BROADWAY THEATRE PROJECT (BTP) – Musical Theatre Arts Education for Kids

I am presently engaged in my yearly pilgrimage to help out with BTP’s musical theatre arts education program in Florida which runs from July 6-27. More than 200 talented students from 28 states, as well as Canada, England and American Samoa attend an intensive curriculum to properly prepare them for a professional career in performing arts.

As a prior student of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama programs, I am an avid supporter and believer of the critically important role that musical theatre arts can play in helping young men and women learn, gain confidence and succeed in life. Education in performing arts provides a foundation to tap creativity, enthusiasm and vivid imaginations – applicable to whatever career path we follow. It is important to support and fund these training programs.

Special guests include Patrick Wilson, Ashley Brown, Ben Vereen, Terrance Mann and Christopher D’Amboise, among others.

BTP apprentices will participate in work shopping numbers from shows currently in development including:

The Imagine Project - by Terrence Mann and Christopher D'Amboise. A performance piece will be created using historical songs from culture-changing artists who have transformed and transcended generations. This original work, created at BTP, will tell a moving story to the Beatles songs “Imagine” and “Because.” Mr. Mann began work on this concept with the National Dance Institute.

Havana - by Frank Wildhorn. Apprentices will work with Mr. Wildhorn, as well as artistic director Debra McWaters, on staging numbers from the show Havana. Vocalists will be featured as well as dance with a Latin flair.

Final Show … AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

The July 2008 session culminates in a show that showcases the talents of all apprentices consisting of original works created by the BTP faculty and apprentices. The show will be held on July 26 at 3 and 8 pm in the Ferguson Hall at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased through the TBPAC box office, 813-229-7827, or through Ticketmaster.

Founded in 1991, the non-profit Broadway Theatre Project is a prestigious musical theatre arts education program for high school and college students. Under the artistic direction of Debra McWaters, students attend an intensive three-week training program focused on acting, dancing and singing, as well as the critical life skills necessary to work in the professional world of entertainment.

For more information, support and make a donation to this terrific training program – http://www.broadwaytheatreproject.com/.

Photo: Sam Taylor with Ben Vereen.

Human Rights: Narrowing the Divide between Business and Social Responsibility

In the face of western companies marketing challenges supporting the Olympics and activists linking the games to Darfur/Tibet, addressing human rights issues are top-of-mind.

Today, key global human rights issues increasingly span: Arms - Business – Children - Terrorism - Economic - Social - Health - HIV/AIDS - Labor - LGBT rights - and the list goes on. Notable issues include:

Kenya: In May, the Kenyan government launched Operation “Rudi Nyumbani” (Return Home), aimed at returning thousands of men, women, and children to their homes, which they fled in the violent aftermath of the December 2007 elections. However, the provincial commissioner for Rift Valley province recently announced that all displaced persons camps in the province would be closed within three weeks. Since the announcement, there have been reports of forced returns and inadequate services once people reach their homes.

Burma, Colombia, Angola, Burundi: In more than twenty countries around the world, children are soldiers of war. Denied a childhood and often subjected to horrific violence, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children are serving for both rebel groups and government forces in current armed conflicts.

China: The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is presented as a unique opportunity to demonstrate to its people and the world a commitment to the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in China’s own constitution. Several obstacles have prevented freedom of movement, religion, assembly and access to information. There is a substantial increase in human rights abuses directly related to preparations for the Games such as violations of media freedom and an intensifying persecution of Chinese human rights defenders who speak out publicly about the Games.

The Role of Business: Coca-cola and GE who have allocated millions of dollars to sponsor the Olympics are being criticized for not speaking out about the deteriorating human rights situation in China and responsibility agendas are being challenged.

Globalization has led to widespread growth in commerce and the reach of businesses. It has been debated that business responsibility and policies aimed at improving corporate conduct neglect to fully consider human rights issues - and - there is no shared assessment of the extent of the impact that business practices have on human rights.

As businesses ‘license to operate’ obligations continue to evolve and change so are the implications on human rights as companies are forced to take proactive measures to prevent employee misconduct, engage suppliers, address product quality/safety issues and ensure integrity of their business relationships.

While human rights models are considered to be well developed, business alignment and implementation are being scrutinized.

