Imagining Peace is a project to promote cultural initiatives in peacebuilding, initially funded by the Global Cultural Relations Programme (GCRP) - a flagship programme of the Cultural Relations Platform (an initiative funded by the EU) a partnership between the EU and the Goethe Institute, which brings together cultural practitioners and artists from around the world to engage in friendly conversations, share ideas, and collaborate.
Our team had the privilege to meet at the 2021 edition of the GCRP programme, which took place online during the pandemic. After an intense period of brainstorming and development, we pitched the idea to over 60 cultural enthusiasts from around the world, and were selected as one of three projects to receive funding. After more than a year of remote collaboration, we finally had the chance to meet face-to-face in Brussels at the 2022 edition of GCRP.
After two years of online development, spanning 5 different time zones, the journey of Imagining Peace is continuing to evolve!
We are a global and multidisciplinary team, with experience across both the culture and arts sectors. Our team is composed of a multimedia artist, an opera singer, a filmmaker, a cultural heritage expert and a cultural manager and researcher. Here is a little more about each of us:
Multidisciplinary artist, curator and cultural manager
Cultural manager and researcher working on creating links between culture, art and peacebuilding
Multimedia producer and National Geographic Explorer working primarily in animation and documentary
Archeologist and cultural heritage expert
Lyric soprano, educator, and producer
Multidisciplinary artist, curator and cultural manager
Cultural manager and researcher working on creating links between culture, art and peacebuilding
Multimedia producer and National Geographic Explorer working primarily in animation and documentary
Archeologist and cultural heritage expert
Lyric soprano, educator, and producer
Our team of experts is a vital cog in the toolkit creation process. They are experienced professionals in the fields of arts and peacebuilding, and their insights perfectly align with our goals and vision. A dynamic exchange of perspectives takes place in our online discussions, allowing a rich tapestry of viewpoints to influence the structure of the toolkit.
Co-director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts (PBA) at the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life at Brandeis University
A distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University
Researcher and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science at University of Belgrade, Serbia
Dr. Cynthia Cohen is co-director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts (PBA) at the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life at Brandeis University, and a senior fellow at IMPACT. At Brandeis, she initiated an undergraduate minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation. She has written extensively on the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of conflict transformation.
Prior to her tenure at Brandeis, she founded and directed a multicultural anti-racist community oral history center. She has worked as a coexistence facilitator with communities in the Middle East, Central America, and South Asia.
Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider, is a distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University/Brookings Institution. From Timbuktu to Melbourne (Australia) to Washington DC, she has taught, published, and spoken about the importance of culture in diplomacy and international affairs while putting these ideas into practice everywhere from war zones to Hollywood writers' rooms.
Her interest in the subject began when she served as the US Ambassador to the Netherlands (1998-2001). Nearly twenty years later, she has introduced hundreds of Georgetown University students to an unorthodox approach to foreign policy that prioritizes culture, including experimental classes that travel to Cambodia to learn about how the rebirth of arts and culture has helped to rebuild the country, post-genocide. She has spoken on topics related to arts, culture, media, and international affairs at TED and TEDx, as well as at events around the world.
NNikola Jović is a Researcher and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science at University of Belgrade, Serbia. He has participated in and managed more than 120 research projects for media, companies, NGOs, think tanks, international institutions, academic institutions, cultural institutions, embassies, and political parties. Nikola likes to do campaigns for social movements and political parties and is interested in how people make decisions and how they are affected by emotions.
