Creating Communities -- Harnessing the Power of the Arts

Official name: Creating Communities Corporation d/b/a 2C -- Creating Communities, a 501 (c)(3) corporation registered in the State of Maryland.

Rob Levit, Founding Director and Board of Directors:

Julie Chen Clocker
Lianne Dunbar
Gay Henriksen
Kristine Kowalski
Maria Mathews
Chris O'Meara
Sylvia Onder
Sandy Smith
Sharon Stewart
Dave Strang

2C --Creating Communities is a public non-profit corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. The purpose of 2C is to design and implement art, music, and creativity programs as a tool to create better opportunities for self-expression, personal growth, and life skills for the constituents it serves.

Currently, 2C -- Creating Communities operates in four general areas:

I. To create and support arts-based activities and programs in schools and community centers as an inspirational and long-lasting vehicle to teach life skills to area youth, and at-risk youth in particular.
II. To create and support arts-based activities for non-profit organizations in Annapolis and beyond that foster innovative and collaborative life-skills programs for underserved populations.
III. To create and support arts-based innovation, renewal, training, and development programs for non-profit organizations that otherwise would not be able to afford such services.
IV. To create and support arts-based multi-cultural exchange and communication through the arts in the Annapolis area and beyond by partnering with artists and organizations from diverse creative and geographical backgrounds to foster community-based, affordable programs and workshops.

Award-winning jazz musician and creative artist Rob Levit is the Founding Director of 2C.

To date, 2C has delivered or is in the process of delivering programs to Boys and Girls Clubs of Anne Arundel County, Arundel Lodge (adults with mental illness), Perinatal Loss Support Group of Anne Arundel County, and The Children's Guild (elementary and middle school students with emotional issues).

2C fosters collaborations and partnerships with non-profit organizations that serve at-risk or in-need populations that are often overlooked.

2C is governed by a Board of Directors who are creative individuals that take an active interest in how the arts can be used as a vehicle to serve the community.

About Rob Levit:

Rob Levit is a multi-directional artist. While principally known as a guitarist and leader of the Rob Levit Trio renowned for its jazz renditions and improvisations, he also paints, writes poetry and essays and is active in infusing creativity into schools, communities and the workplace. His work is distinguished by the depth of its originality and by the breadth of its interest. Levit lives on the cutting-edge of artistic inspiration and innovation and is a gifted speaker and facilitator on leadership, team building, entrepreneurship and the creative process. He has provided workshops, performances and seminars for Daimler-Chrysler, Northwestern Mutual, Leadership Anne Arundel, Entrepreneurs Exchange, American Business Women's Association and Anne Arundel County Public Schools among others.

In July and August 2006, Levit served as a fellow for the APPEX program at UCLA's Center for Intercultural Performance where he lived, collaborated and performed with creative artists from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Germany and the United States. The program was sponsored in part by the United States Department of State. In September 2006, Levit was the recipient of the Annie Award for performing arts given annually to artists "who have made a lasting, significant and inspiring contribution to an art form, an arts organization and to the wider community of Anne Arundel County." In October 2006, he was awarded the City of Annapolis Mayor's Come Together Award for citizens who "have demonstrated significant contributions to the spirit of community civility." In January 2007, he was a recipient of Leadership Anne Arundel's Community Trustee Award for his community programs and involvement. Also in January 2007, he founded 2C (Creating Communities) to foster creativity and the arts for the underserved with a focus on elementary school children and the mentally ill.

His 2005 CD, "Touch the Spirit," a solo instrumental guitar album, was received to critical acclaim and climbed to No. 11 on the national New Age/World Music charts. In November 2006, Levit released "Songs of Healing," an album of original guitar pieces designed for friend, families and patients of Hospice of the Chesapeake.

In summer 2007 he was selected Teaching Artist in the Maryland Artist Teacher Institute program at University of Maryland. In addition to leading a session at this conference, in November 2007, Levit will be a featured speaker at the Moss Foundation conference on children's education. Visit www.roblevit.com for more information.