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“Peacebuilding and the Arts: Join the Global Conversation,” an article by Cindy Cohen in the 
Olive Branch Teacher’s Guide Summer 2013 Issue: “Expressive Arts; Educational Transformations”

Seeds of Peace is a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring and equipping new generations of leaders from regions of conflict with the relationships, understanding, and skills needed to advance lasting peace. One of the elements of their Educator Programs is the Olive Branch Teacher’s Guide. Cindy Cohen contributed an article to this issue titled “Peacebuilding and the Arts: Join the Global Conversation.” Download the full issue (19MB) of the guide or just the article (2MB). (In the full version, you will find the article on page 16 of the PDF, also officially marked as pages 30-31 in the document.) Read more about the teacher’s guides and find additional issues.

Presentation at University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study (UBIAS) Conference
September 17-19, 2013
The University of British Columbia (UBC)
Vancouver, Canada
Cynthia Cohen presented at the biannual University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study (UBIAS) conference at The University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, along with former Brandeis International Fellow Kim Berman, "Acting Together" contributor MaryAnn Hunter, and three of their colleagues from UBC. The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies hosted the conference, which was titled “Scientific and Academic Knowledge.” During the conference, two public events showcased the important relationship of both the performing arts and the visual arts with research in the sciences and humanities within institutes of advanced studies. Read Cindy's remarks from the presentation at the conference. 

Acting Together at Community Arts Lab (CAL) Theatre Research/Festival in Utrecht
June 20-21, 2013

Over 150 international artists joined colleagues from The Netherlands in a midsummer’s weekend theatre festival hosted by Acting Together contributor and CAL director, Eugene van Erven. The festival was an extraordinarily diverse gathering of artists, scholars and students, joined by 1500 children and adults from the city of Utrecht in a final gala parade and dinner, marking the culmination of a seven-year initiative honoring the 300^th anniversary of the Peace Treaty of Utrecht.

Ana Correa shares her enthusiasm about the multilingual version of the "Acting Together" documentary with her brother, at the research festival in Utrecht. The film is available at www.recastinc.org

Dijana Milošević and Roberto Varea, featured Acting Together artists, joined Cynthia Cohen in leading a workshop and screening the project’s award winning documentary. We distributed multilingual copies of the film to colleagues from Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Bolivia, and, shown here, Ana Correa from "Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani" of Peru. Roberto Varea’s  and Cynthia Cohen’s participation in the Utrecht festival was supported, in part, by public funds from the Consulate General of The Netherlands in New York. Read Cynthia Cohen's report on the research festival.

 

Cynthia Cohen: First, Peace
Her strategies for defusing conflicts converge at the nexus of art and justice
By Simi Horwitz
American Theatre Magazine
“The United States government spends more on a single day on the war in Afghanistan than its annual budget for the National Endowment for the Arts,” Cynthia Cohen will tell you, reciting the statistic with a certain degree of exasperation. “The issue is society’s lack of investment in creativity, versus its habit of addressing conflicts destructively. We in the arts can transform conflicts creatively for the betterment of everyone…” Read more.

PAX 250 – The Arts of Building Peace
Fall 2013 Course, Brandeis University
Instructor: Cynthia Cohen
Time: Tuesdays, 2:00 - 4:50pm
Spingold Theatre Center, Room 111

PAX 250 students with Ulafa’a Visual Artists of Bahrain Photo credit: Ethics Center

Through analysis of case studies, interviews with socially engaged artists, critical reflections on works of art and student projects, this course explores how cultural productions contribute to non-violent resistance, the re-humanization of former enemies, and reconciliation. It will focus on performance and visual arts. There are no prerequisites and this course is open to both graduates and undergraduates. Contact Alia Goldfarb for more information. See other courses supported by the Ethics Center.

Choosing Peace in Bahrain: Using the Arts to Unite
April 19, The Brandeis Hoot
Ten young artists from Bahrain were at Brandeis from April 14th through the 20th, and they attended a week-long training on peacebuilding and the arts, facilitated by Cynthia Cohen. Their art exhibition will be up until April 28th as a part of the Festival of the Arts. Read more of the article in the Brandeis Hoot. Read more about the visit by the Ulafa'a Artists of Bahrain.

Ulafa’a Team members with Sarah McCarty, a Brandeis student  at their art exhibit in the Campus Center. Their exhibit is up until April 28th as a part of the Festival of the Arts. Photo: Courtesy of the Ulafa’a team.

Cynthia Cohen to Receive Medicine Woman Award
June 5, 6:30pm
The Cyclorama
539 Tremont St, Boston, MA
Medicine Wheel Productions will be honoring Cynthia Cohen with the Medicine Woman Award at their annual Turning the Wheel Fundraiser on June 5, 2013. Dr. Cohen will be honored along with Mark Smith, Ed Merritt, and Shani Dowd, who will also be honored with Medicine Men & Women Awards. For more details on the event or on sponsorship opportunities, please contact Michael Dowling at mdowling@mwproductions.org or call 617-268-6700.

Cynthia at Medicine Wheel Productions with 2012 recipient Fay Chandler and the other 2013 "Medicine Woman" Shani Dowd. Photo Credit: Dan Terris

Acting Together on the World Stage receives the
“Spirit of Place” award!
February 8, 2013
The documentary, “Acting Together on the World Stage” is receiving the “Spirit of Place” award at the 9^th Orlando Latin American Film & Heritage Festival (OLA FEST,) presented by the Awakening/Art & Culture Ola Fest. The "Spirit of Place" Award is an award that was established two years ago for excellence in social realism and activism in the arts. The opening night for the OLA FEST includes Flamenco music concert and a screening of the “Acting Together on the World Stage,” followed by Q & A with Roberto Varea. More information.

Read the news from the Ethics Central: Winter/Spring 2013 issue

Rose Art Museum Exhibit a Catalyst for Peacebuilding Explorations (page 1)

From Bahrain to Brandeis and Back Again (page 3)

Ethical Inquiry: Should peacebuilders encourage oppressed people to empathize with their oppressors?

Photo: Samira, Lod Ghetto, a year after 1948,
from the series, Scanograms #1, 2010,
manipulated readymade, archival inkjet.

Photo credit: Cindy Cohen

Peacebuilding and the Arts Update: Reflections on Fall by Cindy Cohen
January 2013
It is the last weekend before the spring semester begins at Brandeis, and it looks like the semester will be a full one.  … Before I jump onto the speeding train known as spring semester, I’m taking a few moments to reflect on this past fall, which was an extraordinary period… Read more.

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