I want to tell you an inspiring story about a student organization called ArtREACH. ArtREACH was started by a group of young people with little financial and administrative resources, but immense passion, heart, imagination, and drive.

What is noteworthy about this group is that it has given birth to a dream that it is actively nurturing. Although it is comprised of artists in training at Juilliard, its focus is outwards, into the community. Its mission statement reads:

Mauricio Salgado and Cindy Welik (right) with Ana Leonor, a Dominican girl with whom Cindy danced a duet.

"By involving all forms of artistic expression in community outreach efforts -- specifically through open discussions, organized volunteer efforts, and benefit performances -- we plan to demonstrate the vitality of the Arts as a universal tool for initiating and establishing a greater sense of social understanding and acceptance."

Over a year ago, after the horrific events of September 11, a number of Juilliard students started wondering what they could be doing to break down the barriers between people, which lead to hatred and aggression. They collectively agreed that a major factor behind the attacks was the tendency to close off to nations and individuals perceived of as being different and wrong. They also acknowledged that they saw this tendency every day, on a smaller scale, but frequently chose to ignore it. They made a decision to be proactive. They came to the conclusion that art had the overarching ability to reach out to men, women, and children regardless of their religious, sexual, cultural, ethnic, racial, economic, political, and occupational position. Thus the seed of ArtREACH was planted.

In June of 2002, founding members Mauricio Salgado, a drama student, and Cindy Welik, a dance student, traveled to the barrio of La Vega in the Dominican Republic on a mission trip with an organization called Amor en Accion (Love in Action) and experienced the power of art first-hand. Cindy created a dance to music written by a fellow missioner, about opening one's eyes to life and love. She developed it as a duet she danced with a 12-year-old Dominican girl named Ana Leonor. The two had every possible wall between them: age, social class, economic status, language, religion. Yet the collaboration demolished these defining barriers, developed a deep bond between the two, and transformed them.

Cindy and Mauricio took this idea of communicating and eliminating barriers through art back with them to the United States, and in November of that year, got together with fellow Juilliard students for ArtREACH's first meeting.

As a result of that and other meetings, ArtREACH developed a number of projects to reach out to the community. One of the first of these was Ugly, a dramatic piece about domestic violence written by ArtREACH member Nel'son Ellis and based on a personal experience. The student-produced show, performed in December, was a collaboration between all the divisions and was such a success that more performances may be held in more venues.

Events in the planning stages include:

ArtREACH's most ambitious project to date is the Art in Action summer camp, a two-week intensive arts camp for 30-40 underprivileged young people of the Homestead/Florida City community in South Florida. A group of 12-15 artists from The Juilliard School (three or four from each discipline) will travel to Florida to lead this camp. The session will include visual arts, theater, music, and dance, with its focus being a large, collaborative work of art that will emphasize the importance of community. The goal of the project is to develop in these children a heightened confidence in their ability to make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others through their art.

All events to date have been organized, budgeted, and publicized by ArtREACH members with financial and administrative help from within and outside the School. ArtREACH is working with four outside organizations to make its summer camp project materialize. It is currently seeking grants for the project's anticipated $15,000 budget. (Takers, anyone?)

A remarkable aspect of ArtREACH is that there are no official designations within the group of some 40 students -- no president, secretary, or treasurer. The group's premise is that all are working for a greater purpose, and no one person's contribution is more important than another's. Each project is run by a team that handles the responsibilities for that project. Belief in the essential generosity of artists (who are moved by the impulse to share their creations with an audience) is one of the premises behind ArtREACH. As all artists are connected to each other, anyone can be a part of ArtREACH. The rewards lie in finding a larger framework for their art and a purpose to their lives -- an important factor for students involved in a conservatory training program that necessarily requires self-involvement for most of the day.

"It is my ongoing belief that it is important to have technique and communicative artistry, but it is crucial to have a sense of mission to change the world for the future," said President Polisi when he met with ArtREACH members recently. "Artists challenge society and culture. How can we build bridges? What you're doing... that's sensational, that's my dream."

I hope that the story of this group has moved you as much as it has moved me. I wish you could see these people in action; I hope you do. I hope you get to participate in this assemblage. It is not a group of people looking to do things for its own growth, but rather a small community reaching out to the larger one it lives in, dynamically seeking to better the quality of life.

If you choose to contribute your resources -- through your time, your writing, your speaking voice, or your financial support -- you should get in touch with the Office of Student Affairs or e-mail Mauricio Salgado at mauro32783@juno.com. Do not underestimate what you can do to help spread the message of universal unity through art. Your effort might seem small, but it is important. And the next time you see a Juilliard student with a heavy book bag, wish him or her well -- it just might be an ArtREACH member looking to help a homeless person.

Mahira Kakkar is a third-year drama student.