gleeson Ripka Partners: Penn's Valley Area School District, Pennsylvania Location: Pennsylvania, USA Previous Next

93bf3f89-8e35-4524-b515-9636bbfd5999 Back to Gallery Mural # 87 The Rowan Singing Tree of Embracing Our Unknown 1/1 The 1st “Co-heart” of Certified Singing Tree Facilitators began on-line in August, 2020 with 12 people from five countries. Though we were spread around the world, we co-created The Rowan Singing Tree of Embracing Our Unknown, as practice for healing heartbreak through the Singing Tree methodology. After generating a list of over 30 issues, we focused on the uncertainty in the world, co-creating a symbol that allowed the many unknowns we face as individuals and a world to be a shared experience which we embrace together. Each participant made an image using the Singing Tree structure of a tree on the earth in space. They photographed their image and sent it to me electronically. I synthesized their work into one symbol as well as printed out their unique ideas to be included in the mural. Each participant also colored leaves with the images of their gift to the Unknown and birds with images with their wish for the Unknown. Date: September 15, 2020 Facilitator: Laurie Marshall Partners: NA Location: Previous Next

Beca de certificación completa Nombre Apellido Correo electrónico Numero de telefono Dirección ¿Que son tres metas que tienes al tomar este programa? ¿Cómo se enteró de este programa? ¿Qué cantidad funciona para ti? Veremos qué funciona para nosotros. Beca completa Beca completa de $3000 Enviar

Innovative Team-building Certification Featuring the Singing Tree Mural Project This innovative team-building program uses the arts to help change agents creatively transform heartbreaking challenges in their communities. It is a shovel-ready transformation structure, incorporating visual arts, storytelling, neurobiology and ecology to accelerate connection, deepen trust and spark innovation. On-line Innovative Team-building Facilitator Certification the third weekend of February 20th, 21st, and 22nd 2026 . This Innovative Team-building Facilitator Certification workshop gives participants a complete experience of designing and creating a Singing Tree® Mural . This workshop will be followed by a five-month Innovative Team-building Facilitator Certification program. This program will support you in bringing the Singing Tree® Mural Project to any community of your choice, meeting one Saturday a month. This workshop is a prerequisite for the certification program, but the workshop may be taken on its own. Information for next training Restorative Justice Singing Tree Mural, Oakland, California What you get as a certified Innovative Team-building Facilitator: A cutting-edge marketable Team Building skill, applicable to corporate, governmental, NGO, educational, and community settings Your profile featured as a certified Innovative Team-building Facilitator on Unity Through Creativity’s website Support from the Unity Through Creativity Foundation for outreach, grant-writing and fundraising for your projects Membership in the Innovative Team-building Facilitator Guild, which meets monthly to exchange best practices and make art together Upleveling of leadership skills to facilitate change through creativity Increasing technical skills in painting, media, entrepreneurship, Restorative Justice, and facilitation Practice in a shovel-ready community healing program that turns trauma into beauty and pain into purpose Creating unique murals that envision success to community challenges Connection to an international network of visionary leaders to support transformation in your community Information for next training

Singing Tree of Freedom for Afghan Women You are invited to contribute and add your vision and voice to The Afghanistan Singing Tree of Peace. The purpose of this collaborative mural is to send love and positive attention to all people of Afghanistan, no matter where they are. This is a pomegranate tree – the national fruit of Afghanistan, with its national animal, the snow leopard, and its national bird, the golden eagle. Work in progress. Study of the "Singing Tree of Freedom for Afghan Women" By Singing Tree Founder and Artist, Laurie Marshall The Invitation: Make images in the pomegranate leaf template that envision the people of Afghanistan all over the world being safe, loved and thriving. Fill the space with color, shape, and messages that come from your heart. You can use colored pencils, ink, marker, glitter, natural objects, found objects, paint and words. Your fierceness, your imagination, your power is welcome here. Fill up all the white space. (Do not use markers if you are going to mail your leaves, as they will smear when they are glued.) The Pomegranate symbolizes the human heart and the abundance of Nature. Please send your love in this fruit and cover the image with at least 50% red. The splayed edges go at the bottom of the pomegranate Use the bird template or draw your own bird, flying, standing or singing. Make your wish or prayer for children, adults and elders who have been injured, for the healing needed to overcome trauma and for strength to create a thriving, just world. On a separate piece of paper, write about the meaning of your symbols, colors and images. Instructions: Take a picture of or scan your leaves and birds and email them to: hello@unitythroughcreativity.org We’ll print them out and assemble all the leaves and birds. Or you can cut them out and mail them to: 489 Kingswood Drive El Paso, TX 79932 Bird and Leaf Templates

