Peacebuilding and the Arts

22nd Century Conference: Forging a People-Powered Democracy
June 19-22
Atlanta, Georgia
“The 22nd Century Conference: Forging a People-Powered Democracy gathers the pro-democracy movement to weave relationships, sharpen strategies, and equip people with skills and resources to effectively block the rise of authoritarianism while advancing pro-democracy strategies and campaigns.” The closing plenary session (plus brunch!) on June 22nd will highlight “Artists and Cultural Workers in the Pro-Democracy Space.”
THOSE WHO REGISTER BY MONDAY, JUNE 16TH FOR VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE AT THE CONFERENCE CAN LIVESTREAM THIS SESSION. Register online. 

Workshop: Conflict Kaleidoscope: An Introduction to Systems Thinking for Arts and Culture-Based Peacebuilders Session 3
IMPACT, Virtual
June 26, at 12 pm ET | 6 pm CET
In the third session of Conflict Kaleidoscope, participants will journey to Colombia’s South Pacific alongside Gaviota Acevedo Espinosa—a political scientist, vocalist, and peacebuilder—whose work with Marimbea weaves together traditional Afro-Colombian music, systems thinking, and community-led transformation. Gaviota Acevedo Espinosa and IMPACT Senior Fellow Polly Walker invite you to:

• Engage with strategies for navigating complexity
• Explore creative tools for systemic impact
• Connect with peers to co-create resilient approaches to change

Explore the agenda and speakers' bios | Register Online

Training/Professional Development: Oxford University Refugee Studies Centre
International Online School in Forced Migration
June 23-27
“The RSC’s International Online School offers an intensive, interdisciplinary and participative approach to the study of forced migration. It enables practitioners and others to reflect critically on the forces and institutions that dominate the worlds of displaced people. The International Online School combines Oxford’s tradition of research excellence with stimulating, discussion-based teaching, learning, and reflection.”

Participants in recent years have described the course in these ways:

• “Excellent content/materials, brilliant professors, reputable Oxford certificate.”
• “A truly interdisciplinary approach… encouraging critical reflection rather than easy answers.”
• “Extremely professional… an excellent foundation and depth to the topic.”
• “Very enriching and supportive.”
• “Personally and professionally beneficial to everyone.”
• “Essential for anyone working in the field of refugees and forced migration.”
• “Great for expanding your understanding across disciplines.”
• “High-quality teaching and valuable networking with fellow participants.”

Award Ceremony: Cannes Lions Honours Sonita-Ali Zadeh as its 2025 LionHeart
Cannes International Festival of Creativity, Cannes, France
June 20
“The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that its 2025 Cannes LionHeart is Sonita Alizadeh. One of the Festival’s most prestigious Awards, the accolade is given to a person who has harnessed their position to make a significant and positive difference to the world around us. Through her work as the first professional Afghan rapper, a human rights activist and an author, Alizadeh has used her platform to be a global voice for women’s rights.” The award will be presented on June 20.

Film Screening and Fundraiser: Money Has Four Legs/Myanmar Earthquake Benefit
Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, California
June 22, at 4:30 pm 
“A devastating earthquake struck Myanmar, claiming thousands of lives and further ravaging communities already grappling with the effects of the military coup and civil war. Families are in desperate need of food, water, and medicine. This is a critical moment for action… This one-time special event is co-presented by California Film Institute and Buddhist Film Foundation. 100% of proceeds from the Myanmar Earthquake Benefit go to grassroots humanitarian aid.”

Play Reading: White Savior
Soapbox Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (Q & A following the reading both in person and online)
June 29, at 4:00 pm
In this new play by Catherine Filloux, “nominated for the Venturous Play List, two fighting sisters become entangled in a series of surprising events with a Black professor/journalist and a graduating high school senior. All four end up in Texas facing the cholla cactus and their futures.” 

Exhibition:  Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington 
March 12 - September 7
“‘Everything is art. Everything is politics.’ Globally renowned artist Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. 1957) is celebrated as a disruptor of artistic canons and a champion of free expression. In his work—ranging across performance, photography, sculpture, video, and installation—he deploys humor and provocation, calling upon his viewers to examine history, society, and culture. Organized by SAM, Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei highlights the artistic strategies of his 40-year career for questioning forms of power. It marks the artist’s first US retrospective in over a decade and his largest-ever US exhibition.” Take a look at this article  by Michael Janofsky in The New York Times about the exhibition.

