CHILDREN’S INSTRUMENT MAKING WORKSHOP AT GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP MUSIC FESTIVAL

A Free Children’s Instrument Making Workshop is a new addition to the Second Annual Global Citizenship Music Festival Saturday, May 17, 2025, from 3:00 to 8:00 pm at Union Point Park. This unique music and dance event is presented as a gift to our community by Arts To End Genocide (ATEG) in partnership with Faith Connection and The Atlantic Dance Theatre. The Festival will be held light rain or shine, and those attending should plan to bring their own seating or blankets. Food trucks will be available at the event.

“We are excited to offer a fun and educational activity for children as part of this year’s event,” said Tracy Thompson, member of ATEG’s Event Committee. “The Instrument Making Workshop will allow young participants to unleash their creativity by making their own musical instruments using simple, everyday materials for mini-drums, finger pianos, shakers, and more. This hands-on activity is designed for children of all ages, providing an opportunity to explore the world of music and craftsmanship in a fun, interactive environment,” she explained.

The Global Citizenship Music Festival will feature performances by musicians from cultures represented in our community and will share songs from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Included in this year’s Festival are Los Sabrosos Del Son (Latin), Solo (West Africa music & dance lessons), Unknown Tongues (Zydeco & dance), K’nyaw (Burmese music & dance), and Soulful Sisters (Hindu dancers). A community choir, comprised of singers from many local church choirs, will close the program with familiar songs that remind us of our shared experiences as human beings in a connected world. Valentina Wilson of WCTI-TV 12 will serve as the program emcee this year.

This event is free but also serves as the primary fundraiser for Arts To End Genocide, a New Bern based non-profit founded by Mitch Lewis more than 15 years ago. For the past 12 years, ATEG’s program in Bamako, Mali, West Africa, have provided critically needed assistance to women and children, particularly in the Faladje Camp, the home of over 1,200 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) who fled terrorism in Central Mali to live on top of an active garbage dump in the Capital City. Initially, with the financial support of the two Rotary clubs in New Bern, and a Global Grant from Rotary International, ATEG was able to establish a Children’s Clinic that today serves both the camp and street children, as well as adults, for malaria treatments and other medical needs. Now, with the support of individual citizens from New Bern, ATEG is providing food, healthcare, women’s skills training, and childhood education at the Faladje Camp. A secondary program in a camp outside of Bamako has been established to raise crops that have improved the health of those in the camp as well as provide crops to sell in the local markets.

“Since the dismantling of USAID in areas of critical need, such as Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, ATEG remains one of only three agencies from 30 active partners serving the Faladje IDP camp just six months ago,” explained Lewis. “One of these agencies provided psychological counseling and the other helps with sanitation through the WASH program. ATEG is the only remaining NGO committed to a food distribution program, but we are only able to provide rice to about one-third of the camp’s population. When the freeze went into effect after USAID closed, people showed up who were not on our regular distribution list asking for rice, including elderly and disabled people. It broke our hearts to say no,

but we were not prepared for this contingency or have the funding to expand our program at this time,” he said.

Although the Second Annual Global Citizenship Music Festival is offered free to the community, ATEG hopes for the continued support of the generous citizens to make voluntary (or monthly) donations at https://www.artstoendgenocide.org or at the event on May 17. “100% of all money raised goes directly to the programs serving the women and children in the IDP camps in Mali,” said Deedra Durocher, a member of the ATEG Board of Directors. “With the support of our community to provide basic food and health services to these vulnerable people, we are showing there are caring people in the United States who have not abandoned them.”