Susan Sanford-Watson Lockport, New York
To Whom It May Concern:	May 9, 2003
Last year I took on the inspired task of creating a multicultural arts and community festival for Lockport City School district, at which I am an English as a Second Language teacher. We named it the Unlty Festival and our intentions were to educate citizens and students about the diversity of cultures they could explore and share within this community. We hoped to engender an atmosphere of acceptance and positive curiosity about the possibilities that exist outside the realm of one's individual life experience and home culture. Because of its tremendous reputation in the commuinty, the Unity festival committee decided to contact the band, One World Tribe, to be the highlight of our festival. We all completely agreed that a band of such caliber would serve as a draw for many people and as a cohesive communication of our message of unity. Much to our delight and surprise, the well-known and very busy band readily signed on. Even more astounding was that they offered to play for free, with the district paying only for their expenses, such as gas and equipment rental costs. Making arrangements with Mr. Kennedy Thompson, I found that educational programs are a priority for the band. An event like the Unity Festival had never taken place in our city and we had no way of anticipating what sort of turnout we would have. As people flooded into the Festival, we discovered that many had come particularly to see One World Tribe. Those who had not heard them before quickly became fans. The auditorium was filled with people of every age, race and religion, most of them unable to restrain themselves from dancing or tapping their toes. Just as we had hoped, the words of their songs connected perfectly with the concept of the festival. For several weeks after the event, I continually received messages from attendees praising the festival, and especially, One World Tribe. The administrators of the school district were extremely pleased with the educational nature of the band's performance. In a small city like Lockport, the realization of our new diversity is only now beginning to set in. When One World Tribe performed at our Festival, they helped people to see diversity as the blessing that it truly is, to be celebrated and shared. I couldn't have found a better representation of community-building in the form of a band than One World Tribe. I thank them for making our first multicultrual festival a successful, educational, community experience. One World Tribe most definitely deserves support to continue their efforts to unify our schools and communities.