Global Gathering: Peace Connect
Nairobi, Kenya
October 13-17
“Peace Connect will be the first event of its kind: a global peacebuilding gathering for local peacebuilders and their allies. Held in Nairobi, Kenya, Peace Connect will bring together hundreds of peacebuilders from the Global South to share, learn and create.” 

Conference: Build Up: Towards a Pluriverse of Peace 
Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain
November 21-23
“Build Peace explores emergent challenges to peace in a digital era, and peacebuilding innovations to address these challenges… [This year’s gathering will focus on] polarization, deliberation, non-violence, deterrence, erasure, memory and much more.”  

Conference: Modeling Life Systems: Art, Algorithms, Ecologies 
University of Athens, Greece
June 10-12, 2026
“The Twenty-First International Conference on the Arts in Society offers an interdisciplinary forum for discussion of the role of the arts in society. It is a place for critical engagement, examination, and experimentation, developing ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world – on stage, in studios and theaters, in classrooms, in museums and galleries, on the streets and in communities. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries.”

Conference: Revolutions of Hope: Resilience and Recovery in Ukraine
University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
March 6-8
“What we are witnessing in Ukraine, after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, might be described as ‘integral human destruction’—the destruction not only of human life, the natural environment, and tangible infrastructure, but also of intangible infrastructure through misinformation, the erosion of trust, and the creation of a climate of terror.

The conference will focus on the positive and corrective response to this destruction, exploring reasons for hope, sources of hope, and the politics and ethics of hope in Ukraine. How is hope powerful or even revolutionary? How does it encourage resilience and recovery? And, above all, how can we build and promote the integral development of hope in Ukraine? The conference will explore the concept, dynamics, and practices of hope through keynote addresses, panel discussions, the arts, and liturgical observances.”

Conference: Art for Tomorrow
Milan, Italy
May 12-14

Includes sessions on art and war, and art and migration. “In 2025 the world is facing unprecedented challenges, many of them rooted in the inequalities that have only been exacerbated by the triple threat of political, economic and climate crises. These challenges can lead to fracture and isolation, turning away from each other instead of coming together, and leaving the most vulnerable behind. But change will only come if we turn outward instead of inward, to our friends, our communities and our planet.

Art for Tomorrow 2025 is about tapping into this shared humanity to learn about creative solutions to the most entrenched problems. From May 12-14, we will convene influential figures from the arts, design and architecture in Milan, to explore the impact that these fields can and do have on society.” 

Book: REDress/Art, Action, and the Power of Presence
By Jaime Black-Morsette/Highwater Press
“A powerful anthology uniting the voices of Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members affected by the tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people from across Turtle Island. In 2010, Métis artist Jaime Black-Morsette created the REDress Project—an art installation consisting of placing red dresses in public spaces as a call for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). Symbolizing both absence and presence, the red dresses ignite a reclamation of voice and place for MMIWG2S. Fifteen years later, the symbol of the empty red dress endures as families continue to call for action.”

Book: A Chance To Harmonize: How FDR’s Hidden Music Unit Sought To Save America from the Great Depression – One Song at a Time
By Sheryl Kaskowitz/Pegasus Books
“In 1934, the Great Depression had destroyed the US economy, leaving residents poverty-stricken. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt urged President Roosevelt to take radical action to help those hit hardest—Appalachian miners and mill workers stranded after factories closed, city dwellers with no hope of getting work, farmers whose land had failed. They set up government homesteads in rural areas across the country, an experiment in cooperative living where people could start over. To boost morale and encourage the homesteaders to find community in their own traditions, the administration brought in artists to lead group activities—including folk music.”

Book: Kill Talk: Language and Military Necropolitics
By Janet McIntosh/Oxford University Press
“Provides an accessibly written and highly original ethnography depicting the way language can shape thought, feeling, and identity. Traces the connections between the minutiae of language use and the American state's violence work.” Includes a chapter on the poetry of rehumanization.

Online Booklet: Artivism/Ten Artworks
Adeela, Sudanese cultural organization
“We believe in the importance of giving artists the opportunity to share their work, their voices, their ideas, and their perspective on everything related to society and life in general. In this booklet, we will get to know ten artworks, and we will also get a closer look at the artists behind these works. In selecting these artistic models, we tried to cover a large portion of the art forms currently on the scene, so we find these works distributed between visual arts, performing arts, literature, and cinema.”

