Miami native Gustavo Briand had a musical idea in mind for his project in the Self-Expression and Leadership Program. He Created “An Evening with Music”, an evening of classical music held May 30 at 7:30 pm at the Standard Hotel in Miami Beach.

The evening was a free concert featuring some of South Beach’s best classical musicians in an informal gathering, fusing strings, Arias, and even a DJ. The South Beach Chamber Ensemble and Orchestra Miami were directed by Elaine Rinaldi. The musicians performed a variety of classics, and to give the event a unique Miami flavor, DJ Tavin provided his unique musical stylings as accompaniment.

Featured musicians included Thomas Moore and Melissa Palichat on violins, Richard Fleischman on viola, and Michael Andrews on Cello. Arias were sung by Eduardo Calcano (Tenor), Suana Diaz (Soprano), and Maria Aleida Rodriguez (Soprano).

The evening was designed to include fun and socializing as well as great music, and didn’t take itself too seriously–The dinner offerings for those patrons who ate at the hotel while attending the show, included a special discounted menu for “Classical Music and Opera Haters”.

Rosy Maria of Hampton, England, has brought youth together inside of her project, titled Hampton’s Street Dance and Music Festival, while taking Landmark’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program. The project she created, with the partnership of fellow youth worker Peter Moorcock, attracted the attention of The Informer newspaper of the Hampton area. The article appears below.

Hampton’s Musical Youth

Young performers showcased their talent at a streetdance and music festival organised by the Hampton Youth Project on Sunday.

Four youth bands led the dancing and singing at the event, which is the first time the youth project has put on a public display. It was organised by youth workers Peter Moorcock and Rosy Maria, who said:

“The aim was to give a chance for some of the great talent of the area to show off its paces. The event was a great success, and it brought together the whole Hampton community, both young and old.”

Several hundred onlookers came to the show, at the project’s Tangley Road studio, which starred twelve streetdancers and 23 singers. Bands included Groove Academy, The Long Game, The Substitutes and Adam Cleaver.

Phil Zenner’s passion has always been nature photography. When he took the Landmark Self-Expression and Leadership Program this past spring, he decided to create a project, “Picture the Earth”, that raised money for the Sierra Club by auctioning off great framed nature photographs. He worked to have local photographers and studios donate photos and framing services, and then he obtained the permission of the Carter Center in Atlanta to let him have the exhibition and auction there.

Over 75 photographs were donated, and thousands of dollars were raised at the auction. As a result of the project, Zenner and his wife Cynthia have bought their dream house in the countryside of Washington state, and have put together a plan to retire in three years so that Phil can pursue nature photography full time and Cynthia can continue her ministry in the care of elderly people–Visit this Leadership and Self Development article for the full story about Cynthia’s ministry.

Howard Cattie had a couple of different goals in mind as he began Landmark’s SELP program. He loved music, and wanted to support something musical that made a difference in the world. He also wanted to strengthen his relationship with his family, and finally he wanted to promote something he was really passionate about. In the program, Cattie managed to create a project that accomplished all three goals.

His project was to get sponsorship for his son Ryan’s rock band, Blue Flashing Light, of Athens, Georgia, to tour China. Cattie met with more than 25 executives of major companies in Atlanta to get sponsorship for the trip. At the same time he reestablished his relationship with Ryan.

Blue Flashing Light’s tour across China in March was a smashing success. The band played at the International Peach Blossom Festical in Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan province, as well as at the Beijing Conservatory of Modern Music. At one show, their lead singer sang three songs in Mandarin, much to the delight of the crowd. On their last day in China, the group played at the Sichuan Conservatory of Pop Music, and taught a masters class on rock n’ roll to the students there.

As a result of the exposure from the China tour, Blue Flashing Light is now playing a major benefit concert for Habitat for Humanity and is in conversations with major record labels. The band’s China tour was written about in Stomp and Stammer magazine, as well as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

For Monet Critchley’s Self Expression and Leadership program project, she didn’t have to look further than her own life. As a single mother, she is acutely aware of what single moms have to deal with in their lives.

“Single mothers have a more difficult time than some may realize,” says Critchley, a Draper, Utah resident. “They rarely get time for themselfves, and children may go without any extra activities because of time and money constraints.”

In the Landmark Education program, Critchley created a project to address these concerns titled Soul 2 Soul, which was a special day for single mothers and their children.

“The event was an opportunity for single mothers to have a break. It’s important for single moms to take care of themselves so they can come home, be rejuvenated, and take care of the kids,” she says.

The Soul 2 Soul event was held May 31 at the Axis Dance Center from 1 to 5pm, and was free for single moms and their children aged 6 to 12. Mothers received a free goodie which included beauty and self-help items. While moms relaxed during the afternoon, the kids learned to sing and perform a song, which they did at the end of the afternoon for all their mothers.

This moving event was covered extensively by the local media, including KUTV 2, a CBS affiliate, the Draper Journal, South Mountain Living, ourcommunity.com, and LDS Living.

Jill McAdaragh decided to make a difference in her Self-Expression and Leadership program by supporting an organization that plants and conserves trees, Trees Atlanta. On June 21, from 7-10pm, she is holding a collaborative event that is a fundraiser/art auction designed to bring artists, art lover, and lovers of the environment together to hlep support and protect Atlanta’s green space. All proceeds from the event are going directly to Trees Atlanta.

More than 25 artists and musicians have agreed to donate their time and talents to this cause. The event is featuring live music and a full buffet dinner while participants bid on the various pieces of artwork, which includes pottery, sculptures, photographs and paitings.

