- A20 -

A note from Noah Baerman Artistic Director In 2012 when I founded RMI it was an act of acceptance of how much healing our world needed. Connecting music to that yearning for positive change both in society and in the hearts minds and souls of individuals had already been my own artistic focal point but at that point I pledged to make that official moving forward and to extend that to the perspective through which I and this organization would nurture others fellow artists and audiences alike. I wish this work was not relevant but as recent displays of brutality and racial injustice have put in sharp focus we are a long way from that point. In the meantime music will remain a vital way to reflect on the world to cry out in the face of grief to educate inspire and challenge people to mutually process overwhelming things to amplify the call for a just world.