Podcast: Music for the New Revolution
“David Heitler-Klevans and Rodney Whittenberg are painstakingly researching and seeking out those songs that speak to the problems we face today. Political commentary and protest in music, theater, art and dance are as old as Plato, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, and continue through the work of Gil Scott-Heron, Bruce Springsteen, Charlie Haden, Frederic Rzewski, Holly Near, Public Enemy, Billy Bragg, The Clash, Prince, Emma’s Revolution and Ana Tijoux. Music has the unique ability to communicate ideas, move people to action and change minds.” Includes recorded and live music, interviews, and conversations.  

Podcast: Luce Change/The Henry Luce Foundation
“Hosted by Sean Buffington, Interim President of the Henry Luce Foundation, this biweekly series explores how grantees are reimagining and reinvigorating democratic culture by partnering with communities, expanding knowledge, and forging new approaches to justice and civic life. This podcast takes an honest look at how democracy, local and global, can build more inclusive and self-determined futures for its citizens.”

Initiative: Artists Call for Ceasefire Now
Updated May 28, 2025
“Since October 2023, Artists4Ceasefire has echoed the call of millions of people around the world, demanding that our leaders take action to achieve a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the delivery of lifesaving aid to civilians in Gaza. The reality is that this is now the bare minimum of what is required in the face of 19 months of catastrophic destruction of life. Our call remains loud and clear. For the sake of our shared humanity, we are dedicated to ensuring a permanent and lasting ceasefire takes hold, as this is the first step toward survival, healing and rebuilding. Human rights are for all of us, and a lasting peace can only be achieved when all people in Palestine and Israel live in freedom, safety, and equity. Together, Artists4Ceasefire will continue to raise our voices for the equal protection of precious lives, and for a just and lasting peace.”  

Initiative: The Creative Voices for Change Program/A NEW BURMA
“The Creative Voices for Change Program, an initiative of A NEW BURMA, is a transformative platform dedicated to empowering artists who are deeply involved in advocating for social justice, human rights, and democracy, particularly in the context of Burma’s Spring Revolution.”

Initiative: The Creative Resistance Program/A NEW BURMA
“The Creative Resistance Program, a pivotal initiative by A NEW BURMA, is strategically designed to bolster the resistance movement against the 2021 coup in Burma. This program harnesses the unique power of artistic expression to shed light on the human rights violations perpetrated by the junta, serving as a compelling voice in the campaign for justice and freedom. By intertwining art with advocacy, it not only documents the struggles and resilience of those suffering under the coup but also inspires and nurtures hope among those bravely fighting against the Junta’s oppressive regime.”

Recent Events: Information and Recordings

Online meeting: “Fostering Inclusivity and Peacebuilding Through the Transformative Power of the Arts”
The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers
April 2025
“Held in conjunction with World Art Day, 87 participants and distinguished speakers explored how their communities can utilize the arts to promote sustainable and inclusive peacebuilding efforts.” 

Festival: Roma Heroes 2025
Independent Theater, Budapest, Hungary
May 2025
This festival, which pays “tribute to independent theatre artists, their dramatic heroes, and Roma communities…, is part of the European Roma Theater Festivals project.”  

Online presentation: Collaboration and Commemoration: Acknowledging the Khmer Rouge Genocide Through Art
PEN America
May 2025 
Conversation featuring the Cambodia/America rock opera Where Elephants Weep’s renowned Cambodian composer Him Sophy, its award-winning French Algerian American playwright and librettist Catherine Filloux, who has been writing about human rights for 30 years, and Cambodian American performer and policy analyst Amara Goel. Where Elephants Weep follows the story of Sam, a refugee from the Khmer Rouge genocide who is committeed to finding his roots in his native culture. 2025 marks fifty years since the Khmer Rouge regime began its devastating rule, making this conversation both timely and essential. The conversation is moderated by Executive Director of the Artists at Risk Connection Julie Trébault.
A recording of Where Elephants Weep is available to rent. 

 
Online presentation: Sustaining Culture in Times of Past and Current Conflicts
OneShared.World, the Brademas Center at New York University, and International House at the University of Chicago
May 2025
This is a recording of the third program in a series focused on "Sustaining Culture During Past and Current Conflicts," presented by OneShared.World. “As we navigate the complexities of our interconnected reality, our hope is that the insights from four esteemed professionals from the U.S., Lebanon, Belgium, and South Africa inspired individuals to embrace mutual understanding and cultural sustainability through their own creative endeavors.”

