Mission Statement
One Love: Working Together in the Name of Universal Love.
Awakened by violence in the world, we, of diverse backgrounds, religions, races, and cultures, see the need for more peace, tolerance, and understanding. We put our hands and hearts together through music, art, performance, and the spoken word. We seek common ground... a community united in hope, a planet restored and a peaceful world where every day will be One Love.
Welcome
Welcome to the 2010 One Love Festival and thank you for visiting!
Join us for the Fifth Annual One Love Festival, a free event, on Saturday, October 23, 2010. This year we’re celebrating creating Community Peacebuilding.
The festival will begin at 2:00 p.m. with afternoon workshops offering an array of topics, from arts and crafts for all ages to yoga, dance, drumming and more.
Join us for dinner while enjoying local acoustic musicians in a jam session. A buffet dinner will be held in Boyd Dining Room from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00, for $9.50 per person. Please help us plan for you -- call (206) 309-8414 and leave your name and how many will be in your party. RSVP no later than Monday, October 18th.
Then peruse the Silent Auction at 6:30 p.m. and get ready for the Festival’s exciting finale, the annual Peace Concert. The Concert kicks off at 7:00 p.m., featuring new and returning performing artists and poets. Don’t miss this year’s celebratory conclusion!
Festival Details
| When: | Saturday, October 23, 2010 |
| Admission: | Free |
| Suggested Donation*: | Non-perishable food item (Donations support the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia.) |
| Where: | Virginia Wesleyan College, Boyd Dining Hall |
| Events: |
Afternoon Workshops (2:00 – 5:00 PM) Dinner*, with local acoustic musicians (5:00 – 6:00 PM) Silent Auction (Bidding starts at 6:30 PM) Evening Concert (7:00 – 10:00 PM) |
About Us
Community peacebuilding. One simple idea. One group of like-minded individuals. An opportunity to change the world.
The One Love Festival started out as a simple idea. In the fall of 2005 after a 9/11 vigil, friends Rick Mateo, a Buddhist, and Whit Peace, a Quaker, began a conversation about world peace. Both agreed peace begins one person at a time, one neighborhood at a time.
They also recognized that their common interest in music was a means to bring people together to celebrate peace in a way that would transcend religion, nationality, race, age and all other states of being.
This was the beginning of One Love, a free interfaith festival that would focus on all varieties of performance, such as music, dance, the spoken word, art, and prayer, as well as include a peace education component for both young and old.
In early 2006 Rick and Whit and a handful of Buddhists and Quakers and other friends began meeting to plan the first One Love Festival at Virginia Wesleyan College, where Paul Rasor, Director of VWC’s Center for the Study of Religious Freedom, enthusiastically welcomed the group’s mission.
That fall they opened the doors to the inaugural One Love Festival. Performing artists of all faiths and backgrounds shared their peacebuilding messages through music and the arts with a receptive audience. Since then every fall One Love Festival has offered the community a chance to transcend differences and embrace the oneness that joins all people together. Festival founders, friends, and volunteers have watched the event grow well beyond anything they could have imagined or dreamed.
Co-founder Rick Mateo said, “Isn’t it amazing how a simple idea can grow? It just takes people of like minds who have a passion for peace, all coming together as one.”
Besides Virginia Wesleyan College’s enthusiastic support, many like-minded groups—United Nations Peace Day, Earth Dance, Fair Trade Festival, Tidewater Peace Alliance’s Festival for Peace, and HRNN’s Season For Nonviolence—have helped support One Love Festival.
Community peacebuilding is what the One Love Festival is all about. And while the event only occurs one day each year, the energy it generates among the performers, the audience, and its volunteers continues to spread and grow the other 364 days of the year.
Co-founder Whit Peace believes the One Love Festival “makes a difference for the better—for our community, the world and, most importantly, within you.”
One Love Festival Organizers