Up with People (Viva La Gente) Comes to Playa del Carmen

An amazing project landed in Playa on April 2 that impacted the community in a wonderful way. Up with People or Viva La Gente is a program that brings together college-aged students from all over the world through service and the arts. More than 100 young artists from over 20 different countries arrived in Playa, welcomed by host families, to learn more about Mexico and leave a healthy footprint behind.

Their purpose is to “bring the world together through service and music as we travel with a purpose, perform for thousands and impact communities through global tours with a unique, experience-based curriculum.” Their first step is to find host families and then they connect with local organizations to work with for community projects. Together, with the local Xuuxnë music program, they went out to the community of Nuevo Durango to work on the new community center. As a thank you for their grand welcome, Up with People invited the children from the village to come to their April 7 concert that was held at the Teatro de la Ciudad here in Playa del Carmen.

This was an amazing opportunity for the young village community to meet people from all over the world and take a trip to the city to see a big performance. The goal is to inspire children to seek out music, dance, and travel. The show consisted of two hours of multilingual singing and dancing that got the full theater out of their seats to join the fun. More than 100 students with Up with People stayed with host families and took advantage of their visit enjoying our Mexican paradise with activities throughout their weeklong stay.

Their program is a great way to take a cultural gap year between high school and college to travel, perform, and take part in community projects. The mission is to break down barriers and to connect people all over the world through the arts and charity projects. The more the participants learn about other cultures, the more they learn about the world.

If you are a college-aged student or have a college-aged child and want to learn more about the Up with People program and see their schedule, check out their website at www.upwithpeople.org or their Facebook page at Facebook/UpwithPeople.