 
Multimedia Conversation: Vital Conversations Episode 1: The Role of the Artist During Fascism
U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
May 2025
“A lot of us are feeling dispirited, powerless in the face of advancing authoritarian repression, having the same conversations over and over without knowing quite what to do next. So, we decided to seek the wisdom in our communities. The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture  is rooted in building dialogue: bringing smart people together and seeing what magic happens. So we are returning to those roots: having conversations with people about a variety of topics, tackling big and small questions.”

Online Presentation: Disability and Deaf Performance: A Conversation
Howlround Theatre Commons
May 2025
“A Conversation with Disabled and Deaf Theatremakers Exploring How Embodied Difference is Reshaping Contemporary Theatre Aesthetics”

Arts and Human Rights Festival: Thinking Peace
DAH Theater, Belgrade, Serbia
June 2025
DAH Theatre’s fourth “Art and Human Rights” Festival brought together artists from around the world under the theme Thinking Peace, showcasing performances, installations, workshops and more that speak to freedom, dignity, and human rights for all living beings.

What is the Future of George Floyd Square?
By Ernesto Londoño/The New York Times/May 18, 2025
“The intersection of 38th Street East and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis was forever altered the day a police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck five years ago, killing him. The killing led to a national reckoning over police misconduct and racism, and here, it spawned a site of protest, art, grief and remembrance that feels to some in this community like an open wound. Wooden sculptures in the shape of raised brown fists mark either end of the street. Arresting murals nearby have been defaced and touched up repeatedly…”
“On this there is little debate: George Floyd Square gave rise to a movement that changed the United States. But what will its legacy and future be?”

Five Years Later, America Looks For a Way Forward After George Floyd
TIME Magazine Special Report/May 1, 2025
Inside this special issue of TIME, we’ve highlighted these three articles:
“Art is a Powerful Tool to Fight Racial Injustice” 
By Imani Perry
“The Battle for Our Memory is the Battle for Our Country” 
By Kimberlé Crenshaw
“The Artist as Witness in the Era of Black Lives Matter” 
By Mikael Owunna, André Ramos-Woodard, Irene Antonia Diane Reece, Alanna Styer, Cornell Watson, Carrie Mae Weems, and Alex Christopher Williams

The Arc of the Moral Universe: Reflecting on 5 Years Since the Murder of George Floyd
By Dylan Matthews/Peace Direct/May 29, 2025
“In the weeks that followed [the murder of George Floyd], I found myself consumed by those 8 minutes and 46 seconds, scarcely believing that in the 21st century we could witness, in slow motion, the racist killing of a black man by a white police officer in full view of a group of bystanders. Little did I know then how this event would shape the next five years of my work at Peace Direct and the sector I care so deeply about.”

Country Music is Totally at War with Itself
By Tressie Mcmillan Cottom/The New York Times/May 18, 2025
“American pop culture typically goes country when the White House goes Republican. But there’s a wrinkle this time around — a veritable renaissance has come for country music over the last decade, as Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and queer artists have staked a legitimate claim to the genre. In fact, they’re still collectively pushing to be included in a genre that wants their rhythm but not their blues. And that has left country music with an identity crisis. There are now two prominent ideas of what counts as country: Nashville’s manufactured, tightly controlled country bops and the last decade’s diversification of its sound.”

Interview: Daria Pugachova: beauty and fear in performative art
By Anni Schleicher/VATAHA Platform for Ukrainian Art and Culture in The Netherlands/January 10, 2025
“In 2023, I interviewed multidisciplinary artist Daria Pugachova about her Cities of War performance in front of the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Since our interview in the Netherlands, Daria has performed and worked in Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Norway and the US, where she has just completed a four-week residency in Houston, Texas. One year later, we reconnected to discuss the element of fear in art, changing audience perceptions of art, her experiences with other international refugees, and her own personal transformation as a performative artist.”


Book: Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia
By Nora Krug/Ten Speed Press/2023
“Immediately after Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug reached out to two anonymous subjects – 'K.,' a Russia-born Ukrainian journalist, and 'D.,' a Russian artist – and began what would become a year of correspondence. Based on her weekly interviews with K. and D., Krug created this collection of illustrated accounts that chronicles two viewpoints from opposite sides of the border throughout the first year in this ongoing war.”


