When the idea for the 2020 Vision three-part challenge first surfaced, the world had no idea what was in store for us. We can’t really ever know our future, and that is never more obvious than now, when faced with an epic global pandemic that is keeping us isolated from each other and worried for our lives and the lives of those around us.

But in that time, we have witnessed acts of courage and kindness, like the fitness instructor who gives classes on the lawn outside his apartment complex in Spain for people watching from their balconies, or the entire block of apartment dwellers in Atlanta who cheer and applaud healthcare workers from their balconies at the change of every shift. National Geographic photographers are grounded, so they look around their restricted surroundings and find ways to document the extraordinary beauty found in ordinary environments.

And the music — oh, the music! — that is coming out of this terrifying moment in our collective history.

Artists, performance techs, and venues are among the hardest hit during this time, as gigs have suddenly disappeared with no help in sight. Yet this resourceful community comes together to collaborate online, create live stream experiences, and find ways to connect and share anyway.

Today’s program is the third of the three part “2020 Vision” challenge we started at the beginning of the year, and its topic is stunningly appropriate to the time: Unity. We’ll hear from Museleon, Daniel Robert Lahey, playman54, and Robert Scott Thompson. We’ll also hear a sampling of tracks from an album released last year called The Unity from aatma. As they say in the album notes:

The Unity is a concept, a belief in the affinity shared across a far-flung community of artists. It is about the deep and powerful connections we make to the music, and to the places it can take us. It is a celebration of various styles contained within a single genre, and the unifying ability of Art.

We are the Artists. This is the Unity.

There are more tracks from the RadioSpiral library as well, all on the subject of unity, connection, disconnection, distance, and togetherness in spite of it all.