CUE (Children United By Experience) International was organized and chartered as a California non-profit organization in 2003 and has been awarded federal tax exemption 501 (c) (3) status. The organization is an outgrowth of the artistic and educational programs associated with Gregangelo and Velocity Circus, a world-class entertainment company that specializes in multi-cultural circus arts, theatrical presentations and arts-in-education programming.

Designed by Jeffrey Ferns, Cathy Kelly and Gregangelo Herrera, CUE International is laying the foundation in the Bay Area for an extensive pilot program with youth-oriented expressive arts and esteem skills-building.  Gregangelo, associates and assembled staff of artists and teachers have appeared throughout the US, Europe, Asia and Central America for over two decades.

They are Programming Partners with renowned Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito that programs museum exhibits and educational exhibits for young audiences. Public presentations include guest appearances with Humanities West, LifeDance Theater, Celebrations of Life International Dance Concert, Youth-in-Arts Festival of World Holidays, Lands of the Magic Carpets, Inaugural Celebration at SF Civic Center, San Francisco League of Museums, and numerous television and film appearances. Gregangelo was named by the SaFrancisco Chronicle in 2000 as “one of The Entertainers,” was the subject of a German documentary in 2002 and is being featured in a Cirque du Soleil production on PBS Bravo in May 2004.

This project is the debut initiative of CUE (Children United by Experience) International. It embodies the concept of enriching youth with creative process by establishing a viable center that provides a safe zone for activities, an educational outlet for expert mentoring, after school tutoring and an artistic venue for exceptional development and expression.  A 6000-square-foot space has been secured in Oakland in a notably challenged neighborhood with a reputation for criminal activity and high risks for children.

The project is seeking start-up funding to help renovate the space and provide initial support for administration and staffing.  The renovation process will entail extensive work as the building needs a floor to ceiling painting, installation of a “sprung-flooring” for athletic, acrobatic and dance sessions, installations of rest rooms, kitchen, office spaces and classroom and gallery areas.  The centerpiece of the project is the building of an 80-seat theatrical venue which will offer performances of youth, trained through the center’s programs as well as guest artists/lecturers brought in to inspire the students and general public.

Personal impact of the lives of children is imperative. No adult alive at this moment, arrived at this moment, without first being a child. And that childhood follows each and everyone of us throughout our entire lives. All youth, today, are essentially “at risk.” They are continually exposed to increasing media hype promoting violence, chemical addictions, abhorrent behavior and increased alienation from opportunity and eachother based on socio-economic status, personal healthy role models and guidance. Youth exposure to world cultures is currently based on war- torn images and sensationalistic media hype that increases their negative perceptions on the world at large.

The government’s decreasing financial assistance for school programs in the arts, athletics and enrichment programs isolates these children even further, causing them to act out their aggressions and find role models and activities outside of a healthy environment.

This project will not only enrich the day-to-day existence of the children’s lives by taking them off the streets and into a safe and nurturing environment, but will vocalize the neighborhoodís own whispered attempts to rejuvenate itself and enjoy a sense of pride of ownership in this being their center, in their neighborhood, for their children.  It will be exceptional activities and mentors that inspire youth to seek their internal talents and exchange them with each other, their families and friends and the world.

Children will be given a chance to proceed and succeed via the vast experience of learning through exploring new skills, developing through the discipline and direction of intensive training and expression.

Through the manifestations of their experiences in artwork, dance, music, acrobatics, culinary arts, storytelling, poetry, film, aerial arts and clowning they will find voices. Through the mentoring and entering the workforce programs to prepare older youth for their roles in the workplace and community they will prepare themselves for their self-reliant and bright futures. They will learn about themselves as a significant neighbor in a viable world community through working with regional/national and international artists, thereby understanding and appreciating the diversity of unique cultures beyond their racial and cultural identity.

The far-reaching effects of the project lie in its multi-faceted applications as a pilot program to show the viability of renewing old structures in disenfranchised neighborhoods and proving the essential and exceptional worth of all children, despite their socio-economic backgrounds, by allowing them to experience their self-esteem in creative, artistic and educational ways.

It has been statistically noted in California, through previous initiatives on self esteem, that a child exposed to skills of esteem-building, through artistic and athletic programs, develops a more focused and more productive attitude on life, entering into a family, school or social structure with a perspective of purpose.

It is a rite of passage for a child to be given encouragement, rather than ridicule; to be challenged, rather than bullied; to be inspired, rather than inebriated.

The arts are indigenous to the human experience and the staff members with the CUE project are chosen for their balanced senses of artistry and humanity. They are exemplary role models for child development, as many of them endured the same hostilities of childhood facing the youth of this neighborhood. They struggled, they endured and they emerged as artists, born out of that chaos. They honed the same self-motivation and peak performance skills that they now pass along to these children, all exquisitely packaged in the learning and expressing of these beautifully enriching art forms.

Building a better future starts with today in these childrenís lives. They need a place to feel safe, opportunities to explore, express and experience life through the interaction with expert mentors, and the option to present themselves and their experiences to their peers and their society with pride, honor and dignity; an atmosphere that replaces competition with cooperation and criminality with creativity.