Founder and Executive Director William Harvey in Cameroon in 2009
Five days after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, when I was a freshman at The Juilliard School, I performed violin for soldiers from the Fighting Sixty-Ninth Regiment as they returned from rescue and clean-up work at Ground Zero. As I played, the soldiers would ascend the steps of the Armory, take off their helmets, and smile. After an e-mail I wrote describing the performance went viral, I received hundreds of warm responses from strangers. The whole experience challenged me to explore music's ability to change society. I wasn't sure what form that change would take, but I knew that after 9/11, all of us had to try harder than ever to reach out in peace.
In June 2004, during a trip to Turkey organized by the Bloomington Muslim Dialogue Group, I ate dinner at the home of an oud teacher. This was just before then-President Bush was to visit Istanbul, so anti-American feeling ran high. This gentleman did not seem thrilled to have a couple Americans in his home. I spied an old, beat-up violin in the corner of his living room, so asked if I could play it. I played some Bach, and then he got out his oud and played for me. Soon, we were reading through a book of Sufi songs, and at the end of the evening, everyone was smiling and hugging one another. If music could change the atmosphere in that room, what could it do in the world?
In December 2004, I met an employee of the World Health Organization. I told him about my dreams, so he helped arrange a concert tour of Moldova and Tunisia. In the summer of 2005, Cultures in Harmony (CiH) was born with the mission of promoting cultural understanding through music. We have since conducted 19 projects in 11 countries. Our projects have created fifty American musical diplomats, the majority of whom are women. Asians, African-Americans, and LGBT individuals are well represented in our roster. By maintaining and expanding our presence in the countries where we operate, we can send more musical diplomats abroad.
We frequently bring people together through the shared process of creating music. In Zimbabwe, we taught AIDS orphans how to write music inspired by water, highlighting water access issues at their school. In the Philippines, CiH and the Cartwheel Foundation worked with different indigenous groups to develop compositions celebrating their heritage. In Papua New Guinea, CiH helped the Yoro tribe create compositions about the environment, HIV/AIDS, and cultural preservation. In Egypt, we helped underprivileged girls from Alexandria compose music about their lives. Our project in Cameroon catalyzed the largest increase in membership ever seen by the Cameroon Nigeria Youth Movement.
Our concerts show what people can achieve when together we aim for beauty. In Konya, Turkey, where the whirling dervish ceremony originated 700 years ago, CiH musicians became the first female musicians ever in Konya to join male musicians in accompanying the ceremony. CiH partnered with UNICEF in Moldova for a benefit concert that collected 7,000 books for their childhood literacy program. In Zimbabwe, our benefit concert for Eyes for Africa raised enough funds to restore sight to 145 people.
Connecting with other musicians establishes a level playing field between different cultures. CiH master classes for young classical musicians have benefited thousands in Qatar, Egypt, the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Mexico, and Tunisia. Sarangi players in Pakistan, mvet players in Cameroon, and kundu drummers in Papua New Guinea have taught our musicians a variety of styles. This public musical education shows foreign audiences that Americans welcome opportunities to learn from others.
Media engagement has broadened the reach of our projects. Cultures in Harmony has been profiled in national newspapers, radio stations, websites, and TV channels everywhere from Zimbabwe to Pakistan to the Dominican Republic. CiH projects have consistently changed the perceptions of those with whom we connect. Check out articles and videos about our projects!
We sustain our relationships via Facebook, where our group includes over 1,000 members from over a dozen countries. Our YouTube channel includes over 30 videos, our Flickr page features well over 100 photos, and we also have an extensive presence on Twitter, MySpace, and the blogosphere.
CiH has received extensive support from the State Department, the Samuels Foundation, the Copland Fund, the McGraw-Hill Companies, and numerous private individuals. We constantly seek to expand the community of those driven by a shared faith in music's capacity to unite.
Through Cultures in Harmony's engagement around the world, music continues to remind people of the shared humanity from which we may draw the strength to understand one another.
William Harvey
Founder and Executive Director, Cultures in Harmony
William in Papua New Guinea in 2008
