We live in challenging times - times marked by terror, increasing racism and hatred, religious aggression and intolerance, and an endangered planet. With all of our technological advances, we've not been able to reverse the growing chasm between the 'haves' and the 'have nots', provide basic needs for everyone, or give everyone access to education. We can instantly communicate with people around the world, but we've not learned how to get along with our neighbor. The web gives us access to more information than at any time in history, yet hate sites are the fastest growing segment, having grown 4000% since 2002 and hate based violence has quadrupled in the United States alone.
As daunting as many of these problems seem, they are nevertheless, just symptoms. We want to help humanity get beyond addressing symptoms and start creating some solutions. We harness the power of entertainment, education and engagement to contribute to humanity in five ways:
1. Promote Tolerance, Diversity, Humanity, and Harmony: Many people believe that the world would run better if everyone else simply looked like them, acted like them, agreed with them. In musical terms, they believe that unison (everyone singing the same note) is the best sound there is. And people who don't sing that note need to either be converted, silenced, disinherited, or eliminated. However, the world thrives on diversity. We need difference in order to have harmony. The task is creating a space where diverse voices can blend together for the good of humanity, so that we all can learn from one another.
2. Target Youth and Urban Society with positive Media: Some people ask us, "Why do you think that this medium can have such a profound impact?" The answer is, because it already is. Take for example, Hip Hop - the most popular music medium in the world today. It has a ripple effect - not just black kids, not just ethnic kids, not just urban kids, not just American kids, not just English speaking kids, not just kids. For the first time in history, half the world lives in cities, and nothing has more impact on urban culture than media, and particularly, music. Nothing. Hip Hop music (and the emcees creating it) don't just reflect culture, they define it. They define how people dress, think, view others and themselves, who our friends are, who our enemies, what one considers valuable, what is worth living for and worth dying for. Media is powerful because it encapsulates salient ideas in attractive, catchy, memorable packages, packed with powerful imagery and emotion, delivers it to the world. Nothing has more influence when it comes to culture shaping, particularly in urban settings and among the younger generations.
3. Spread the Concept: All part of the problem, all part of the solution: "I've seen the enemy and he is us." This might be a good way of summing up one of the core lessons that we need to learn. If we can understand that the problems don't just lie with "them" but with "us", we can see how we can be part of the solution. Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." The biggest problems have to be solved at the "small". We're promoting a world where all of us take a step further, aspiring to give back more than we take, while fully embracing life and our potential. HumanArts uses music, media and the arts to help everyday people reflect on their role in what is happening in the world, and empower them to become agents of change.
4. Help Humanity Preserve itself: Imagine the world without Einstein, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, or Mahatma Gandhi -- all born in places and times that could have robbed the world of their contribution. Imagine the potential that has been lost to the Holocaust, AIDS, war, famine and disease - the great scientists, inventors, artists and poets who never were, simply because they were never given the opportunity to soar. At HumanArts, we raise awareness about what the world loses when the potential of one person is lost, and we engage people in causes that help serve humanity and preserve humanity. Live 8 is a recent example of how music, media and entertainment can engage the world in saving the very people who might hold the keys to saving us. As the old slogan says, "The life you save might be your own."
5. Mobilize Humanity to solve its problems: Imagine world famous artists using their tremendous influence to further humanity and passionately support causes they believe in. Imagine passionate grassroots artists and activists finding even larger platforms and audiences for their humanitarian work. Imagine a living network - artists, non-profits, businesses, activists and individual participants connected around causes that they care about, and learning to care about each other. Imagine groups of people who, in the past, wanted to eliminate each other, now working together for the good of humanity. And this is just the beginning of what we can do. We create the vehicles that mobilize humanity to make a difference.
The impact of music and media is staggering. We want to harness this power in ways that will help humanity grow and make society stronger
