Humanitarian Project for Ukraine

Making Music Today . . .

Lives Tomorrow!

A proposal to bring healing and hope from the trauma of war to the children and youth of Ukraine and its surrounding countries.

Prepared by Constance Fortunato Founder and President of Music Camp International An International 501(c)(3) Children’s Charity Scotts Valley, California, USA • Kyiv, Ukraine • Cluj-Napoca, Romania

A Crisis of Global Impact “The legacy of this war will be a traumatised generation.”

Serhii Lukashov, Director of SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine

Children and youth have watched the destruction of their homes, schools, villages, orphanages, and children’s hospitals. They have been separated from family, friends, and all that is familiar. They have lived in bunkers, basements, hallways, shelters - fled to unknown regions and countries - and in many cases, returned home to an uncertain future.

2

One of the most significant needs for refugee and IDP children is to find a new peer group - a place for relational, social and emotional safety. They need to be able to access their feelings and create experiences that will help them process them in a healthy environment. Youth from host countries need to share experiences that will create a bridge of community and compassion with their “new residents.”

Two girls from Liko School, Kyiv

• Our purpose is to bring hope and healing to thousands of young people who have been traumatized by the war.

• Because music penetrates all chambers of the brain, it is powerful in healing the traumas of war, creating strong positive relationships, and building community among participants.

• We will conduct large Music Camps in the surrounding countries creating an international community of youth to build a better and more peaceful tomorrow.

Elvira teaches guitar, Kyiv

• By working together across all national, religious, ethnic, and cultural barriers, we will create a global community of youth who are connected, compassionate, and will demonstrate to themselves and to the world that we can achieve more by working together than we can alone.

Music Camp’s Concert at the Opera House in Kharkiv

3

The Cities of Global Influence

Music Camp International has penetrated the entire country of Ukraine.

We have students located in every region (oblast).

As soon as it is safe, we will return to the cities and towns of our history.

Until then, we will conduct Music Camps in surrounding countries, border cities, and locations where refugees have been welcomed. By conducting Music Camps for refugee children, IDPs, and youth from the host countries, we will build strong cross-cultural relationships and multi-national communities of the next generation.

Some of the cities where Music Camp International has conducted Music Camps

4

The Collaboration of Global Partnerships The participation of diverse partners empowers diverse skills to meet the multiplicity of diverse needs of this humanitarian crisis. Music Camp International is asking for endorsement and funding from the Sponsoring Partners, through guided recommendations and referrals to international, diplomatic, national, local and humanitarian revenue agencies. Their requests for additional local sponsors will create a template for community involvement.

Sponsoring Partners International Governments and Agencies • U.S. Department of State • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) • Embassies and Ambassadors to and from surrounding countries - Romania - Poland - Hungary - Slovakia - Moldova

Managing Partners • Music Camp International • National Internal Governmental and Civic Agencies from each participating country including: - Local municipal, regional and national leadership – - Ministries of Education and Culture, - Office of the Mayor - Officials for Humanitarian Affairs

Participating Partners • Accompanying Orchestras – provided by each country • Various instrument makers: Yamaha, Hora • Travel: National/local bus companies • International food chains – Togo’s, Subway, Burger King, McDonalds

5

Making Music Today . . . Transforming Lives Tomorrow will be characterized by building strong relationships between refugees and youth from the host countries. A strong collaboration will be demonstrated in the organizational structure.

Music Camp International brings a vast experience of working with over 30,000 children in the last 20 years. Our participation with the Ukrainian Parliament in 2015 in their project, “Children of East and West Together” documents how music successfully built a bridge of communication and compassion among the young people from the fighting factions of the country.

• Young people ages 12 - 18 will be enrolled with a goal of approximately 50 percent from the refugee and IDP community and 50 percent from the host country community. The number of enrollees would be governed by the size of the school and concert facility.

• Local/regional philharmonic orchestras will be furnished either by their own organization or the Ministry of Culture.

• Local schools and concert facility will be furnished by the local Ministry of Education and the Office of the Mayor • Choir and instrument teachers, class assistants, and curriculum will be provided by Music Camp International; • Chaperones, security and medical team will be provided by the local government; • Instruments will be provided by national manufacturers and local retail instrument outlets; • Bus transportation for youth will be provided by local and national transportation companies • Train transportation (when needed) will be provided by the government

Three friends from Sloviansk

6

The Celebration of Global Leadership Music Camp International was founded in 2002 by Connie Fortunato, author, curriculum developer and music specialist who had a passion to bring healing and hope to children and youth through the power of music. In the last 20 years, she has worked with more than 30,000 young people – giving them dignity, hope and self-confidence through the transformational power of music.

In 2008, her concert at Artek, on the Crimean Peninsula, established a new benchmark for the Ukrainian Book of Records for an outdoor children’s concert accompanied by a symphony orchestra.

Camp and Concert for over 900 orphans at Moloda Gvardia. The concert filled the Opera Theater in Odesa, Ukraine.

In 2011, Connie took a group of 45 Ukrainian

In 2014 Connie became the only non-Ukrainian in history to receive the Honorary Ambassador of Peace Award from Petro Poroshchenko.

In 2021 Connie was named a Champion for End Violence Against Children, an affiliate of the United Nations.

children to Strasbourg to sing for the Council of Europe.

7

A Calendar for Global Coordination Music Camp International will conduct multiple simultaneous weeklong Music Camps in various locations in each of the five surrounding countries. The goal of each camp would be to enroll 500 children. Enrollment would be governed by the capacity of the Camp and Concert facilities.

At the end of each week, the children will join together to present a concert either at a major concert facility or stadium.

A Children’s Concerto for Peace Proposed Dates: Group A: Teacher Training and Camps Teacher Training and Preparation: Cluj-Napoca, Romania – June 13-18, 2022 Music Camps: Poznan and Warsaw, Poland – June 27 – July 1, 2022 Chișinău, Moldova – July 4-9 Group B: Teacher Training and Camps Teacher Training and preparation: (Location TBD) August 12-13, 2022 Music Camps: Budapest, Hungary – August 15 – 20, 2022 Bratislava, Slovakia – August 22 – 27, 2022 Iași, Romania – August 29 – September 2, 2022

All dates are tentative.

8

Music Camp International Concert, Iași, Romania

A Catalog of Global References & Resources

After just six days, students play guitars, recorders. violins, bells and Orff percussion instruments in an instrumentarium with a symphony orchestra in Chervonograd, Ukraine

Website www.musiccampinternational.org Facebook Music Camp International USA Music Camp International Ukraine Music Camp International Romania Instagram Music Camp International YouTube Complete channel available with documentaries, concerts, and current virtual projects.

From our International Board of Directors Retreat in November 2021, the President’s Report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUNLTI6ZHU&t=135s The story of Bucha, Ukraine and the trip to sing at The Council of Europe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apd902UIf7g

9

"Giving music to children and youth today means transforming them for tomorrow!

It is our best path to dignity, hope, selfconfidence and a world that values them.”

"Music produces an irreversible transformation in a child. This doesn't mean he'll end up as a musician. He may become a doctor or study law or teach literature. What music gives him remains indelibly part of who he is forever."

Jose Antonio Abreu Founder of El Sistema, Venezuela