Several members of JWH&N Company members are donating their artwork, including McAdaragh herself, as well as Stacey Bond, Jacque Harris and Paula Lansford. Other contributors include Ben Morris of Mopositive ARt, Dean Thomas of Atlien Creations, John McNamara of Griffin Davis Art, Jef Bredemeier, Dorthy Pizzuti, and Puja Chaudhari. Tickets are $25 at the door, and thousands of dollars are expected to be raised for Trees Atlanta.

A Landmark Education Self-Expression and Leadership program project that took place recently in the UK featured a dance fundraiser for both cancer research and impoverished children in Peru. Richard Hoffman combined a passion for dance with a passion for making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate with a charity dance held on March 23 at the Indian YMCA in London.

The event featured a variety of passionate dances, including Argentine tango, salsa, and even belly dancing. Soft drinks and Indian snacks were served. The entry fee also allowed participants to take part in a raffle which gave away free lessons to all differenty varieties of dance for experienced dancers and beginners alike. The money raised from the event was split equally between two charities: Cancer Research UK and Children in Peru.

To see more pictures from the dance, check out the event website at http://passionatefordance.com.

When Jimena Villaseca took the Self-Expression and Leadership Program, she was committed to building ties between Chile and the United States, and at the same time support Chilean blues artist Pedro Rodriguez build a following in the United States. Her project resulted in a unique concert being held on May 2 near New York City. All About Jazz recently wrote a feature about Rodriguez and the show.

Born with the Blues, Chasing a Dream: Pedro Rodriguez, Chilean Jazz Guitarist to Give Concert on May 2

 Pedro Rodriguez brings his unique brand of Latin Jazz and The Blues to a New York audience on Friday, May 2, culminating a journey of many years and many miles from his hometown of Santiago, Chile.

The son of a medical doctor who played the trumpet, Rodriguez grew up in Santiago, listening to Jazz, Tango and Beatles records. As a teenager, he found a guitar stashed in a closet and started to play. “I decided I wanted to be a jazz musician before I knew really what that meant”, Rodriguez said. “I just knew I was swept away by the beauty and magic of the sound, and the culture from which it springs”.

“It wasnt easy wanting to be a musician in Chile in those days, Rodriguez said, referring to life under the regime of General Augusto Pinochet. “Most people looked down on musicians -especially jazz musicians - because their music was deemed too foreign and illegitimate”. He sought out jazz music classes, even private instructors, only to discover that none such existed. “Music was my only escape, and I struggled a lot to find joy in my life”.

Rodriguez came once to the United States to study Jazz in the mid-1990s, only to be forced to return home by his fathers death. Upon his return to Santiago he recorded an album as a trio, call Dead Man Plays Dead Man, which he dedicates to his father.

In 2006, a decade after setting his sights on getting a degree in Jazz Performance, he resolved to return to finish what he started, and returned to William Paterson University.

The May 2nd concert culminates four years of study and will be played with Gene Bertoncini and Paul Meyers, two master musicians who are highly regarded perfomers in New York’s Jazz club circuit.The concert is being held on Friday, May 2, at 6.45 pm at William Paterson University. on 300 Pompton Road in Wayne, New Jersey. The Program will feature arrangements of American standards, Brazilian standards, and original arrangements by Pedro Rodriguez.

To see the original story as it appeared, go to the All About Jazz website.

I am the out-going voluntary Director and Founder of the Streatham Festival, an event that originally grew out of my participation in Landmark Education’s Self Expression and Leadership Program 5 years ago. At that time I had already led many successful projects but deep inside did not consider myself to be a “real Leader”, whatever that was.

At the start of the Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP) we were invited to create a project that would create a new future for any community. I decided to work with my local community but immediately saw a lot of barriers, at that time I knew no-one in Streatham, not even my next-door neighbours. Streatham had no designated arts venue. Not only was I already hugely busy, I was secretly cynical about the notion of “community”. I was also surprised to discover that underneath that, I was scared that no-one would want to be involved with me: a few years previously I had worked hard to get a voluntary project off the ground and failed. I was afraid to step out and fail again. With the support of Mark, my coach, I began to ask local people to help me create some sort of arts event which at the time I imagined would be a one hour, one-off event.

The course leader Kuljit Bamra was one of the most joyful and inspiring people I have ever met. The support of others on the course was also invaluable. We were a pretty varied lot: from those who had been highly successful in life already, to those who were tentatively exploring their dreams. Together we shared our visions and our fears.

From the start I learned new, more inclusive ways of working with people. My thinking around working in teams and consulting with communities began to alter radically. I found to my surprise that people cared deeply about their local environment and wanted to contribute. Sometimes asking people to be involved felt embarrassing and I kept feeling like I was not a “real Leader” and my project wasn’t important or large-scale enough. Despite these feelings, I took action and when I started getting great results, I began to think and act in new ways.

To cut a long story short, my SELP project culminated in the creation of a one day community festival in 2002 which now in 2006 has grown to a 10 day affair, with major sponsors, over 50 events per year, a part-time paid co-ordinator and a team of around 30 core volunteers who are now the ones who make it happen and grow year on year. It is now absolutely the creation of the community and would not thrive without them.

I went on to do the Landmark Team Management & Leadership Program (TMLP) which was invaluable in supporting me in dealing with challenges such as the rapid growth and evolution of the festival, staying committed when I felt overwhelmed, becoming a more publicly accountable person and managing a large volunteer team in my spare time.

Through the Self Expression and Leadership Program I learned and experienced things that I continue to draw on daily. As well as discovering my own authentic expression of leadership, I also expanded my love of people and, which has brought a lot of joy to my life.

Mel Larsen