peacebuilding
Building a Culture of Artivism Across Europe
Sevi Matsakidou, Educational, Research, and Advocacy Manager, El Sistema Greece
Like many organizations across Europe, El Sistema Greece draws part of its support from European Union programs. While our work has always focused on music and social change, we’ve recently partnered with organizations beyond the music sector to explore something broader: “artivism” across different art forms. This collaboration led to the launch of a new project, co-funded with the EU and dedicated to empowering young people, especially those with fewer opportunities.
A Virtual Community for Those Working in Conflict Situations
Impact Arts has launched Home of Hope, an international WhatsApp community with thematic-interest groups that connects artists, cultural workers, researchers, community leaders, and peacebuilders who work in situations of conflict and complex societal challenges.
Through Songwriting, Colombian Communities Resolve Conflict and Make Their Voices Heard
Ana Uribe Law, musicologist and violinist; 2023 Alumna, Global Leaders Institute
Ask any Bogotano about their perception of Colombia’s Chocó Region, and you’ll likely hear that it is a dangerous and remote place, visited primarily for whale-watching. These inter-regional biases are not uncommon—decades of armed conflict have disrupted networks of community and social cohesion, fragmenting them and threatening the practices that sustain communal life. And though a shared sense of Colombian identity exists, each of the country’s regions maintains a distinct cultural character that is often rooted in music.
Before traveling to Chocó, my perception of Colombia’s outer territories was similarly close-minded.
A New International Center for Reconciliation through the Arts
Ismar Porić, Artistic Director of House of Good Tones, as told to editors at The Ensemble
Few would disagree that imagining and constructing something good for humanity, in a place where vast harm has been done, is a creative act. Therefore, the completion of The Ensemble House in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina can be seen as one of the world’s great creative triumphs in recent years.
In His Words: Ron Davis Alvarez, Founder/Director, The Dream Orchestra
Ron Davis Alvarez, in conversation with The Ensemble
Ron Davis Alvarez, Director of The Dream Orchestra in Gothenburg, Sweden, was nominated as one of the five finalists in the 2024 CNN “Heroes” contest sponsored by the United States-based multinational Cable News Network (CNN). The contest features “inspiring people who have found unique ways to help others,” and aims to elevate awareness of inspirational work by people around the world.
The Ensemble Executive Editor Patrick Scafidi recently interviewed Ron via email.
