Refugee Choir Project

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“1.videos:tacoma refugee choir brings the message of inclusion and belonging to the broader community through performances, special gatherings, and music videos that inspire and unite the community with hopeful and empowering messages. The music video for "be counted" brought together over one hundred people representing tacoma's cultural diversity to encourage people of all colors and backgrounds to complete the 2020 census and use their voice in the community. The conversations and friendships among participants as we practiced together engendered a strong sense of empowerment and community pride as we sang and danced together and built trust among communities that partnered on this project. The video has received over 100,000 views and a number of members became more involved in their communities because of this project. As part of world refugee day in june 2020, we created "love letters", an outreach campaign and music video that included clips of dozens of people expressing support for refugees and other immigrants in our communities at a time when immigrants, especially asian immigrants, were targeted for their supposed association with covid-19. Since singing together in person was limited by the virus, we designed programming that allowed us to be part of the solution. With tacoma pierce county health department funding in late 2020 we produced "share culture, not covid," featuring three culturally-specific music videos about mask wearing created with members of the latinx ("la salud colectiva"), pacific islander ("ufimata"), and african (we will overcome / sizonqoba) communities, as well as online music programming and handmade masks with cultural fabrics.”

“2.rehearsals: the most impactful part of our work is our tuesday gatherings with the tacoma refugee choir. Both structured and unstructured time allows us to sing of joys and sorrows, share difficulties and renew a sense of love, hope and belonging. People of many cultures, genders, and ages gather at practices, make friends, assist with needs, and support each other's mental health by sharing challenges and triumphs. The program averaged 60 participants per week prior to the pandemic and continued without break on zoom throughout the year, serving as a critical lifeline for many of our members. In fall 2020 we created tacoma schools teen choir to support school music programs limited by pandemic-restrictions. This online programming began in collaboration with tacoma public schools and grew to include puyallup, federal way and sumner-bonney lake school district students in this free program strongly devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as healing. From the beginning the students said the program made them feel "safe," "seen,- and "valued- and was "lifechanging when i needed it most.".”

“3.dei/anti-racism: as an organization devoted to refugees and immigrants, we began 2020 with a conscientious focus on embedding dei in everything we do. This effort was facilitated by a dei consultant who coached staff, providing assessments and individualized plans for growth, and developed plans for organizational learning. In late 2020, staff began to meet weekly to deepen understanding and apply these principles to our communication and decision-making. We have seen substantial growth as a result of this foundational work. We developed our strategic plan centering on equity and inclusion and the board updated our mission statement, values, and policies to better emphasize our commitment. Staff have worked to address personal biases and we have adjusted our rehearsals to allow time for discussions about what true belonging means. We have also sought to address access challenges by providing zoom accounts and training to community members to engage online during the pandemic and have worked with community partners to address vital needs of our members and friends in the community. The impact of this work has led to greater trust and transparency and more authentic experiences among the members of the choir and community.”