Book: Зцілення Ран Конфлікту. Медіація Може Допомогти (in Ukrainian)
English translation: Healing the Wounds of Conflict: Mediation Can Help
Co-authors of the Ukrainian edition: Alain Lempereur, Jacques Salzer, Aurélien Colson, Iryna Kordunian [Brandeis University International Business School MBA ‘25], Michele Pekar, Eugene B. Kogan.
“Published in 2024 in Kyiv, Healing the Wounds of Conflict. Mediation Can Help is a Ukrainian adaptation of the renowned English-language book Mediation. Negotiation by Other Moves. Co-authored by Alain Lempereur, Jacques Salzer, Aurélien Colson, Iryna Kordunian, Michele Pekar, and Eugene B. Kogan, this book is a testament to international solidarity with Ukraine. The book was made possible through collaboration with the Ukrainian Academy of Mediation and with the support of the European Union. This partnership helped bring the book to Ukrainian readers, ensuring it is freely available so that every Ukrainian can access the best mediation practices.

This book serves as a companion for those who are already mediators, those who may become mediators, individuals engaged in mediation, and anyone impacted by conflict. It guides readers step by step—from moments when resolution seems impossible to the signing and implementation of agreements. Through real-life insights and structured methodologies, it helps readers navigate conflict by understanding the past, recognizing present needs, and co-creating sustainable solutions.

At its core, this book is a signal of hope. The cover features a vibrant sunflower, a powerful symbol of resilience and the bright future of Ukraine. Deeply rooted in Ukrainian culture, the sunflower represents hope, unity, and renewal, mirroring the book’s vision of healing through mediation.”


Podcast: Making Peace Visible Episode 65: From Ukraine, War Reporting that Feels Personal
Making Peace Visible: Peace and Conflict in the Media/December 5, 2024
“Photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind and writer Alisa Sopova create intimate, accessible portraits of Ukrainian civilians living close to the frontlines of the Russian invasion. Sometimes their subjects are picnicking in a park or tending a garden. Other times, they’re repairing a ceiling damaged by shelling or waiting for departure on an evacuation train. Anastasia and Alisa have been working together in Ukraine since the Maidan Revolution, also known as the ‘Revolution of Dignity’ in 2014. And over the years, they’ve returned to visit the same families, witnessing how the war touches men, women, and children over time.”

“Anthropologists view war and peace not as opposites but as something that is happening simultaneously. War is happening, but normal life, or so-called normal life or normalized life, it's happening alongside war. And so we want to show not just the spectacular events, but also how people live through it on a day-to-day level. But then the ethical question is how to do it without normalizing it.” – Alisa Sopova (in the podcast)


Article: 3 Years Into War, Ukrainian Musicians Ask, ‘Will We Ever Go Home?’
By Javier Hernandez/The New York Times/February 4, 2025
“The [Kyiv Symphony Orchestra’s] musicians were welcomed in the German city of Gera for two years, and when that came to an end [violinist Tetiana Martyniuk-Bahrii] felt lucky that Monheim am Rhein, a town of about 40,000 along the Rhine River, invited them to a two-year cultural residency. It provided a much-needed haven for the 73 musicians and their families at a moment when the support of Western governments for Ukraine seemed to be softening, and many places appeared less welcoming toward refugees. More than 1,000 days after she and her fellow musicians were first displaced, Martyniuk-Bahrii, 44, said she had grown accustomed to the uncertainty. ‘It’s a life, but I can’t say it’s a totally happy life,’ she said. ‘Who knows what will be next?’”

Article: For These Teenagers in Ukraine, Hope Arrived at the Stage Door
By Kim Barker and Dzvinka Pinchuk/The New York Times/January 14, 2025
“Ms. [Olesia] Korzhenevska wrote a new play for every acting class. After the invasion, she focused on war stories because many students had loved ones fighting near the front lines… Ms. Korzhenevska noticed right away that the vibe in 2024 was different. Everyone needed a break from the war. She wanted to help the students imagine themselves in a more predictable, more routine environment. Someplace like America, Ms. Korzhenevska thought, where none of them had ever been.”

Article: Dark humour for dark times: How comedy helps in Ukraine
By Vitaliy Shevchenko/BBC/January 22, 2025
“On 14 October 2023, an unusual event was held in Ukraine's most prestigious venue, Palace Ukraine in Kyiv. Anton Tymoshenko became the first Ukrainian stand-up comedian to give a solo performance there. ‘I grew up in a village with fewer people than Palace Ukraine can hold,’ he said after the concert. ‘So many people had told me: It's not going to happen... stand-up comedy has not reached that level.’
It has now, to a large extent because of the full-scale invasion launched by Russia.”

