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.
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.”
Matt teaches cello
“The legacy of this war will be a traumatised generation.”
Serhii Lukashov, National Director of SOS Childrens Villages, Ukraine
• 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 Day Music Camps in the countries that surround Ukraine and welcome refugees - creating an international community of youth to build a better and more peaceful tomorrow.
• 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 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 transformational 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 and inspiring them to reach for the stars!
In 2008, Music Camp International set a new benchmark for the Ukrainian Book of Records when just under 1,000 orphans presented a concert overlooking the Black Sea.
In 2011, Connie took a group of 45 Ukrainian children to Strasbourg to sing for the Council of Europe.
Music Camp Concert for over 900 orphans at Moloda Gvardia. The concert filled the Opera Theater in Odesa, Ukraine.
In 2021 Connie was named a Champion for End Violence Against Children, an affiliate of the United Nations.
In 2014 Connie became the only non-Ukrainian in history to receive the Honorary Ambassador of Peace Award from Petro Poroshchenko.
The U.S. State Department appreciates the humanitarian work of Music Camp International in Ukraine and Romania and encourages leaders from all sectors of society, including international, regional, and local organizations, to examine Music Camp International’s projects and consider collaborations and partnerships, as they seek to provide for the humanitarian welfare, mental health, and educational advancement for Ukrainian refugees and host countries that have reached out to embrace their neighbors.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• National and Local municipal governments
• Ministries of Education
Inclusion
of Special Needs Young People into Music Camps and projects.
• Humanitarian and Refugee Agencies
– The Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of Press and Public Diplomacy
Music Camp International will conduct week-long, area-wide Day Music Camps in various locations in each of the surrounding countries. (Camps need to be conducted during scheduled school holidays.)
Each Camp will culminate in a concert at a major concert facility accompanied by the local philharmonic orchestra.
Enrollment for each Camp would be approximately 200-300 young people ages 12 - 19 - including both refugees and youth from the host country.
The goal is to help young people heal from the trauma of war, inspire confidence to face their future with hope, build strong relationships with other young people and in the process build community, communication and compassion.
Sosnowiec, Krakow, Warsaw, Poland
Chișinau, Moldova
Bratislava, Slovakia
Locations are subject to change based on sponsoring partners and availability.
After just six days, students play guitars, recorders. violins, bells and Orff percussion instruments in an instrumentarium with a symphony orchestra in Chervonograd, Ukraine
Websites
www.canticumnovumiternational.org
www.musiccampinternational.org
www.musedicsinternational.org
Music Camp International
Music Camp International
YouTube
Music Camp International YouTube channel available with documentaries, concerts, and current virtual projects.
The story of Bucha, Ukraine and the trip to sing at The Council of Europe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apd902UIf7g
Music Camp International
@musiccampint
Contact
connie@musiccampinternational.org
831.332.1400 (mobile)
831.425.3600 (office)
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Giving music to children and youth today means transforming them for tomorrow! It is our best path to dignity, hope, self-confidence 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
CANTICUM NOVUM INTERNATIONAL MUSEDICS INTERNATIONAL