This was a key topic addressed at the Global Compact US Network’s Human Rights and Business Symposium in April. Jointly convened with the Harvard Business School, the meeting drew approximately 100 corporate executives, civil society representatives, academics and other human rights experts.

Some key issues and comments brought up by the Global Compact panelists include:

• For human rights to be respected, it is important to partner with individuals and organizations who are experts in their field such as religious, community, legal and development organizations – Ms. Mary Robinson, The Ethical Globalization Initiative
• Public health is a key component and often overlooked – Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Anglo American plc
• Business should assess what impact business has on human rights – Christine Bader, Advisor to the UN SRSG
• Important that human rights are integrated into the business – Reverand David Schilling – Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
• Utilize specialized groups such as Dream for Darfur to influence China to pressure Sudan for change – Robert Corcoran, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, GE

Olympics-The Devil You Do the Devil You Don’t: Top sponsors of the games include Atos Origin, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Manulife, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, Lenovo, McDonald’s, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa.

Companies expanding their business interests in China are exposing themselves to risks - politics, trade disputes, fears of unsafe products as well as being tarred by negative publicity.

Properly measuring and responding to external issues such as the Olympics, which are often larger than the company wide, is hard to navigate. Also, corporations can’t be expected to intervene in a complex cultural and political situation that will fix China, Darfur and Tibet overnight. This situation underscores a more careful approach about which ‘battle you pick to fight' in relation to long term social responsibility planning and impact.

J&J is sponsoring a medical training center for 2,000 Chinese medical personnel to treat athletes and spectators during the games. GE is providing ultrasound equipment to treat injured athletes, as well as power, lighting, water and security systems at sports venues.

Some conclusions to be made in the interests of uniting a variety of efforts to strengthen human rights in relation to business responsibility, protect individuals and communities from harm:

• Develop tools to properly assess and manage human rights issues within a company (e.g. freedom of association, right to privacy)
• CSR and human rights should be integrated within the decision-making process
• Access to food, water, shelter and education are linked to human rights, so companies already engaged in CSR are in a more favorable position to lead human rights implementation and education
• Vouch for better inclusion and enforcement in trade agreements
• Engage multi-stakeholders that represent different sectors, expertise and environments
• Gauge opinions about human rights and issues that employees/customers would like companies to advocate for on their behalf
• Communicate the standards and transparent measuring to key stakeholders such as NGOs, investors and employees

As for the Olympics sponsors, it would be fair to show their commitment by at least issuing a public statement of support for human rights which seeks to promote the ‘respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.’

We can only hope to protect the integrity of the games, all the athletes and countries involved.

**

Some useful human rights resources and links include:

Declaration on Human Rights – www.everyhumanhasrights.org - The Human Rights Compliance Assessment – www.humanrightsbusiness.org - Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: www.business-humanrights.org – UN Global Compact – www.unglobalcompact.org

UN Global Compact Hosting Conference – Human Rights

On April 28 at the Harvard Business School in Boston, the UN Global Compact U.S. Network's will be hosting its first conference of 2008. The conference will focus on ‘Business and Human Rights’, in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

With disturbing world events such as the issues surrounding the Olympics in China, Darfur, childrens poverty, disease, human trafficking and food shortages, this is a critical time to review the role, responsibilities and impact of businesses.

The UN conference convenes speakers that will address a number of critical humanitarian issues including:

• Understanding business risks associated with human rights
• Setting policy and addressing stakeholder expectations
• Monitoring and reporting progress

Speakers and moderators will include senior managers of companies at the forefront of these issues, as well as thought leaders from civil society and other sectors. Two keynote speakers will include:

• Mrs. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and current Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders
• Mr. John Ruggie, Harvard Professor and UN Special Representative on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations.

The meeting will also feature the launch of the Case Study Report by the UN Global Compact Office and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The event coincides with the Ceres annual conference also taking place in Boston this week.

Reputation Dynamics next blog will address opinions about corporations marketing challenges addressing CSR for a major current event.

Watch this space.

CSR Champions Need To Take It To The Top - Perspectives about The CRO Conference

Intel's Chief Administration Officer Andy Bryant, during his keynote speech at the CRO conference, addressed how a multi-year journey led Intel to be nominated #1 on the CRO Magazines 100 Best Corporate Citizens list.

