CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Coastal Bend high school students are getting a lesson in unity this week, through music.
International performing arts group Gen Verde travels to cities across the world and is currently in Corpus Christi.
They said their mission is to help kids make new friends and get out of their comfort zones.
Those workshops, held at John Paul II High School, include sessions in singing, dance, percussion, and drama and will culminate in a free performance at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mary Carroll High School.
"We try to create among young people a way that they can live true relationships, to find new friends, and get out of their comfort zones," said Adriana Garcia, a member of Gen Verde. "For example, when they come up on stage with us, it’s not just that we are doing our concert, but for them, it’s also to tell people to tell the audience we’ve done this together, this is big this is great."
The organization, which was formed in the late 1960s, held its first workshop in Israel.
"We had young people of different religions who participated. There were Arab Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and at the beginning, we weren't sure how it was going to go because of the tension between these groups, but we realized, as we went ahead how powerful the arts can be as a means of building dialogue, and helping to foster an atmosphere of peace and unity even among people who are very different," said Nancy Uelmen, a member of Gen Verde.
Uelmen said this experience in Israel motivated the group to expand to cities across the world. She said those lessons helped form a blueprint.
"Even if we are very different, learning how to dialogue with each other, learning how to see things from the other point of view, we’ve seen that that’s possible," Uelmen said. "And if each of us tries to live that way and also live it together with many others, we can show that peace is possible in the world."
