International Voices for Children Institute

Amman, Jordan - Nablus, Palestine July & August 2011

July & August 2011:
Training for Teachers, Parents, and Students

The National Center for Culture and Arts

King Hussein Foundation (Amman, Jordan)
Tomorrow’s Youth Organization

Zafer Masri Foundation Building (Nablus, Palestine)

Amman, Jordan - July & August 2011

The Institute in partnership with the National Center for Culture and Arts and Friendship Ambassadors Foundation will serve 200 students in 2010, including Jordanian children and youth from a wide range of social-economic, cultural and special needs communities (children, youth living in SOS villages; with special needs: Jordan River Foundation’s Queen Rania Family and Child Center, Dar Al-Amman, and Palestinian and Iraqi refugee children). In 2011 and beyond, the program will be expanded to include students from Japan, Republic of Northern Ireland, South Africa, USA and other Arab countries.

Teacher Training Seminar:
Institute faculty will prepare teachers and administrators to establish programs for children and youth to learn African drumming, movement, singing, and visioning collage. One of the clinicians specializes in presenting training for preschool/kindergarten/first grade teachers in performing arts enrichment for classroom curriculum including: mathematical concepts, reading, and language development.

Activities for children, youth and parents:
Performing arts workshops (African drumming: The Djembe; singing: Italian Bel Canto style; dance and expressive movement; theater building and awareness through movement: multi-media; traditional theater: acting, improvisation, and mime); recitals and concerts; visioning collage and Voices for Children Community Project workshops; Cultural and Faith Sharing and Exchange Workshops: A Journey into West African Culture, Celtic “Sacred Hospitality,” Live Simply that Others May Simply Live, International Cultural Sharing and Exchange by Participants; final benefit concert for Dar Al-Amman.

The National Center for Culture and Arts, King Hussein Foundation was established in 1987 to develop an understanding and awareness of the value of the arts in the educational process, to promote social development issues, and to enhance theater and dance movements in Jordan and the region. It provides professional training for children and youth in theater and dance accredited by The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, the Jordanian Ministry of Education and the Royal Academy of Dance in Britain. NCCA holds annually the Arab Children Congress which was established by Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein 1980. Download Brochure (PDF)

The Jordan River Foundation (JRF) is committed to making a difference in the lives of children and families through Community Empowerment Program and the Jordan River Children Program. Since Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah established JRF in 1995, it has been directly involved in empowering local community members and protecting children from abuse. Jordan is the first Arab country to build an Arab Child Safety Model and establish a national framework to combat child abuse. The Queen Rania Family and Child Center (QRFCC), a pioneering new innovative approach to an Arab model of a community center, was established in the year 2005 in Jabal Al-Naser area to provide services and support to families under risk and to educate children on child abuse and child rights. JRF also has a center for younger children in the Dar Al Amman Center; the IVC Institute will work with children and teens from both centers.

SOS Children's Villages Association of Jordan is a local, private, non-political, non-governmental, and independent social development organization. It was established in 1983, and cares for 296 Jordanian orphaned and abandoned children, in three Villages and eight Youth Houses in Amman, Irbid and Aqaba. SOS concept pioneered a family approach to the long-term care of needy children. SOS Amman and Irbid Villages consist of 12 family houses, and SOS Aqaba Village consists of 9 family houses. Each house cares for 7-9 brothers and sisters. The children in each family house are cared for by their SOS mother who provides them with love, security and warmth. The children live together like a natural family.

Nablus, Palestine – August 2011

Tomorrow’s Youth Organization has invited the World Children’s Choir Institute faculty to come to Nablus to help build the TYO music program. Clinicians will prepare and lead an intensive two-day training seminar for teachers working with children from Nablus’s refugee camps and other underserved areas, and lead five days of activities for children, youth and parents who participate in TYO’s programs.

Activities for children, youth and parents:
African drumming, cultural sharing, singing, and movement rehearsals; cultural sharing and exchange; visioning collage, and Voices for Children community service workshops; final concert; display of collages and plans for service projects.

TYO is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works in disadvantaged areas of the Middle East, enabling children, youth and parents to realize their potential as healthy, active and responsible family and community members. The first TYO Flagship Center is located in Nablus, a large city in the northern West Bank, and operates in strategic partnership with the Zafer Masri Foundation and An Najah University. TYO, one of the few international organizations with a significant presence in Nablus, is committed to providing world-class programs and services for the city’s most underserved residents. In just 18 months of operation, TYO has directly served over 1,000 young children and their families. Download Brochure (PDF)

Financial support and sponsorship is being sought for both of these initiatives. If you would like more information or to learn how you can help, please contact the World Children’s Choir.

Background and Motivation For the Initiatives:
The World Children’s Choir and Friendship Ambassadors Foundation (WCC’s logistics partner) believe that peace can be created through cultural exchange, and envision a world that is guided by mutual understanding, respect, and global cooperation. Discovering their common mission at FAF’s UN Youth Assembly, the World Children’s Choir and Friendship Ambassadors Foundation joined forces to organize an arts and peace program for children and youth held in Timisoara, Romania that involved members of a Romanian Folk Dance ensemble, WCC singers, local children, and singers from Canada and Malaysia. (Read James Selway's journal.)

WCC and FAF believe that by providing opportunities for children, youth and adults to experience the arts as a universal language and to meet their counterparts from around the world, we can help them to embrace cultural diversity, form strong friendships, and to become advocates for children and a peaceful, healthy world. We are convinced that children from different cultures and countries presenting their artistic expression, whether it be singing songs of hope, love, and peace; displaying their beautiful art; presenting exciting dance, drumming and theatrical performances set an example for adults.

The unspoken message from the children to the adults:

If we can work together,
so can you!

The World Children’s Choir,
a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization appointed to the Artists Roster of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, has provided vocal, instrumental, and theatrical training for children ages 4 through 18 for the past 20 years in the Washington, DC USA region. WCC performs in venues of national significance, such as the White House, area embassies, organizations like the World Bank, National Cathedral, Kennedy Center; for a wide range of public events (e.g., Martin Luther King Day, United Nations International Day of Peace); high profile charity galas (UNICEF, Save the Children); and in national and international television and radio broadcasts. WCC staff and volunteers use a model of child development that assumes all children can develop talent to a very high level, and produce excellent performances, given age appropriate training.

Friendship Ambassadors Foundation,
a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization with international affiliations, is WCC’s partner and will provide logistical support staff, assist with planning and managing all logistics. Based in Greenwich, CT with a European office in Hungary and affiliations worldwide, the foundation’s exchange programs bring peer groups together to ensure an exchange of valuable cultural information, often with regions recently emerged from war. FAF initiatives foster sensitivity to cultural values, differences and similarities; encourage non-violent conflict resolution, creative problem solving, cooperation, volunteerism, and equip people with practical tools, skills and knowledge for creating a sustained culture of peace in their own communities. This is all part of a concerted effort called “Cultural Diplomacy.”