This is a recording of the M&E Thursday Talk from Thursday, June 7th as members of the IMPACT Project hosted a discussion on “Strengthening Arts & Conflict Transformation through Evaluation.”
Excellent work at the nexus of arts, culture and conflict transformation – excellent in aesthetic, ethical, and sociopolitical terms – is being done the world over. The field of arts, culture and conflict transformation contributes to creating more just, more vibrant, and less violent communities. However, the field could affect even more transformative change if all the players- artists and peacebuilders, local and global, donors and policymakers, practitioners and researchers- had more opportunities to learn from each other and to influence policy.
This webinar discusses IMPACT (Imagining Together: A Platform for Arts, Culture and Conflict Transformation), a planning initiative of Brandeis University’s program in Peacebuilding and the Arts in partnership with the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies at Juniata College, and Maseno University (Kenya) that is working towards such transformative change. IMPACT is developing ideas for an infrastructure that will leverage university-based programs and cultural institutions to support practice, policymaking, research and teaching in the field of arts, culture and conflict transformation.
During this webinar participants were asked to offer their input on two questions:
1. What comprises excellence in arts, culture and conflict transformation?
2. Are there recognized assessment and evaluation approaches designed to account for both aesthetic and socio-political effects?
Read more about this webinar and the work being done in this space here.