3bfa5830-1002-4d44-afb9-a450b86fed25 Back to Gallery Mural # 68 Pathway Forward Singing Tree 1/1 Pathway Forward Singing Tree Mural for the Bioneers Conference of 2019. Date: October 3, 2019 Facilitator: Laurie Marshall Partners: Bioneers Location: San Rafael, CA, USA Previous Next

245087f5-2306-4a16-af56-97de735f5541 Back to Gallery Mural # 107 The Shanel Valley Academy Singing Tree of Community and Culture 1/1 Shanél Valley Academy (SVA) Singing Tree of Community and Culture is a peace-building-through-art project that commemorates the re-opening of a beloved community school. Our Singing Tree project honors the re-naming of the school after the principal local indigenous village of Shanél, which acknowledges with honor the Sho-Ka-Wah and Hopland People on this traditional ancestral and un-ceded land. When the former school closed 10 years ago, students suddenly were bussed to various schools in the region, some of which were more than an hour’s drive away. An important place for learning, teaching and gathering for this small community of 900 people (now known as Hopland) was lost. With the re-opening of the school as a free public charter school after a determined community effort, a generation of students who had never gone to school together now came together daily to learn, to play, to ride bikes together and to grow into community leaders. The school's STEAM-based, project-based curriculum, designed to educate the whole child in a culturally supportive environment, was developed in partnership with the Hopland Band of Central Pomo Indians whose children make up 35% of the school population. The mural’s Lead Design Team was made up of 4th, 5th and 6th graders who worked alongside Singing Tree Facilitators Leslie Rein and Diana Sciarretta . In crafting a theme for the project, the Design Team emphasized the intimacy of their new school compared to the huge schools they had been forced to attend previously, the benefits of being home and going to school where they live. They honored the oak trees, the apple and pear trees, and the nearby river, all in the shadow of Duncan’s Peak, the sacred traditional mountain which stands within view of the school buildings. Ramón Billy Jr., Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Hopland Tribal Council, gave teachings about the importance of the Valley Oak Tree, with its acorns and oak balls; the Sedge Bush, its roots used in making baskets, Feliz Creek, the river that runs through the valley, and the tule elk. All must be cared for. With the help of every student in every grade, all the staff, community volunteers and many parents, the Lead Design Team painted a Singing Tree mural measuring 14 feet high by 24 feet long on a wall in the school’s main breezeway. They glued hundreds of leaves to its branches. Each leaf shows the unique beauty and sensibilities of the person who shaped and colored it. Every day the entire SVA community passes through the joyously painted breezeway. On weekends other members of the Hopland community pass through the breezeway on their way to the school’s basketball hoops and playground. The Singing Tree of Community and Culture expresses the preciousness of local, deeply rooted relationships and forward-thinking creativity. “The greatest thing [that went well with the project] 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.” - Leslie Barkley, 5th and 6th grade teacher “Doing a project together is actually cooler than I thought it would be.” - Lee, student “I’m proud of what we accomplished. It’s amazing.” - Logan, student Date: May 27, 2022 Facilitator: Leslie Rein and Diana Sciarretta Partners: NA Location: Hopland, CA 95449, USA Previous Next

