'It Gets Better' tour features Gay Men's Chorus of L.A.

· 3 min read

‘It Gets Better’ tour features Gay Men’s Chorus of L.A.

Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium event is April 18 at Lied Center

The Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts will present the “It Gets Better” educational residency and music theater production featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. April 18 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

The performance includes a show of stories, songs and multimedia featuring appearances by the Concert Chorale from Lincoln High School.

The show offers a message of hope for young people subjected to bullying and explores what “better” means for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. With its unqualified support for all young people, “It Gets Better” creates and unites allies in solidarity against the pervasive climate of bullying and teen violence. There will also be a question-and-answer session with the cast after the show.

Tickets are free for UNL faculty, staff and students with a valid Ncard; and are $18 for the general public and $9 for non-UNL students. Tickets are available through the Lied Center Box Office, 301 N. 12th St., http://www.liedcenter.org or 402-472-4747.

“The It Gets Better Project, in conjunction with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, embodies precisely the kind of synergy we have been focusing on all season,” said Rhonda Garelick, symposium founder and artistic director. “Here we have a movement devoted to social change, mutual respect and compassion, collaborating with one of the premiere choral groups in the nation. They make music; they reach out to young people; they support communities. We could not be more proud to present them as our season five finale.”

The It Gets Better Project, http://itgetsbetter.org, was founded in September 2010 when the original “It Gets Better” video was created and posted to YouTube. That first video offered a needed message of hope to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. It urged young people to stay true to themselves even through the bullying and other challenges that confronted them in their teenage years, and described the positive future they could experience as adults. The message was simple: No matter how difficult things may be, it gets better.

The It Gets Better Project has become a worldwide movement, inspiring more than 50,000 user-created videos viewed more than 50 million times. To date, the project has received submissions from celebrities, organizations, activists, politicians and media personalities, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Adam Lambert, Anne Hathaway, Colin Farrell, Matthew Morrison of “Glee,” Joe Jonas, Joel Madden, Ke$ha, Sarah Silverman, Tim Gunn, Ellen DeGeneres, Suze Orman, The Gap, Google, Facebook, Pixar and the Broadway community. The mission of the It Gets Better Project is to communicate to LGBT youth around the world that “it gets better,” and to help effect the changes necessary to make it so.

Now in its fifth season, the Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium is devoted to bringing new and exciting work to UNL and Lincoln, and to fostering appreciation and understanding of the arts in society. IAS is sponsored by a generous grant from the Hixson-Lied Endowment, and presented, in part, with the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Information on all IAS events is available here.

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