About us: mission, vision, goals

Project:Reversible is a network of artists committed to improving local communities by moving beyond homophobia, racism, and suicide and moving into a celebration of diversity, equality, and acceptance.

The vision: Art is even more beautiful when it inspires positive action. P:R will develop a productive network of diverse, creative souls to release a series of 'products' and programs that will enhance community discussion and enhancement around the critical social issues of race, sexual orientation, and mental health. 

The story:  Conceived in June 2008 by Joshua Guthals as a way to raise funds for organizations working to end racism, homophobia, and prevent suicide,  P:R was inspired by a song Joshua wrote in 2005 called Reversible (listen here). For more, see Joshua's "Inspiration" story on the home page.

The mission:

• to increase appreciation of and engagement in social diversity and community
• to transcend currently limited frameworks of understanding each other
• to spur local action towards these ends

Specific goals: 

• under the tagline "What Will You Reverse?", to create a series of products that encourages people to address our key issues
• to raise money and awareness for our Causes through: performing a live fund-raiser; releasing song and video of  "Reversible"; producing a P:R compilation CD
  
• to encourage artistic, fun and inclusive community-building events and initiatives 
• to raise awareness of creative entrepreneurial idealism (CEI) as a vehicle for accomplishing these goals

Our causes:  The charities benefiting from P:R's 2008 fundraising efforts were chosen by a vote of all active members of the P:R team, and represent the three areas of primary concern for the project:

§ Homophobia: The Matthew Shepard Foundation

§ Racism/Genocide: Darfur Peace and Development Organization

§ Suicide Prevention: The Jed Foundation

The significance of our causes is clear. Here are just a few current problems affecting our communities: 

International

• In the year 2000, approximately one million people died from suicide: a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds.
• Mental disorders (particularly depression and substance abuse) are associated with more than 90% of all cases of suicide; however, suicide results from many complex sociocultural factors and is more likely to occur particularly during periods of socioeconomic, family and individual crisis situations (e.g. loss of a loved one, employment, honou). [World Health Organization]
• Every year at least 10 million people are forcibly evicted, over and above the dramatically
  high numbers of people moved from their places of origin as a consequence of internal displacement, ethnic cleansing, refugee flows or other manifestations of coerced population movements. [United Nations]

National

• Over 32,000 Americans commit suicide each year. [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]
• More than half of the reported hate crimes in the US are motivated by racial bias; 16% by homophobia.[Federal Bureau of Investigation]

These statistics affect all of us. They affected Joshua in a particular way:

 "'Reversible' was written for a gay friend of mine whose father threatened to kill him for his sexuality when he was 14, leading my friend to throw himself out of a second-story window. He survived with two broken arms and was put into foster care and carried with him a life of fear about other people's intolerance for who he was."

"I saw an amazing film called 'Warchild' about a Sudanese man, Emmanuel Jal, who went from a child soldier of civil war to a rapper singing around the world about war, peace, and transformation. Our song 'Reversible' speaks to the possibility for changing your life. It touches listeners at our live shows and has rich potential to be a powerful motivator for transforming our communities--because sometimes art inspires in ways that newspaper stories cannot." 

We hope Project:Reversible's mission and vision mean something to you, too.