Sing For Hope: Podcast adds connections to RefleXions

"Camille Zamora and Monica Yunus genuinely believe in the power of the arts to heal and create social change," muses Antoinette Grajeda, reporter and producer for KUAF, the region's NPR affiliate. "I think that message is critical right now given the challenges so many have faced throughout this year."

Zamora and Yunus were the first guests on a new podcast called RefleXions, which debuted this month.

"The podcast is an accompaniment to the RefleXions Music Series, a project funded by the University of Arkansas Chancellor's Grant for the Humanities and Performing Arts Initiative," Grajeda, the co-host of the podcast, explains. "The series was the brainchild of Lia Uribe, associate professor of music at the University of Arkansas, and its goal is to explore diversity and representation in the arts."

The podcast was, however, a later addition, the solution to coping with covid-19.

"The original plan for the series was to bring artists to the area to perform," Grajeda says. "When the pandemic hit, we realized that would no longer be a viable option. Someone on our committee suggested a podcast as a way to continue outreach efforts from a distance, and Lia invited me to be a co-host and producer. A new episode will be produced in conjunction with each new artist we present to the region through a virtual residency."

Via email, Yunus and Zamora call the project they founded, Sing for Hope, "an artists' peace corps." Created while the two -- both sopranos -- were students at Juilliard, the organization traces its roots back to Sept. 11, 2001, when the school's neighboring firehouse lost 12 firefighters as a result of the terrorist attacks on New York City. Yunus and Zamora mobilized fellow musicians to share live music in front of the firehouse to comfort the survivors.

"That day," Zamora says, "we experienced firsthand how art can be a change agent and a delivery system, and how something as simple as a song can connect us and generate hope."

What started as two friends' response to an immediate need has grown into an international effort which has been forced to pivot to meet an online need.

"As for so many organizations, covid has changed everything for Sing for Hope," Zamora says. "So many of the individuals and communities we serve -- in hospitals, veterans centers, nursing homes, and more -- are more isolated than ever, so we now bring our live creative arts programs to people every day via Zoom.

"We all know how much incredible creativity there is in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas," she adds. "This has been made so clear for us over the past months in our residency with the brilliant RefleXions team. ... We've collaborated with individuals and teams in many countries and on five continents, and we can honestly say that our work with the students, faculty and community members in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas has been among the most inspiring of our careers."

"I think everyone could use a little bit of hope, and it's so lovely that these artists have such a strong desire to positively impact society and that they have found a way to use their amazing skills to accomplish that goal," Grajeda says of Sing for Hope.

"We hope listeners will engage in a conversation with us by emailing their own thoughts and reflections after listening to the conversation with our guests," she adds. "We also hope they'll participate in some of the events included in the artists' virtual residency."