Thank you! "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." Donate If we can come together to make a Singing Tree mural, we can come together to do anything. The world needs people—youth, adults, and elders—experiencing that their voice matters and that bringing heart, hands, and head to complex challenges results in innovative solutions. This is the lesson of Unity Through Creativity. Thank you for your support. The Impact of Your Contribution $25 = Prismacolor colored pencils for coloring leaves and birds on a Singing Tree mural $50 = One 8' x 4' Board and frame for a Singing Tree mural $100 = Paints for an 8’ x 4’ mural made by 75 adults and youth $500 = Paints, Brushes, and UV Varnish for 400 students $1000 = 2 days of Singing Tree Facilitation with 150 students working on a Singing Tree

< Back Upward Bound Inner Landscapes Upward Bound students in Oakland, CA, make "Inner Landscape" wooden cut-out figures and uplift their community with artist Laurie Marshall. Previous Next

ccad4a56-fa6a-4fd9-a27e-b2e336fd0839 Back to Gallery Mural # 132 The Singing Tree of Reproductive Freedom that Restores Mother Earth 1/1 The Singing Tree of Reproductive Freedom that Restores Mother Earth, made in collaboration with over 50 youth and adults at Bioneers . When asked “what breaks your heart?”, the 31 youth who showed up to co-create a collaborative mural at this year’s Bioneer’s Conference overwhelmingly listed 3 heartbreaks: denial of reproductive freedom, land/habitat destruction, and climate injustice. They each drew imagery and in sacred circle, told their stories and shared ideas. These teens and young adults are the next generation of creative thinkers and compassionate leaders. Their emergent wisdom makes me feel hopeful for the future. - Singing Tree Mural Facilitator Leslie Rein Date: March 30, 2024 Facilitator: Laurie Marshall, Cynthia Caruso, Leslie Rein, Fernanda Lugo, Bobbie Rae Jones, Wanda Whitaker and Sweta Chawla Partners: Bioneers Musea Location: University of California, Berkeley, Oxford Street, Berkeley, CA, USA Previous Next

ebd7808a-f618-477a-86c9-800a7bfeece7 Back to Gallery Mural # 105 The Ukrainian Singing Tree of Strength and Freedom 1/1 The mural uses the Ukrainian flag for its background. We honor the viburnum tree, which is the national tree of Ukraine. The roots are holding the heart of the world. The Nightingale, Ukraine’s national bird, is singing and calling out. The map of Ukraine is surrounded by blood and prayer dots. Sacred Humans, Sacred Earth and Sacred Life are being destroyed in Ukraine as the world watches. They are being destroyed in Yemen, Afghanistan, the Congo, Syria, Ethiopia, Mexico, the U.S., and. . . They are being destroyed all over the planet. This is not the world we know is possible. We will use this project to raise funds for UA Kids Today which gives children supplies for art to help them process their trauma. Date: April 22, 2022 Facilitator: Laurie Marshall Partners: Painting Department at University of Texas at El Paso TEDx Berkeley UA Kids Today Bioneers Location: El Paso, TX, USA Previous Next

