With support from the California Arts Council, UNITY THROUGH CREATIVITY FOUNDATION INC will be able to afford administrative support to expand two key programs, one a leadership empowerment program that fosters the healing of divided communities through large-group visual art and storytelling projects, the other training facilitators for those projects.
We offer Peace Building Through Art programs that use visual arts and storytelling to respectfully bring individuals, cultures and communities together. These programs include the collaborative mural methodology of the Singing Tree Mural Project, where the whole world is invited to make a painting together, using the model of trees and forests. 118 murals have been made by 22,500 people from 52 countries. We also facilitate other collaborative murals such as in Reading Gardens and making outdoor classrooms that reflect the local eco-systems. Another service includes the facilitation of Inner Landscapes- Life-size wooden cutouts that are accompanied by “I Am” Poems. We offer Arts Integration Training to teachers and STEAM organizations, as well as training future Singing Tree Mural Facilitators. Our work uses art as a tool in racial and cultural reconciliation, building “The Beloved Community” one mural at a time.
Since 2020, we have been certifying facilitators in Peace Building Through Art Inspired by Nature – The Singing Tree Mural Process. Thirteen people from three countries have participated in a six month-long training to become fully certified. The process includes creating a Singing Tree Mural around a community heartbreak with Lead Design Team, having a hosted conversations around the theme of the mural where imagery is made and added to the mural, having a celebration which includes storytelling, food, music, poetry, dance and a video documentation. The last step is the Lead Design Team envisioning what comes next. 42 more people from six countries have participated in the training. We have developed and updated a 107-page Facilitator Guide with overarching theory and detailed instructions and templates for this entrepreneurial, artistic community organizing tool.

