Imagine a Culture of Peace: Impressions of Youth

An invitation from the Dalai Lama Foundation, Peace Alliance Foundation, Opening of the Heart, and the Voices in Wartime Education Project

We invite young people, ages 5 to 25...from around the world to imagine what “peace” and “a culture of peace” can be and to make it real in the world. The impressions you contribute will be displayed online and can help begin a process of dialogue and exploration in communities local and global.

IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE LIVING LIFE IN PEACE...

Yes, imagine! What would it be like to be “living life in peace”? Everyday life, that is, in the schools, families, streets, and playgrounds of your town – as well as in the world of nations at large. The Peace Alliance Foundation is partnering with the Dalai Lama Foundation, Voices in Wartime, and Opening of the Heart to invite young people, ages 5 to 25, from around the world to send us their artistic impressions of what a culture of peace can look like.

Select a specific current or recent incident or situation of violence or conflict in your family, school, community, state, nation, or the world. Then, describe and/or illustrate and/or demonstrate:

(a) the root causes of that incident or situation, and
(b) a positive vision of how it might be resolved, or have been avoided to begin with, in a culture of peace.

Alternatively, describe and/or illustrate and/or demonstrate more generally what a culture of peace would look and feel like in your family, school, community, state, nation, or the world.

Submit your impressions in a textual or visual art form of your choice, for example:

Letter to a parent, friend, government official, or newspaper
Letter to future self from the present, or to present self from the future
Essay, poem, drama script, song, or short story
Painting, collage, photo journal, sculpture, or animation
Report (text or photo journal) of experiences with a personal or group practice or community project demonstrating the selected incident in a culture of peace.

Poems, essays, photos, paintings, and drawings will be displayed on the Imagine a Culture of Peace website, and everyone will be encouraged to view them and then to use them to seed local, national, and global community dialogues in schools, churches, homes, and community centers around this very question.

Submit your work online
Share your work with others
Sign up at
www.imagineacultureofpeace.org

Additional information