When We Shine
At When We Shine, we are Artists committed to civic & social activism that supports, fosters & celebrates diverse cultures and communities.
MISSION: To Empower Communities To Live a Life They Love.
PURPOSE: To grow regenerative social support networks that utilize Culture & The Arts as tools for community growth, healing & service, with emphasis on women and children.
VISION: Creative, strong, healthy, thriving communities where women equally lead, and children and the environment’s health are the priority.
Arts4Change 2016, Sangam World Center, Pune, India Holi Festival
What lights you up?
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.”
– Rabindranath Tagore
Our social systems need an upgrade. Culture and The Arts are powerful agents of transformation. They create doorways into belonging and building new ground for unity to revitalize our communities. Our purpose is to utilize Culture, The Arts and Social Artistry, to communicate their value, to contribute toward making our schools & neighborhoods more lively, beautiful and resilient, to help us remember who we are together!
WHEN WE SHINE can serve in many ways to advance community through the arts!
Here are some of the ways:
- Arts Education & Leadership Development
- Cultural Events, Projects & Promotions
- Community Building through Partnerships & Networking
- Songwriting Residencies for Schools
- Women’s Health and Well-Being Workshops
The WHEN WE SHINE Core Team:
David Kauahikaua, Rae Takemoto and Melinda Caroll
ARTISTS are AWESOME
“Artists are the gate keepers of truth. We are civilization’s radical voice.” Artist & Social Activist, Paul Robeson
We commend and recognize Artists for their audacity to dream, commitment to help create dynamic social justice, and dedication to helping make the world a better place …especially for women and girls!
The Arts – whether musical, visual or performing – play an important role in Movements for social change. They serve as a conduit to shift narratives and become records of our social movements.
How Creativity and Culture contribute to community?
1. Artists Bring People to the Conversation
2. Artists Imagine the Possibilities
3. Artists Highlight and Support Existing Assets
4. Artists Can Prototype and Experiment
5. Artists Say What Cannot Be Said in Plain Words
6. Artists Build Innovative Bridges and Spread Ideas
Be a part of something bigger than yourself!
Won’t you join us?
Melinda Caroll
Artist – Educator – Activist
A National Songwriter and Songleader for Girl Scouts of the USA since 1989, Melinda brings creativity, inspiration, imagination and passion to the art of singing, performance, original songwriting and story telling. She loves sharing her passion with children and adults and has toured world-wide with a message of unity through song, in concerts, workshops and Artist Retreats. A Hawai’i resident since 1979, she is an avid Hawaiian Cultural student and Aloha Ambassador. Melinda believes in empowering girls with Music, Song and Dance, a creative catalyst for positive social and environmental change.
Melinda is the Founder and Artistic Director of WhenWeShine.org
Click here for more about her music, click Melinda Caroll Music or Go to iTunes
WHEN WE SHINE
Here’s What a Song Can Do!
The video below is the Arts4Change Song we wrote, sang and recorded with the participants in Pune, India in 2016, celebrating our workshop and the unity we felt creating art together. It has since traveled around the world and has been translated into multiple languages, including Hindi, Maharashtra, Malagasi, Myanmar, Cantonese, Swahili, French and more.
On World Thinking Day, February 22nd, 2017, the World Association of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides (WAGGGS) with over 10 million members in 150 countries, in partnership with When We Shine, launched a Music Video Challenge using our song. We received 56 music videos submissions sung and performed by Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from around the world, countries that included Brazil, Cambodia, Syria, Egypt, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Nigeria, Ireland, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Portugal, India, the UK and the USA!
WhenWeShine.org was born out of this universal desire to to be part of something greater than ourselves and to show the world what’s possible When We Shine!
All of the young women in these videos expressed through their dances and singing, their unified desire to belong to something greater than themselves, to show up in their best light. By creating their own music videos, some with great challenge, even despite the danger in doing so, displayed their passion to be a part of a better world and their support for this international organization for women leaders.