Wed, Sep 21 | El Paso International Day of Peace Celebration Music * Workshops * Singing Tree Mural Making * 27 tables * Dancing * Art * Food Trucks * Speeches * Permaculture * Wholistic Healing * Peace Literacy Time & Location Sep 21, 12:00pm - 8:00pm This event will be held at Keystone Heritage Park, El Paso, 4200 Doniphan Road, El Paso, TX 79912, USA About the Event Unity Through Creativity and InterFaith Alliance of the Southwest invite you to the The International Day of Peace Celebration. Speakers/Performers Vendors Schedule We are very grateful to everyone that supported and attended this event! Speakers and Vendors Grandma Bea Grandma Bea, Beatriz Villegas (Ilhuicatlahuili-Bea), is an elder from Ciudad Juárez, México. She will be doing the opening ceremony at 12:00pm. Neema Soratgar Neema Soratgar was an instructor in higher education for 20 years in Afghanistan. Narrowly escaping with her life, she brought her two children to El Paso to be a visiting Research Scholar in Women’s Studies. Neema will be speaking at 2:00pm. Pastor Michael Grady Pastor Michael Grady is the former President of El Paso's NAACP. He will be speaking at 1:00 pm on “Ending Racism, Building Peace.” Laurie Marshall Laurie Marshall is an Author, Innovator and Artist who empowers youth and adults through creative collaboration. Laurie will be speaking at 12:00pm and 7:30pm Anna Marie Rosales Anna Marie Rosales is a Texas native singer/songwriter. She will be performing at 7:00pm. Grupo Folklorico Valle del Sol Grupo Folklorico Valle del Sol Mexican ballet folklorico dancing. They will be performing at 6:30pm. Hal Marcus Hal Marcus is an artist who has been painting for over 40 years and has been a long-term supporter of the Vegetarian community in El Paso. Hal will be speaking at 6:00pm. Music & Mindfulness Join Bettina Escudero, expert meditation teacher of Paso del Norte Mindfulness Consulting, on a journey to Embrace Peace in Our Hearts, using soothing music by El Paso Pro-Musica inviting participants to experience the meditation with their full being. Emcee Mónica Gómez has made her living as a writer, performing songwriter, voice talent, creative writing teacher, martial arts instructor, television and radio broadcaster. She will be the Emcee for this event. Speakers and Performers Alameda Eco-Villa Alameda Eco Villa is the first regenerative Eco-Village/food forest in the greater El Paso TX region. VA Caregiver Support VA Caregiver Support Program El Paso Quakers El Paso Quakers Religious Society of Friends Annunciation House Annunciation House helps the migrant, refugee, and economically vulnerable peoples of the border region. Unity Through Creativity Unity Through Creativity is one of the hosts of this event. Its mission is to empower youth and adults through creativity collaborationand will be facilitating The Nectarine Singing Tree of Peace Mural. InterFaith Alliance InterFaith Alliance of the Southwest Is one of the hosts of this event. It is a group of faith leaders dedicated to furthering interfaith dialogue among our various faiths. Pax Christi El Paso Pax Christi El Paso serves as a local forum for the study of and public witness to Christian non-violence. Silver Pick Studios Silver Pick Studios, equine art by Pámela Vigo Sánchez, home of the painted-by-a-horse Indoodle. Abara A community of peace builders in Juarez-El Paso, Abara holds Border Encounter Experiences for groups across the country and provides resources to migrant shelters with needed supplies. They invite us to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters from all over the world who’s migrant path has brought them to El Paso. Raindrop Foundation The Raindrop Foundation aims to cultivate friendship and promote understanding of diverse cultures through its unique services to the community. They will be bring Turkish cuisine to this event! Interfaith Power and Light Interfaith Power and Light work for climate justice. Desert Bloom Collective Desert Bloom Collective , child-bearing, postpartum, and holistic therapeutic services. Borderland Rainbow Center Borderland Rainbow Center creates community space in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex (LGBTQI) people and their allies can heal, grow, and empower themselves and others. The Green Ingredient The Green Ingredient makes plant based cheese and other plant based gluten-free products. Eco El Paso Eco El Paso is a 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on sustainability in the hot-arid climate of El Paso and the surrounding region. Fernanda Lugo Fernanda is a certified yoga teacher, health scholar specializing in behavioral sciences and environmental health. She will be hosting yoga sessions at this event. Dialogue Institute The Dialogue Institute of the Southwest is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating stereotypes, intolerance, and prejudices through direct human interaction. Centennial Museum Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Garden. Vendors Schedule 12:00pm - Opening Ceremony with Grandma Beatrice Villegas and welcome with Laurie Marshall 1:00pm - Pastor Michael Grady, Prince of Peace Christian Fellowship 2:00pm - Speaker Neema Soratgar, Afghanistan Athlete, Activist, Guest UTEP Researcher 3:00pm - Join Bettina Escudero, expert meditation teacher of Paso del Norte Mindfulness Consulting, on a journey to Embrace Peace in Our Hearts. 4:00pm - Laurie Marshal, author, innovator and artist. 5:00pm - Essay Contest 6:00pm - Artist Hal Marcus 6:30pm - Grupo Folklorico Valle del Sol 7:00pm - Musician Anna Maria Rosales 8:00pm - Closing Ceremony Peace Day Schedule