Up with People
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Up with People (UWP) is the name of both a motivational organization and a musical performance, both related to each other.
The organization is made up of troupes of young people who sing and perform internationally. Along with performing the show, cast members participate in community impact activities and assist volunteer organizations as a way to give back to the communities that host them. Today the size of the troupe has been scaled back. Currently the organization has two groups traveling each year, one from January to June and the other from July to December.
Since 1965, some 20 million people in 38 countries worldwide have been visited by Up with People, over three million hours of community service have been performed, and 450,000 families have played host. There are more than 20,000 UWP alumni in 79 countries.
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[edit] History
The 1965 debut roster featured a cast of 140 volunteers performing at a summer convention of Moral Re-Armament on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Moral Re-Armament (MRA), an international religious group founded by Frank Buchman in 1938, continues to operate under the name Initiatives of Change. The Executive Director of Moral Re-Armament in the mid-1960s, J. Blanton Belk, described M.R.A. as an "expeditionary force from all faiths and races engaged in a race with time to modernize the character and purpose of man. It is love of home, homeland, and humanity. It is absolute moral standards as a compass in personal and national life. It is the firm conviction that enough God-loving men and women can be found who, by example and dedication, will provide leadership whose aim is to right what is wrong in the world..." Belk was the founder of "Up with People." The current "Up with People" organization has no ties to "Moral Re-Armament" or "Initiatives of Change."
Young people from many countries were represented in the performance of "Sing-Out 65". The cast of Sing-Out 65 traveled to Japan at the invitation of the Prime Minister, with cast members staying in private homes, including the homes of members of parliament. The cast performed on Japanese television and on the Kabuki Stage in Tokyo. Traveling throughout the country — from the island of Hokkaido in the north, to Tokyo and by train to Kobe — the cast took a ferry to South Korea. In South Korea the cast performed at military facilities and visited the Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjeom. Sing Out Asia was formed from the visits of the US national casts and several albums were recorded from Sing Out Asia.
Back in the U.S., the cast became 'Sing-Out 66.' The show toured around the country, attracting volunteers and led to the formation of three "Up with People" casts (A, B, and C). With these multiple casts the show sang and performed for audiences around the world including the U.S., Canada, Europe, Central and South America, and Japan. Training and recruitment festivals were held on Fort Slocum, an island off New Rochelle, New York, for several summers in the mid-1960s.
In 1968, the name was officially changed to "Up with People," incorporated as a non-profit organization and severed ties with MRA. Up with People's relationship to local "Sing Out" casts waned in the late 1960s and finally broke affiliation with the Sing-Out Program in 1968. Without the support of UWP, the local Sing-Outs across the country began to fade themselves.
Over the years Up with People played in diverse venues around the U.S., including universities, high schools, hockey arenas, the Hollywood Bowl, National Conventions for Republicans and Democrats, the Air Force Academy, Ft. Benning, Ft. Campbell, and many more. In 1976, Up with People performed the National Anthem at the Indianapolis 500. Most notably, from 1976 to 1986, Up with People performed in four Super Bowl halftime shows.
Faced with dire finances, Up with People's Board of Directors voted in December, 2000, to suspend operations. While it appeared to be the end of the popular upbeat performance and service group, many approaches to re-organization were explored. In 2004, Up with People re-launched as UWP's WorldSmart Leadership Program and soon after reverted to their original branding as simply "Up with People."
[edit] WorldSmart Leadership Program
In August 2004, the first semester of the WorldSmart Leadership Program was launched. Designed as a 20-week program, the first crew traveled to about 18 cities in North America, Japan, and Europe, starting off with an orientation session in Denver, Colorado, United States. Each crew spent a week in each city, living mainly with host families.
While there was still a performance element, it was not the core focus of the program. Known as the Celebration, it was a short presentation of dance, music, singing, multimedia, speech, and acting, as well as sharing their experiences of the city. The Celebration's aim was to get the people of the local community together with people from all over the world.
Besides the Celebration, other main elements of the WorldSmart Leadership Program included:
- Direct Instruction — college-level courses and discussions on topics such as leadership, intercultural communication, and world conflict. Some students elected to take actual college classes offered by the University of Colorado-Denver, while others attended general discussion sessions (known as "Stone Soup").
- Regional Learning — learning about the local area and community through tours, guest speakers, courtesy visits, and special activities (e.g. scavenger hunts, workshops, panels). Some of these activities included a visit to a juvenile detention center, a tea ceremony, the World Expo in Toyota, Aichi, and lunch in a high school made up predominantly of immigrants.
- Community Impact — various community service projects based on various issues, such as education, the environment, immigration, discrimination, the arts, and many more. Projects ranged from visiting schools and interacting with students, to learning about different world faiths.
- Professional Development — internships and special projects in various sections, such as external relations or applied education. Students were also free to organize and run special projects of their own — such projects included a Language Exchange and an in-house magazine.
Besides this, many other side projects and activities were also run and organized by both staff and students, allowing them to use the skills they learned through the program.
[edit] Up with People - Global Education Program
In 2006, a restructured Up with People program was introduced. Essentially, the program combines elements from UWP's four decades of success: a commitment to exploring leadership in a global context, host family living, international participants, service learning and using musical performance - a universal language - as a means to share a message of hope for the world.
