Charlie Burg, a Residential College in the Arts and Humanities sophomore and PeaceJam member, said the PeaceJam Jam came from his desire to connect music with the issues PeaceJam acknowledges.

“Music a a medium is a really potent, important way to connect with people who maybe think that these issues are trivialized or dry,” Burg said. “I think to draw a connection between the beauty, love and community of music with these issue was a way that I thought could really hit home.”

The event featured stories from former Mayor David Hollister and John Duley, who played key parts on getting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to MSU’s campus in 1965.

Students performed pieces that connected to issues such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement, white privilege and spreading love.

Jazz studies and piano performance junior Eric Smith performed two original pieces called,” Red, White and Blue," inspired by institutionalized racism and police brutality and “Carry," inspired by a photo he saw on a Buzzfeed article and keeping hope in terrible situations we have no control over.

Smith performed in the PeaceJam Jam for the Fall 2015 semester as well and said how the organization creates a space for people to express their feelings and be heard, no matter which side of the argument they may lie.

“Sometimes it’s the loudest voices who get heard on both sides of the argument and other people may feel like they can't really talk about it without being judged and this is an open space where I can sing and express my feelings and people get to respond to that,” Smith said.

Sariah Metcalfe, a Residential College in the Arts and Humanities sophomore, started the MSU leg of PeaceJam, an international organization, in 2014.

“This topic was important because we have a lot of leaders locally that not everyone gets to hear from or about even though they’re still very much here; We still talk about the civil rights era as if it were something so far in the past and removed from us,” Metcalfe said. “Bringing the immediacy making sure that spirit is present.”

Metcalfe said finding space for using music and other forms of communication throughout the generations was also a big part of the night.

For the long term plans for PeaceJam, Metcalfe said she wants the group to grow and be available to students.

“We’re working to create a space where people can just talk about their experiences, learn from each other and things they’re passionate about,” Metcalfe said. “It’s been pretty big for us.”