The conference, held in New York, convened experts and more than 200 corporate responsibility practitioners, professional service providers and non-profit influencers to address financial governance issues, stakeholder communications, and sustainability best practices.

Intel's success can be attributed to making corporate responsibility a competitive imperative.

"Our efforts started at the top and we focused on all key areas including governance, human rights, environment, climate change, finance and assigned accountabilities throughout the organization," said Bryant.

Eaton Corporation has also enjoyed success deploying world-class environmental, health and safety (EHS) practices utilizing the Eaton Business System.

"We aligned our efforts with our brand and business strategy from the outset," said Joey Wolfsberger, Vice President of EHS.

Bryant advocated for public companies to seek leadership from their top officers in raising their level of corporate responsibility.

However, there are still major gaps advocating and properly integrating CSR strategies within corporations - from top to bottom. For example:

• Reputation Dynamics recently led a CSR survey for The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) among 1,700 VP-level or above marketing executives in their organizations. The survey uncovered that 62.5% of those who participated work for companies that are not engaged in corporate social responsibility programs due to a lack of interest or priority

These results were at odds with the fact that 60% of respondents think that corporate social responsibility programs have or will have a positive impact on profitability and overall performance of the company.

• The survey respondents identified opportunities such as employee motivation (71%), influencing customer behaviors (54%), growth and innovation (54%), and increased profits (25%)
• A recent IBM survey conducted among senior executives and directors of strategy at 250 corporations uncovered another major gap - 76% of businesses surveyed admit they don't truly understand their customers' CSR concerns

Internal CSR champions need help educating and convincing their senior management to make CSR a priority and integrated throughout the organization, rather than a 'nice to have' or a side job.

Even in a down economy, they need to be reminded they are missing out on tremendous business opportunities that not only directly impacts the bottom line, but also offers financial incentives when employees are more motivated and loyal, and positively influencing customer behaviors for the long term.

CSR champions shout louder.

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Information about Intel and Eaton CSR efforts can be located at http://www.intel.com/ and http://www.eaton.com/.

Tending to Our Back Yard: The Realities about HIV/AIDS

Last week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the President’s Plan for AIDS Relief at $50 billion over 5 years to combat the global health crisis posed by AIDS and other diseases.

In President Bush’s original executive budget, he had proposed a $28 million increase to abstinence-only education and no increase for HIV/AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health.

Fortunately, both the Senate and House versions of the bill would remove a requirement that one-third of HIV prevention funds that focus on countries that receive PEPFAR be used for abstinence-until-marriage programs.

Notwithstanding the needs of the 40 million sufferers around the world, there are substantial problems providing the critical support services in the United States. For example:

• In New York State alone, there are 110,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and another estimated 28,000 are undiagnosed
• Young people in age ranges of 15-24 account for almost half of all new HIV infections reported in the US each year
• It is overlooked that women are affected and increasing in numbers
• There are lack of proper services and resources for health care providers to support prevention and treatment

In response to President Bush’s original executive budget, Marjorie J. Hill, PhD, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) commented “he proposes to either cut or flat-fund critical programs for research, HIV prevention and care, while continuing to call for increases in harmful programs like abstinence-only education.”

Where the current administration has failed to advance the fight against the AIDS crisis, programs such as (PRODUCT) RED have done an excellent job capitalizing on co branding and marketing opportunities with leading brands such as Apple, Dell, American Express and Armani, where consumers buy RED items and money is directed to the Global Fund. RED contributions to the Global Fund recently reached a $100 million milestone.

However, while the quest for funding and resources continues to be challenging..

Major gaps continue to prevail in the proper appropriation of funds and providing the necessary services toward the fight against HIV/AIDS.....

For and not-for-profit businesses have a timely opportunity to further mobilize action and their substantial resources to complement existing social and economic responsibility initiatives:

• Cause Alignment: Select HIV/AIDS and develop an integrated education initiative for our youth both at home and in global destinations that represent business interests
• Employee/Workplace Programs: Communicate with and educate employees who are key to productivity. Establish workplace programs as the basis for company engagement, as well as an extension to NGO and public-sector programs. With volunteerism on the rise, companies can impact their communities by engaging their workforce in local projects
• Small Businesses: Small and medium-sized businesses are a growing sector employing about 80% of the worlds workforce and need to be engaged in programs that protect employees from global epidemics
• Big Businesses: They have the marketing, resources and scale to reach the public at large with critical messages and research about prevention, treatment and protecting human rights

Let's fill in the gaps between our administration, businesses and communities to further mitigate the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Source: GMHC. Joinred.com. New York Department of Health.