Today, participants in the Up with People program travel for one or two semesters beginning in January and July of every year. Each cast has between 80-100 young people from more than 20 countries; learning how to work cooperatively while exploring the similarities and differences of people from other nations and cultures. Each tour will visit over 18 communities on at least two continents; providing personal insight from diverse cultural, political, and economic conditions. During their 22-week experience, cast members will perform in a vibrant musical show that brings the community together and highlights local partnering organizations. Members will also give back to each city through meaningful service projects designed to make a lasting impact and improve the lives of others. The Up with People experience underscores that it's not 'getting', but 'giving' that leads to personal growth and can make a positive difference.
Up with People exists today to spark people to action in meeting the needs of their communities, countries and the world while building bridges of understanding as a foundation for world peace.
[edit] Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story
The documentary film Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story [1][2] premiered at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival. It is an unofficial documentary history of the organization. The film was directed by Lee Storey who is married to early alumnus William Storey.
The film documents the troupe's history from its origins within Moral Re-Armament and the Sing-Out groups. It further shows that the musical group had roots in a religious cult and right wing politics; intended to counter the hippie subculture. The rules of the troupe included arranged marriages. The troupe was funded by corporate entities including Halliburton, General Motors, Exxon, and Searle. It covers the evolution of the organization from its very beginnings in the late 1950s throughout its successful years of the 1980s and subsequent decline.[3]
Reviews have noted that while a critique of the organization, the film has also shown respect for those who were involved and demonstrated their good intentions.[4]
[edit] Notable former members
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- Actress Glenn Close[5]
- Author Tim Gallwey (The Inner Game of Tennis)
- Composer, Performer, Writer, Lyricist Cecil Broadhurst
- Oarsman Rusty Wailes
- Competitive Analyst Tommy Navarre
- Country music artist Travis Rush
- Contemporary Christian artist Mark Schultz
- Real Estate Expert John T. Reed
- Dutch singer and actor Bastiaan Ragas
- Dutch TV-host Tooske Breugem
- Filmmaker Tag Purvis (Red Dirt)
- Producer Tina Kendrick
- Actress Amy Hunter-Cornelius
- Jazz Drummer Randy Brush
- Filmmaker & Actor Keith L. Davis
[edit] Popular culture references
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2007) |
- Up with People was parodied as "Hooray for Everything" in The Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" and in the episode "Selma's Choice", at Duff Gardens.[6]
- Another parody was done calling the organization "Getting Gay with Kids" in the South Park episode "Rainforest Schmainforest". The song was a take off on the title track "We Are Many, We Are One" of the Up with People album "People are the Energy".
- Up with People was featured in the movie Black Sunday for the Super Bowl half-time performance which actually was real footage of the game and show intermixed with the Hollywood production. They are also credited with singing the National Anthem at the start of the game with Tom Sullivan.
- The Up with People theme song was formerly used by American syndicated radio and TV talk host Glenn Beck as bumper music for approximately six months (he used about 20 seconds of the reprise).
- David Letterman occasionally referred to the "Up with People" kids in his top ten lists through the 1980s and 1990s.
- In Manchester Part I, the first part of the two-episode West Wing Season 3 premiere, campaign strategist Bruno Gianelli complains of the stark pessimism in early drafts of President Bartlet's candidacy announcement, telling Chief of Staff Leo McGarry that he is "reading things that would make the cast of Up with People sit down on the floor and cry."
- In the television series Cheers, Nick Tortelli's wife Loretta performs with "The Grinning Americans," a parody of Up with People.
- In an episode of the Samurai Pizza Cats cartoon titled "Youth is for Exploding," the show's villain recruits a terrorist group named "Blown Up with People" which consists of Doughboy-like robots who explode whenever they sense strong emotions from the populace.
- In the Night Court episode "Muggee", Mac tells Harry that it would take two hours to get a hostage negotiator to the court because the hostage negotiators were being held hostage by a militant splinter group of Up with People.
- In "The Zeppo", episode 13 of Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander is seduced by Faith. Xander says to her, "I'm suddenly *very* up. It's just, um...I've never been up with people before."
- In the Popular episode "All About Adam", it is revealed that Mary Cherry was a member of the organization.
- Up with People is mentioned several times in the film "Waiting to Exhale". Gloria Matthews (played by (Loretta Devine)) is a beauty salon owner and single mother raising a teenage son (Donald Faison) who is preparing to leave home and travel the world with Up with People.
[edit] References
- ^ Storey, Lee. Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story. Storey Vision Productions, 2009.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1329440/
- ^ http://www.smiletilithurts.com/index.html
- ^ http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-28/film/docuweeks-allows-screentime-for-mdash-gasp-mdash-complex-women/
- ^ Seymour, Steve, Glenn Close recorded in U. P., http://rocknrollgraffiti.blogspot.com/2007/01/glenn-close-recorded-in-u-p.html, retrieved 2009-01-12
- ^ Reiss, Mike. (2004). The Simpsons The Complete Fourth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Selma's Choice". [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
