During the holidays, Humanium received a donation with a story attached that caught our attention. It is a story in which children help other children who haven’t been given a chance to enjoy a trouble-free childhood with basic rights.
Calista Garcia is 13 years old. She is a musician, composer, and actress in 8th grade at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, a public middle and high school in Arlington, Virginia, USA. In autumn 2014, she participated in a project in which students wrote and performed an original adaptation of Aristophane’s famous protest comedy ‘Lysistrata’. The cast created the modern teenage version ‘Lizzy Strata’, in which a teenage girl leads the youth of the world in a creative civil disobedience protest that forces adults to listen to their demands, which range from education reforms to ending wars.
Calista Garcia volunteered to create rock songs for the new production, in the satirical style of Aristophanes’ original songs. The result was nine amazingly professional songs of protest, determination, unity, hope, and vision. She put together a small rock band, which accompanied the performance from atop the Greek temple that the students built on stage for the production. The actors learned and sang the songs, and many in the audience agreed the songs were the most remarkable part of this wonderful, funny, and thoughtful original production.
Calista decided to create a professional recording of the songs, assisted by her musical mentor, Mark Schenker, a professional musician. Schenker gathered a band and produced a beautiful CD of Calista’s songs.
Calista decided that all income from CD sales during performances of the play would be donated to an organization promoting the same children’s rights that are central to the themes of the play. She selected Humanium based on its mission and its unique Ethics Charter. Calista and the entire cast and crew were proud to raise over $500 through the sales of the CD, which has now been donated in full to Humanium.
With this article, we would like to thank Calista and the entire cast for this generous donation that will contribute to improve living conditions for children and will help to guarantee their rights.
Written by: Ivana Hajzmanova Edited by: Lisa Olofsson Proofread by : Allison M. Charette |
