Mexico City, November 14, 2024—Today is the birthday of our founder, William Harvey, and all he wants is for YOU to donate to Cultures in Harmony for our 20th anniversary, coming up in 2025! We are raising $20,000 to present projects in 10 countries on 5 continents, and for the rest of this year, I’ll be sharing memories from our first 20 years and plans for the big anniversary. 

Memory Lane: Turkey 2007

We first traveled to Turkey in 2007 in a project generously underwritten by the Turkish Cultural Center and the McGraw-Hill companies. In Istanbul, we performed outreach concerts at various psychiatric hospitals and collaborated with the Dünya Renkleri Korosu to present a highly successful benefit concert for the humanitarian organization Kimse Yok Mu. We traveled to Konya, where the whirling dervish ceremony originated as a result of the teachings of Rumi over 700 years ago. During the ceremony, the dervishes turn around and around as a symbol of their unity with creation, while the musicians play ecstatic Sufi music on oud, ney, kanun, and drums. While in Konya, CiH musicians shattered an ancient historical barrier by becoming the first women ever to join male musicians in accompanying the ceremony in Konya.

Please help celebrate William’s birthday by making your tax-deductible contribution today! Anyone who donates at least $2,000 will be acknowledged as the sponsor of our work in a particular country in 2025. Donations of all sizes are welcome! We will also be announcing other ways that our donors and supporters can be involved. We will use the hashtag #cih20 throughout the year. 

Learn more about our work in Turkey!