The 2021 Sarah Farmer Peace Award was awarded to Voices from the Heart in a virtual Zoom ceremony on Sunday, November 21st. The two-hundred-strong women’s choral group specializing in “soulful multi-cultural music.” Inspired by “Sweet Honey in the Rock,” the group was founded in 1995 by singer and conductor Joanne Connolly and is now in its 26th year. While delighting audiences with its vibrating, hauntingly beautiful harmonies and infectious world-beat rhythms, Voices from the Heart also raises funds for charitable purposes both here in the Seacoast and during cultural outreach tours to such places as South Africa, Ireland, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Cuba. These activities qualify Voices from the Heart to join the distinguished list of recipients of the Sarah Farmer Peace Award, who promote peace and understanding among members of the human family. We are honored to give special recognition to these Seacoast women for their efforts during the pandemic, as they continue to sing, to connect and to contribute as part of a constructive, unifying force that uplifts the hearts and sustains hope for the future.
The Sarah Farmer Peace Award was inspired by Sarah Farmer’s vision of world peace and guided by the principles encapsulated in a message from the Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace, addressed to “the peoples of the world.” It has been presented annually by the Bahá’í Community of the Greater Seacoast Region beginning in 2005. For more information on our organization and past laureates, visit www.SarahFarmerPeaceAward.org.
† The International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace. In harmony with this ideal The Sarah Farmer Peace Award is presented on the nearest Saturday to that date.
Sponsored by the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Portsmouth, NH