Archive Project: Documenting Ukraine
“Through Documenting Ukraine, the IWM [Institute for Human Sciences] supports scholars, journalists, public intellectuals, artists, and archivists based in Ukraine as they work on documentation projects that establish and preserve a factual record—whether through reporting, gathering published source material, or collecting oral testimony—or that bring meaning to events through intellectual reflection and artistic interpretation. Ultimately, the materials collected and produced through these projects will be housed in a complex, transdisciplinary archive.

This is a project that centers Ukrainian intellectual work: the projects are conceived, developed, and carried out by Ukrainians, and Documenting Ukraine grantees retain full intellectual property rights to any work they produce. The same thinking underpins the archive that will result from the project: any materials contributed by people we are supporting are an important part of Ukraine’s intellectual heritage.”
Contributions to Documenting Ukraine are welcome.

Movie: Porcelain War
Directed by Slava Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo/2024
“Amidst the chaos and destruction of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, three artists defiantly find inspiration and beauty as they defend their culture and their country. In a war waged by professional soldiers against ordinary civilians, Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko, and Andrey Stefanov choose to stay behind, armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time in their lives, their guns. Despite daily shelling, Anya finds resistance and purpose in her art, Andrey takes the dangerous journey to get his young family to safety abroad, and Slava becomes a weapons instructor for ordinary people who have become unlikely soldiers. As the war intensifies, Andrey picks up his camera to film their story, and on tiny porcelain figurines, Anya and Slava capture their idyllic past, uncertain present, and hope for the future… Porcelain War embodies the passion and fight that only an artist can put back into the world when it’s crumbling around them.”

Porcelain War has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. It will be screened at Brandeis University on Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 pm in the Wasserman Cinematheque at the International Business School. Free and open to the public. See details.

About the movie: The Crazy Story on How the ‘Porcelain War’ Co-Directors Made a Doc 6,000 Miles Apart
By Brendan Bellomo/The Hollywood Reporter/February 7, 2025
“From the start, Slava Leontyev and I, as co-directors of the documentary feature Porcelain War, realized that we had a problem. Actually, a few. Big ones. To begin with, there was this: Slava is a porcelain artist turned Special Forces soldier in Ukraine, I am a VFX supervisor in the U.S., and neither of us had ever directed a documentary before.
We were separated by 6,000 miles, a language barrier and the largest conflict in Europe since World War II. We had never met in person and maybe never would. Our first Zoom was filled with sounds of nearby Russian shelling and a translator struggling to keep up with two people who didn’t speak the same language trying to make a film in a war zone. In our very first Zoom, Slava said: ‘All war is ugly; it all looks the same. The destruction. The smoke. The bodies. We’ve seen all this in other films. What we should show is the beauty of our country — everything that we are fighting to defend.’”

Conference recording: Landscapes of War, Landscapes of Victory: Ukraine’s Changing Environment 
Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Conference/Harvard University Ukrainian Research Institute/Feb 7- 8, 2025
“The 2025 TCUP Conference [addressed] how Ukrainians are being denied their right to build (and rebuild) a safe environment due to Russia’s continued aggression. Panels [discussed] the geopolitical landscape in which the war is being waged; ecocide and environmental crimes; the (re)built environment; and the landscape of digital technologies contributing to reconstruction.”

Song: Don’t Abandon Them
By the Marsh Family
February 14, 2025
“We put together this version of Dylan's iconic rhetorical question song from 1963, ‘Blowin' in the Wind’ because so much is hanging in the air at the moment… But what better use to make of Valentine's night than to show love and respect for the courage and sacrifice of the people of Ukraine, and send a small musical message of solidarity?”

Advocacy: Ukraine and the battle of Europe
by André Wilkens, Director of European Cultural Foundation
“Our Ukrainian friends continue their heroic fight. They remind us that this is about Europe, and they are right. For Putin, this war is not just about Ukraine; it is about rewriting European history and redrawing borders. It is a battle for Europe.”
These are words by our Director marking this bitter anniversary. On this page, we highlight our work, projects supported by the Culture of Solidarity Fund and the Ukrainian The Europe Challenge initiatives. Read on to learn more about how they had to cope with the new reality.
We open this page with a call to European policymakers to wholeheartedly support Ukrainian cultural sectors with a European Cultural Deal for Ukraine: “Culture and Cultural heritage are pivotal to Ukraine’s past, present and future and deserve full attention for their intrinsic value but also for what they can bring to society: hope, inspiration and creative imagination, economic, social and cultural value.”