How to spread the ideas of peace

That’s what we thought about. Having written and implemented lots of projects, planned and carried out various activities, we decided to create something youthful and extremely creative. Therefore, as part of the project "Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in Ukraine – Step Forward", a series of workshops for young people "Creating Peace through Art" has been planned.

The first workshop on this topic took place in Berdiansk, where for four days young people from small towns of Eastern regions of the state received practical experience, which they will use to spread ideas of peace through art in their communities.

We think that no one will be able to convey the impressions of the event and its content as accurately as its immediate participants. So let one of the participants of the event tell us about this activity:

"My name is Nastia, I'm 20 years old. I live and study in Berdiansk. Finding out about the workshop "Creating Peace through Art" was a surprise for me, because such cool events are rather infrequent in our city. So you can imagine my joy after receiving the letter, in which they invited me to participate! In fact, my expectations were something like this: we are going to draw and listen to boring lectures during 4 days. But how cool it is that everything turned out far otherwise! My creative potential used to be focused on writing poetry, I didn't even think of something else, because I don't have any flair for anything else. Nevertheless, the workshop has fundamentally changed my attitude towards art as it is. I got acquainted with the technique of creating a collage from improvised materials and have made one on the environmental issues. I learned to shoot sketches, for which I did not even have to take a course on cross-cutting. I have mastered animation. To make a cartoon out of plasticine figures with your own hands... Wow! I also acted as a journalist and covered news such as the spread of jellyfish flu, the mastering of gadgets by retirees and the laying of asphalt by aliens. The very pleasant moment was also spending those 4 days in the company of incredibly creative and positive people. Thank you organizers for such a program and crazy emotions!"

Well, in a nutshell, the paths to peace are quite diverse, and how important it is that youth is interested in this topic. And now, after the workshop, there are 30 more people in the country who add peacebuilding influences to their creativity.

The event was held in the frames of the "Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in Ukraine – Step Forward" project, implemented with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.