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Our Work

The program in Peacebuilding and the Arts works to strengthen the practice and nexus of the arts and conflict transformation by generating and disseminating knowledge, and facilitating networks of effective action. We lead courses, weekend intensives and institutes, produce resources, and maintain a resource library. We have hosted several significant initiatives. Our current project, "Acting Together," is in the dissemination phase.

"Acting Together" Project

In regions scarred by inequity and violence, theatre artists and leaders of rituals are contributing to more just and less violent communities. The "Acting Together" project features the work of twenty-five theatre artists, cultural workers and peacebuilding scholar/practitioners who are supporting communities to resist abuses of power, address injustice, mourn losses, build relationships and imagine a new future. Sign up to receive updates about the Acting Together project, including the anthologies and documentary.

Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts: A Virtual Collection

This 2003-04 international fellowship program featured artists and cultural workers working in historically divided communities in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Burundi, Cambodia, and New Zealand. Their papers, portfolios, analysis, and recommendations are for artists, cultural workers, peacebuilders, students, scholars and policymakers interested in the contributions of culture and the arts to coexistence and reconciliation.

Student Work

The Arts of Building Peace: Stories of Cultural Workers and Artist-Peacebuilders, May 2007

In what ways do the arts create social change? How do artists and the arts help create a sense of community? What are some examples of successful arts-focused peacebuilding projects? These are among the questions addressed in a collection of papers written by undergraduate and graduate Brandeis students taking COEX 250: The Arts of Building Peace in the spring of 2007. In this anthology you can read the stories of a filmmaker in South Africa, a muralist in El Salvador, a cultural worker in Palestine and community historians in rural America. You can learn how the successful artist-peacebuilders engage and expand the moral imagination. Student papers can be found in the online Resource Library.