Building Community Through Music and Art

Building community through music and art has been a commitment of mine since I was in my early 20's. As a 21 year old in Boston attending graduate school in organizational development at MIT, I was also deeply engaged in my first professional music career. I founded an artists-alliance group called The Boston Arts Roundtable, which met to discuss our process as musicians and artists in my living room in Arlington, MA, as well as collaborating on multi-media concerts in Eastern MA.

When I lived in Shrewsbury after graduate school, I would have informal salons at my house, where friends shared music, art and community. It was fun introducing people who circulated in different communities to others they would never had met had we not gathered in these salons. When I moved to Waltham 4 1/2 years ago, creating an intimate house concert series, the Music Salon, was a vision and motivation to get the house I actually chose to live in. Each month we build community through music and art, and my house happily stewards this spirit even in the days in between salons.

Co-founding the Women In Music Gathering, also an artist-alliance group, with Cindy D'Adamo and Colette O'Connor came from the same inspired seed. Gathering women musicians together bimonthly for a potluck lunch, sharing about our personal and professional journeys and a song share, complemented by collaborative concerts seemed like a natural and needed initiative.

All of these initiatives were and are local. The ability to gather face to face regularly over time, and present programs together in local venues is rich and meaningful. When I was fortunate enough to learn about LadyLake Music and its magical and inspired founder, Cindy D'Adamo, there was a natural fit not only professionally but also spiritually.

I have gratefully been a LadyLake Artist for about 1 1/2 years, and was amazed that primarily through social media, I could be part of a vital and growing network of people who were on a similar wavelength spiritually as well as professionally. But Cindy D'Adamo has a wonderful way of screening musicians for their values, work ethic and vibration as well as their talent. So, the people she brings together as the LadyLake community and family are warm, dedicated and really enjoyable people.

After communicating through all possible virtual platforms, but not yet in person, it was such a special experience for Cindy to come to Boston from Cape Coral, FL for our LadyLake Boston Showcase at City Winery. Texas LadyLake artist Dave Martinez also came to town, and it was no surprise what a warm and delighted human being he is in addition to being a fabulous performer.

Cindy really understands what it means to build community through music and art, but even more importantly, knows how to screen people even through social media, to find people truly on the same wavelength. Cindy seeks givers, not just takers, visionaries who are also implementers, and people who recognize that when we work together and support each other, we all fly higher and go farther.

In my coaching and body psychotherapist, an image I have used with clients for years is that of a lighthouse. The more grounded we become, the clearer we are about who we are, and why we are here (our purpose), the clearer the signal we radiate into the world from the core of our being. This signal or the frequency we transmit is like the beam of a lighthouse. And people we have not yet met are looking to see this signal or feel this beam, in order to be drawn towards to the people and experiences they need to move forward along their personal pathways.

To trust that putting out an authentic signal will bring us people on our wavelength--both people we need to meet and people who need to meet us, for the higher good of all, is at the root of this lighthouse image. After spending time with Cindy, it is wonderful watching her implement this very model at a national and global level.

The lighthouse model allows social media and our internet world to have a human touch reach through it. All possible platforms of interaction become places the lighthouse beam can shine and others can recognize the frequency in order to make meaningful connections. The connections can lead to local or regional face to face community and a larger national or global alliance which can be translated into face to face for special projects.

The LadyLake Boston Showcase was the beginning of this kind of translation, where some long distance alliances could come together to perform on the same stage in Boston. The possibility for more events of this kind, not only in Boston, but in other cities, is exciting and a natural follow on.

When community gathers, connection can happen and grow. And in the energy field of this growing community connection, all kinds of good things are possible. This kind of collaborative support community is so deeply needed and a true antidote to some of the scary, inhumane and toxic things happening in this country and our larger world.

I hope more and more people hear the call for this kind of collaborative community, and respond to this lighthouse beam. Music is the soul's language which brings us together and connects us heart to heart. These kinds of connections feel our soul, and help us stay grounded both in our vision and our humanity. I truly pray that our joint efforts "light up the love" as my friend Jerry Meunier, founder of Light Up the Love (tm) says. So many individual people and the world as a whole needs this now!

Being A Lighthouse

As I have been leading workshops on the Power of Voice, a helpful image that I've found myself using frequently is that of the lighthouse. Voice is more than the ability to speak or sing. Voice is actually a sense of who we are at the deepest level: spirit, heart and soul.

Finding one's voice is another way of saying, discovering and knowing who you really are. As you connect inside with your heart, soul and deepest knowing, your sense of self will seek forms of expression. And the pathways of expression, be they speaking, singing, drawing, dancing, writing, inventing....or anything else...are your unique gifts or your unique frequency that you project out into the world.

In this way, as we become clearer about who we are, and can sense the frequency we resonate on, we become a lighthouse, with a unique beam of light to cast out into the world. If we let our light shine through our words, deeds, actions and being, we will naturally attract people, experiences and opportunities that are truly meant for us. Shining our unique light into life's larger harbor allows those "boats" who are seeking this frequency of shelter, protection or light to find us. If we don't know who we are, we can't shine our light. And if we are afraid to shine our light, then the people, experiences and opportunities we are meant to meet and have cannot find us.

To be able to connect with our unique light takes courage, and often skillful facilitation. It also takes patience and trust. Once we have found it and connected to it, life can feel more fulfilling and empowering. Trusting that we will meet who we are meant to meet and that our light is needed by others who seek to find us is an important part of developing the faith to walk a spiritual path in life.

Some people worry that if they shine their light, others will turn away. There is some truth to this concern. However, it is actually a liberating truth. Not everyone WILL resonate with who you are or need to connect with you. And that is okay. The more we live as lighthouses in the world, the more places of harbor will be available. And then trusting that we will be able to give harbor or shelter to those who need our frequency of light...and those who need another frequency of light will be able to find their safe harbor where it is meant to be found.