Africa – The Force of Change

‘As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself…Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.’ Nelson Mandela

The energy and enthusiasm about Africa was running high at the first US-Africa Tourism Seminar on 2/27 developed by The Corporate Council on Africa and Africa Travel Association. While Africa has its fair share of political, economic and humanitarian challenges, the continent is poised to be a major travel destination and location for investment and business exploration.

In conjunction with the ‘Greening’ of the travel industry, Experiential Tourism, a growing sector beyond ‘sun-and-sand tourism,’ is expected to grow to 25% of the world’s travel market within six years - $473.6 billion a year.

As Gregg Truman, vice president of marketing for South African Airways pointed out, Africa commands only 2.4% of global travel market share, with only 64 million people taking trips to Africa.

With a new breed of ‘sustainable tourists’ seeking culturally authentic travel experiences that protect the environment and integrity of the destination, VolunTourism and travel philanthropy opportunities are on the rise. Africa is rich for its natural resources, tourism and wildlife, dancing and music – among others.
Opportunities for ‘Doing Good in Africa’:

Corporations and individuals have abundant opportunities to make a difference by addressing causes in need and making a personal connection with African communities. Some suggestions include:

• Engage in ongoing education for the public about the realities and opportunities
• Encourage family and stakeholder visits to see communities with causes in need
• Align with NGO/non-profits to help mitigate extreme poverty, disease, threats to wildlife and tourism, and infant mortality
• Provide benefits and incentives for local businesses, workforce, products and services
• Donate funds and/or volunteer in communities

A special thanks to my fellow panelists’ on Experiential Tourism, their engaging presentations and fascinating work. Sean Barlow - Afropop Worldwide, El Hadji Aziz Gueye – Senegal Tourist Office, Lelei LeLaulu - Counterpart International, Dr. Lawrence Martin - Stony Brook University, Sharr Prohaska - New York University, Kevin J. Wright - World Religious Travel Association.

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) and Africa Travel Association (ATA) Host First US-Africa Tourism & Sports Seminar in New York

The seminar theme - Making Africa the World’s Next Premiere Travel Destination - will provide more than 200 leaders from the public and private sectors an inside look into the vast array of business exploration and investment opportunities in the travel and tourism industries in Africa.

Africa is poised to increase its world market share in tourism and this seminar will help lay the groundwork placing Africa top-of-mind among American tourists and investors.

Currently sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 1.3% of the world market share in the travel and tourism industry. In 2007, the sector generated close to $90 billion in economic activity and is expected to exceed $185 billion within the next 7 years for the region, demonstrating positive growth and investment opportunities.

Sam Taylor, founder of Reputation Dynamics and Associate Partner of Corporate Donor Travel for Elevate Destinations, will be participating in a workshop and address the growth of Experiential Tourism in the context of alignment with economic, social and environmental responsibility trends. Experiential Tourism, encompassing eco-, nature, heritage, community and adventure tourism, is expected to grow three times faster than the tourism industry as a whole. In fact, beginning in the 1990s, this sector has grown 20-to-34% per year and could grow to 25% of the world’s travel market within six years, taking the value of the sector to $473.6 billion a year.

Event topics include sports and tourism, infrastructure development, marketing Africa, traveler perception, travel industry-related investment opportunities, airline and hotel development, as well as travel trends in Africa.

CCA, established in 1993, is a nonpartisan 501 (c) (3) membership organization of nearly 200 U.S. companies dedicated to strengthening the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Africa. CCA members represent nearly 85 percent of total U.S. private sector investments in Africa. The organization is dedicated to bringing together potential business partners and to showcase business opportunities on the continent. For more information on CCA, seminar and agenda visit www.africacncl.org.

The seminar will be held February 27-28, 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, immediately preceding The New York Times Travel Show 2008.

Statistical Reference: World Tourism Organization (WTO).