1978   Belize and Guatemala • Orphanages and schools 1983 Senegal and The Gambia • Literacy programs, well-building Catholic Relief Service, Peace Corps 1992 Russia • Young visually-impaired musicians tour the country, schools, hospitals, factories on grant from Trust forMutual Understanding and Samuel Rubin Foundation 1997, 1999 Cameroon • AIDS education with Kongadzem,a women's tribal social action group and ... 2001, 2002 Cameroon • Over 50,000 secondary school studentsreached with the support of the New England Biolabs Foundation and the U.S. State Department

1979 Ecuador • Hospitals, orphanages and schoolsPeace Corps, USIS 1987 People'sRepublic of China • Chinese Musicians' Union 1990 Brazil • Fundacao Vitoria Amazonica, rainforest preservation USIS, Recife 1993, 1995, 1996 Dominican Republic • Series of AIDS prevention and education collaborations with local AIDS educators focusing on prevention with youthsin schools, universities, sugarcane camps, on TV, 3-year grant from Public Welfare Foundation for AIDS Education. 2000 Lithuania • Klezmer band returns to its roots to bring its joyous Jewish music and heritage back to where a once thriving Jewish culture is all but extinct.

1982 Sierra Leoneand Liberia • Schools, Peace Corps, Education Ministry of Sierra Leonne 1987 Dominican Republic • Public health "shows," Public Health Dept. of Dominican Republic 1988 Nicaragua • Schools, streets, cultural centers Sister Cities Project. "Teaching Peace" grant awarded on return by Peace Development Fund 1996 Haiti • African-American dance ensemble collaborating with International Planned Parenthood, AIDS education 2001, 2003 Benin, West Africa • Working with local organization Centre Afrika Obota, performed in villages throughout the country delivering prevention messages concerning HIV/AIDS. Returning 18 months later to produce collaborative hit single about "protecting oneself" with local pop musicians and Beninian school children with the help of US AID.

.why we've been there

Music, dance and humor are powerful universal vehicles of communication, however there is little opportunity for cross-cultural sharing to take place on a person-to-person level around the world. Project Troubador is unique in its fulfillment of this need, offering a way for both performing artists and audiences to meet on common ground in celebration.Project Troubador helps diffuse stereotypes and prejudices created through television,commercialism,and politics, helping to link people from vastly different backgrounds on a powerful level. When this dynamic energy is also associated with the efforts of local community action groups, its effect is amplified. By bringing our experiences back to American audiences, we hope to raise the public's awareness of distant nations and cultures with new ways of communicating positively. In a small but significant way, we work towards greater harmony in a dissonant world.

 

Recollections from our Tour Diaries:

 1. Niger Diaries
2. The Making of J'ai Mes Raisons/Benin Journal
3. A letter from Kongadzem