'Bringing people together': Brussels concert marks 50 years of Up With People

Up With People, an American educational organisation with a mission to bridge cultural barriers through voluntary service and music, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a concert in Brussels this weekend - rescheduled after the events in Paris last November.

Started in 1965, UWP was an offshoot of the Moral Re-Armament, a movement dedicated to "love, honesty, purity and unselfishness". At the time, the Cold War was at its peak and the United States was riven by discord over civil rights and the war in Vietnam.

According to UWP founder J. Blanton Belk: "I thought if we could harness some of that energy and give them a positive voice it might capture their attention and touch the world.

"We invited university student presidents to meet us. The challenge was: the world knows what you are against, but they don’t know what you are for and what your ideas are for the great issues of the day." There followed a creative explosion and music, the international language, was their medium.

"At our first concert, 95 congressmen from both parties were the sponsors and many were in the audience of 5,000. It worked with the public. It communicated, connected, inspired and motivated. When the show ended I went backstage to thank the cast. They said: 'We've got something going. We'd like to keep it going and stay on the road.' And we did."

Squeaky clean image

UWP's immediate acceptance and support by the Washington elite and such corporate sponsors as Halliburton and Standard Oil, coupled with its squeaky clean image during the messy Sixties caused many eyebrows to be raised. Was it really a front for the spreading of right-wing politics? Was it actually a cult? At the height of their fame, the group frequently performed the half-time entertainment at the Super Bowl.

All of that is still being debated but UWP soldiers on. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with satellite offices in Belgium and Mexico, twice a year UWP assembles a "cast" of approximately 100 participants who travel to 20 countries around the world, live with host families, do community service and put on concerts.

Vicky from China joined a year ago and is on her second semester. Speaking to The Bulletin ahead of the group's Brussels concert on 4 June, she says: "It's been such a long journey but it's been a life-changing experience. I got to know people from all over the world. I even got to sing for the Pope.

"I'm closer to the world and I got to do so many volunteering works - I painted a house, I taught little children. I did so many things while helping others but I gained so much from the experience. So for me now the world is not just a map, not just places, it's faces."

Another participant, Cloé Bernier from Switzerland, adds: "It's not just a great show, it's the message we spread around the world - bringing new people together, sparking their interest but also sparking the will in them to do something for their people."

Up With People's Europe 50th anniversary celebration, Saturday 4 June 20.00, Brussels Expo Hall 10
www.upwithpeople.org