MUAC’s History and Mission

Our history

Universal Rainbow Music (Musique Universelle Arc-en-Ciel, MUAC) was created 4 years ago, in April 2018. However, its story started in the early 2000 when Michele de Gastyne, the actual president, went to an artist seminar in Florida. During this event the famous jazzman Herbie Hancock was present. Thanks to Nestor Torres, another jazzman, Ms. de Gastyne had the chance to perform an improvisation on her flute in front of 100+ people. This performance was important because afterwards Herbie Hanccok congratulated her, and this was when Michele de GASTYNE started her journey in putting her humanist thoughts into concrete action. Just with a simple exchange, it gave her “a boost of energy” do to what she has always wanted to do.

For her and M.Hancock, what had been important during her performance was “the level of confidence she had gained and the open-minded spirit that had emerged”. Of course, music improvisation for a classically trained musician can be difficult, but it showed her nothing was impossible.

Two years later in 2002 Michele arrived in France, and in 2011 M. Hancock was named “UNESCO Goodwill ambassador for intercultural dialogue”. Please note, Michele’s experience in Florida was as important in her personal life as musician, but also for the creation of MUAC.

The following quote is from a book which has inspired Michele because it is about exchanges between personalities who portray the values of MUAC, especially hope and courage.

 

The sincere emotion of your brilliant improvisations naturally made the audience forget the obstacles and differences separating them and transported them to a place of common humanity. This is indeed the power of music to create peace

(Daisaku Ikeda, in REACHING BEYOND-Improvisations on Jazz, Buddhism, and a Joyful Life – A dialogue between Herbie Hancock, Daisaku Ikeda and Wayne Shorter page 181)

 

Then up ‘till 2017 there was a pause in the development of MUAC. However, in April 2017, for the first time Ms. De Gastyne decided to organize a Jazz Day, an event created by UNESCO in collaboration with M. Hancock, in order to celebrate its multicultural values and bring people from various places together. That is why even though she is not a jazz musician, Michele wanted to represent during this April 30th the values of jazz with her own music, and communicate beyond borders.

After an event in her personal life in 2018, Michele was determined to have another Jazzday and dedicate herself to humanistic and value-creating education by founding Universal Rainbow Music(MUAC). Therefore, this event has become a key annual event of the organization.

More recently, MUAC decided to work according to a humanistic and intercultural approach of education, through the arts;  a new chapter has begun for MUAC. Their first mission is to create artistic workshops around themes such as Human Rights and intercultural dialogue. MUAC has also officially begun steps to become a nongovernmental organization, registered with UN agencies, such as UNESCO.

Alex Ringuet

Michel de Montaigne Sorbonne

Our values

The Force of Music and Arts

Music and the Arts can overcome cultural differences and instill self-confidence

The Power of Youth

Youth will lead the way finding solutions to the 17 interlocking SDGs — including the climate crisis — through programs like UNAI

Humanist Artists

Humanistic, engaged artists are necessary in education to create the world of tomorrow

Interdisciplinary Education

Education must be interdisciplinary and include Human Rights, Global Citizenship, Peace education, an inner ‘Human Revolution’, and also lead to autonomy and critical thinking

Do you want to help?

Volunteers, artists, simple sympathizers, everyone can support our association