Jonah Lupien
The mission of the Salon is more than just a shared music and performing arts program. When the Cardiff-By-The-Sea Music and Arts Salon was established it rested on our mission to create a world of peace, joy and harmony through building community around music and the arts.
While peace may seem unattainable in the world in which we live, recognizing individuals who exemplify listening and are attuned to peace, is not mutually exclusive from the mission of the Salon.
Jonah Lupien, a recent graduate from San Diego Academy High School in Encinitas came to my attention after reading a front page article in the Union Tribune. It struck me that this young man’s act of love, peace and kindness brought light to our world that can sometimes feel dark and hateful.
As a Jewish high school senior at San Diego Academy, Jonah responded to a hateful and antisemitic incident on campus with love and kindness. Jonah wrote about his accomplishment of leading 600 students, teachers and faculty members of his high school to form a human heart on the athletic field where a hateful symbol had caused so much hurt: “I strongly believe we live in a world where love is the default and hate is an outlier, not the other way round. The heart on the school field was my way of showing this — showing that my community stands for love and kindness and refuses to let hate define us.”
After meeting Jonah and presenting him with the Listening Award I realized that acknowledging and honoring him at the 4th Salon would be a fitting way to highlight his act of creating a world of peace. Peace-Community-Music are all aligned with the Salon’s mission.
Above: prior recipients of the Listening Awards. From left to right; Neville Billimoria (2020), Jonah Lupien (2025) and Joshua Lazerson (2022).
Joshua Lazerson will speak at the 4th Salona and share how his way of Listening is bringing peace and healing to our world.
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