Playwright. Dissident. President. Inspiration.
Our country, if that is what we want, can now permanently radiate love, understanding, the power of the spirit and of ideas. It is precisely this glow that we can offer as our specific contribution to international politics.
Let us teach ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of the community rather than of a need to cheat or rape the community.
Peacebuilding and the Arts
USIP's insanely bright atrium
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend a Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum on Arts and Conflict at the United States Institute of Peace as well as a working group of peacebuilders and theater professionals who discussed “Toward an Infrastructure for Strengthening Work at the Nexus of Peacebuilding and the Arts.”
In the forum, I was proud to see the Chief Programming Officer at my organization give a detailed presentation on how we utilize “drama” in our work. Drama shifts cultural norms and breaks through the world of the ‘other’; symbols and metaphors enable shifts and enable us to envision choices. Current hurdle: how can these programs be integrated into policymaking?
In the working group, I got to witness the natural fit between the peacebuilders and the artists. Everyone was beyond elated to be in the same room with each other and eager to find creative ways to widen the field of peacebuilding and the arts. What came out of it was a commitment to inform, reunite, and the attempt to document as much as possible in the future.
Interested? Check out:
- USIP’s Evaluating Media Interventions in Conflict Countries
- Media in Fragile Environments
- Acting Together: a peacebuilding and the arts initiative at Brandeis
- Theatre Without Borders
TeeVee in DC 