Closing Ceremony: Arts and Peace Encounters

As Geneva Peace Week draws to a close, we gather to reflect on a world in flux. Our systems, societies, and ways of living are shifting at unprecedented speed. Emerging technologies, evolving geopolitics, climate crises, and the erosion of multilateral systems and the rule of law make the future increasingly unpredictable.

Now more than ever arts, culture, and imagination are not luxuries—they are essential. Peacebuilding pioneer John Paul Lederach reminds us in Moral Imagination that effective peacebuilding requires more than technical solutions; it depends on the creative ability to envision and cultivate a future of justice, reconciliation, and human connection. By combining empathy, cultural understanding, and imaginative thinking, peacebuilders can transform conflict into opportunities for constructive relationships and sustainable peace.

The Caux Arts and Peace Encounters Initiative invites artists, peacebuilders, changemakers, policymakers, and academics to connect and share the skills and qualities needed to foster peace through the power of culture, arts and dialogue. The Geneva Peacebuilding Platform partners with the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation to bring arts to the centre, not the periphery of Geneva Peace Week.

Through personal testimony interactive discussion with artists, practitioners and diplomats as well as a live performance, the session will emphasize the power of storytelling, imagination, and culture in shaping peaceful futures.

Join us as we explore the transformative power of culture and the arts. 
 

Speakers

• H.E. Ambassador Sabine Bakyono Kanzie, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the UN in Geneva

• Barbara Aebischer,  Specialist Culture and Development, Peace, Governance and Equality Section Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC

• Alvaro Quiroz, founder of Brigada12 Laureate Young Activist Summit 2024

• Maruee Pahuja, Visual Artist, Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy Practitioner,  Caux Arts and Peace Encounter Advisory Committee

Artist

• Nael Melerd, Singer-songwriter, Burkina Faso

Moderator

• Sarah Noble, Head of Global Engagement, Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation 

Closing Remarks

• Dr. Annyssa Bellal, Executive Director, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform