THE SANCTUARY PROJECT
The Sanctuary Project’s mission is to increase individual and collective engagement with disadvantaged youth and marginalized adults who are experiencing powerlessness and hopelessness in our communities, to inspire these people into their own authentic power and to inspire all with new positive solutions for unity and productiveness in our society. Music has emotional power. Stories bring people together. The power of music hits people in the heart. Sanctuary carries the unique potential for impact as it speaks the universal language of the heart.
The Sanctuary Project is three-fold.
1. Outreach “Open Your Voice” workshops using music to empower underprivileged kids and marginalized adults living in the USA.
2. The creation of songs, stories and recordings made in collaboration with high traction nonprofits and top music professionals to bring the message of these under-voiced groups forward for the betterment of these individuals, for local communities, and for society as a whole.
3. A broad national promotional campaign through press, radio, social media, film and live shows to bring the “voices” of these underprivileged and marginalized individuals out of the shadows and into the mainstream, inspiring awareness, empowerment, and positive solution-based change.
OUTREACH PROGRAMS
In 3 years the Sanctuary Project has offered over 30 outreach programs. We have worked with disadvantaged at risk youth, people experiencing homelessness, veterans, refugee kids, rehabilitation and interpersonal life skills with prisoners, those in disadvantaged situations influenced by racism, ageism, and gender inequality, and those impacted by gun violence.
Sanctuary's writing and music workshops encourage and assist those in disadvantaged situations to move through fear, speak authentically, listen clearly to others, break out of learned limiting patterns, generate new solutions, and empower themselves through authentic expression.
Here is a short video of one of the groups The Sanctuary Project worked with. This is a group of middle school age kids who recently arrived as sanctioned refugees through the International Rescue Committee. They arrived in the USA from the war torn countries of Syria and the Congo.
The Open Your Voice workshops and collaborative writing sessions invite people from all walks of life to share their potent life experiences, stories and wisdom. Some of these deep stories have never been shared. There is incredible courage and healing that is possible sharing with others our traumas, challenges and triumphs. One young boy came to tears as he wrote and shared about his grandma who he had not spoken of since he had fled his country. He transformed from being depressed and withdrawn to beaming as he shared who she was with us. Another Westminster, CO teenage refugee, joined the Sanctuary Project in a live show in front of 3,000 people in New Orleans. At the time we started working together, she was thinking of dropping out of school. Today she has performed live throughout CO sharing her story to large audiences. She graduated High School and wants to become a leader in communications.
Here is another video from the eTown Sanctuary Concert where veteran, Bob Lecy shared his story for the first time through a Sanctuary outreach program. After years of holding in the trauma of his experience he gets up and speaks to hundreds of people and then the band performs his story through the song he co-wrote called “1,000 Yard Stare”. He received a standing ovation. When this song was performed for a group of veterans on Veterans’ Day at the Estes Park American Legion it was met with tears and a standing ovation.
https://youtu.be/l3yX_72VGs8 Go to 1:14:30 to watch Veteran Bob Lecy and his song 1,000 Yard Stare.
CREATING POWERFUL MUSIC AND STORIES
Often people will experience a powerful song and be brought to tears or feel inspired to do something but feel they don’t know what to do. Sanctuary’s networking between the individuals in marginalized situations, the music, and Sanctuary’s collaborative nonprofits connects people to organizations who know how to make a positive difference in these areas. From live shows, social media, press, radio, and television Sanctuary guides audiences to traction based nonprofits giving them a practical pathway on how to make a real difference. groups
The authentic stories and songs of Sanctuary are intended to educate, inform, and inspire by transforming fear for all people into compassionate action.
Separation occurs when we don’t “know” someone’s experience. Sanctuary workshops, music and performances bring the real life stories of those who tend to be separated and “othered” into mainstream people’s consciousness and home to human compassion. The learned tools, authentic expression, and courageous actions empower these children and marginalized adults into stronger, self sufficient, productive members of society.
The Sanctuary Project has collaborated with platinum award winning hit songwriters, NYT best selling writers, Oscar and Emmy award winning film directors, and Grammy winning producers and musicians. In 3 years the Sanctuary Project has written over 30 songs, recorded 28 songs, filmed 6 music videos, and filmed one full length “Behind the Songs” Documentary to be released fall of 2023.
NATIONAL PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN
The Sanctuary Project will achieve a global reach with it’s message of hope, empowerment and new solutions, through live concerts, a full spectrum of media (film, podcasts, press), and distribution channels (social media and digital platforms). The Sanctuary album has hit #1 on the National Folk Radio Charts, #1, #2, and #3 in the National Folk Song Radio charts, been featured on Channel 2 Daybreak news, been a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Contest, been featured in Songwriting Magazine, Music Connection and numerous podcasts with over 15 million viewers, and we are only months into it’s release.
The Live Shows and Open Your Voice Workshops of Sanctuary are scheduled through 2023 and into 2024 locally in the Boulder/Longmont/Louisville/Lafayette/Denver area and nationally throughout the USA. New workshops and shows are being added all the time. An international tour with the UN is now being rescheduled after the covid shutdown.
The songs of Sanctuary will continue to be developed in local communities, broadcast locally and internationally through a full social media, radio and publicity campaign through 2024. The Sanctuary tour lasting for many of years will bring the healing music of Sanctuary to live audiences across the USA and beyond.
REBECCA’S “WHY” OF SANCTUARY
My name is Rebecca. I am the founder of The Sanctuary Project. I am passionate about looking into the dark areas, the blind spots, and exiled places, within us and in our communities. I have a rumble inside of me from a time in my life when I was isolated, impoverished, degraded, abused, hopeless, and lost on the edges of society. That rumble has grown into a fire to share with others the resources, tools, networks, and empowered possibilities that have been gifted to me in my life.
Sanctuary uses music, outreach programs, collaboration with effective nonprofits, and the world stage to bring people on both sides of this marginalized edge to simple and inspired humanitarian action.
One small loving act from one empowered person at a time creates the lasting ripple of positive change we have been calling out for.
Collaborating Organizations
Boulder Homeless Shelter
Colorado Corrections and ARI (Authentic Relating International)
Foundation of Conscious Living and new thought leader NYT Bestselling Author Katie Hendricks
Morning Star Zen Center with Roshi Reta Lawler
IRC International Rescue Committee for Refugees
National Marine Sanctuary Foundation
OneTreePlanted.org
Veterans Warrior Storyfield
Everytown.org
Womeninmusic.org
Fiscal Sponsorship
Rebecca Folsom is fiscally sponsored by the Boulder County Arts alliance and is eligible to receive tax deductible donations.
