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ACTING TOGETHER - Global Launch 2011

In a film archive in Phnom Pehn, in an art education centre in Johannesburg, in a theatre in Los Angeles, artists and peacebuilders joined a global conversation.

During the autumn of 2011, the Peacebuilding and the Arts Program joined with ReCAST, Inc. and New Village Press to launch its Acting Together project  The documentary “Acting Together on the World Stage” was  screened by partners who welcomed students and community members eager to learn more about peacebuilding artists and their efforts around the world. The gatherings also served to encourage peacebuilding practitioners to continue to pursue and develop their work. Moreover, the launch brought these viewers, teachers, learners, artists, performers and conflict resolution practitioners together to discuss tools, efforts, obstacles and results in order to strengthen work in peacebuilding and the arts.

All told, partners in eight countries and ten US cities screened the documentary and held accompanying discussions with audience members and distinguished panelists from the arts and peacebuilding fields. These speakers included former US Ambassador to the Netherlands Cynthia P. Schneider, Director of the Albany Park Theatre Project in Chicago Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, artist and author Zlata Filipovic, and playwright and president of the New World Foundation Colin Greer.

Throughout these past few months, from small gatherings in Wellington, New Zealand and Beloit, Wisconsin, to larger ones in Chicago and Boston, Acting Together partners and engaged audiences pondered questions about the role of artists in revealing and reconciling political and personal trauma in regions of violence, and proposed strategies to incorporate the arts into diplomacy and conflict resolution. Notably, on October 27^th alone, such conversations were taking place almost concurrently at universities both in Maseno, Kenya and in Brattleboro, Vermont.

The launch also included translation and outreach work, workshops, and social media partnerships, extending the reach of the Acting Together project to places like Peru, Argentina, the Netherlands, China, Pakistan, Canada and Kashmir.

We at the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts would like to extend sincere thanks to these partners who worked diligently to organize screenings, participate in outreach and help the project grow.  Because of the global reach of these efforts and the urgent need for the creative transformation of conflict, people who have joined the conversation will begin – or continue with renewed energy – powerful work in the field of peacebuilding and the arts.

Highlights from the launch:

Xiamen, CHINA
33^rd International Theatre Institute World Congress
September 19 – 24^th.
(Copies of Acting Together resources distributed to delegates)

New York City, USA
The Harold Clurman Festival of the Arts at The Stella Adler Studio
September 26^th documentary screening

San Diego, USA
University of San Diego Conference: "Bearing Exquisite Witness II" at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
October 5^th documentary screening

Chicago, USA
North Park University
October 17^th  documentary screening

Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA
Artist Proof Studio
October 18^th & 19^th  documentary screening

Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
The Training Space: Forum for Personal and Social, Taki Rua
October 20^th  documentary screening

Boston, USA
Tufts University: ReCAST Inc., Medicine Wheel Productions
October 23^rd documentary screening, followed by panel discussion on cultural diplomacy

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA
Cine-Saturday Screening Program at Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center
October 29^th  documentary screening

Washington DC, USA
United States Institute of Peace Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum
In collaboration with Search for Common Ground
November 8, panel discussion including screening of documentary preview

Washington DC, USA
Georgetown University 
November 14^th  documentary screening

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"Acting Together I: Performance and Creative Transformation of Conflict Volume I: Resistance and Reconciliation in Regions of Violence." New Village Press: July, 2011.