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Welcome
September 2025
Dear Friends of Peacebuilding and the Arts Now,
Thank you for spending some time with the materials we have gathered for you.
With this issue – the first of the 2025-2026 academic year here – we are changing our newsletter format, making it a bit more compact. Below you will find:
~ an “Artist Spotlight,” this time focusing on the art and insights of Aotearoa New Zealand-based Māori contemporary dancer Tiaki Kerei;
~ a list of upcoming events, such as exhibitions, movie premieres, conferences, and so on;
~ a selection of opportunities for funding and program participation with application deadlines in the coming months; and
~ a section featuring resources to explore, including recent articles, books, podcasts, and more.
As always, we remain grateful for your efforts to strengthen communities by, in part, fostering equity, and nurturing beauty and trust.
Toni Shapiro-Phim, Director
Armine Avetisyan, Program Manager
Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts
Brandeis University
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Tiaki Kerei; photo by Anna Kucera; copyright Tiaki Kerei
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| Artist Spotlight - Tiaki Kerei
In conversation with Toni Shapiro-Phim
Earlier this year, in a segment on New Zealand’s 1 News entitled “Why I’m Reclaiming An Indigenous Name,” journalist Te Ahipourewa Forbes noted that award-winning dancer Tiaki Kerei “was born Jackie Gray, named after his late father. But his journey toward his Māori identity led him to embrace his father’s Māori name, not just in tribute, but as a way to strengthen and revive his own sense of self. ‘It just occurred to me that my father's ingoa in Te Reo Tiaki Kerei would be an important step to revitalise myself… It helped me get through some rough times, it helped me deal with some mamae (hurt) that was intergenerational and... it's almost like I feel a korowai (cloak) around my shoulders,”’ Tiaki shared.
Toni Shapiro-Phim of Brandeis’ Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts had the opportunity to interview Tiaki Kerei as well, just a week before this newsletter was set to be sent out. Toni and Tiaki had first met at the “Dancing Ecologies in the Asia-Pacific: Negotiating Identities in a Context of Change and Dispossession” conference in Singapore in 2024. This recent conversation focuses on Tiaki’s commitment to well-being and creativity in today’s Aotearoa New Zealand. Excerpts from his stories, all in his words, follow.
On His Embodied Research Lab
The Embodied Research Lab came out of an offer of a residency at The Auckland Performing Arts Centre, and it was a pretty unique premise. The organization had received funding to support Māori and Pacific artists at their venue by giving them free space. One of the people in the administration there had seen my Instagram posts about me and my mum and the rehabilitation journey with my mum's stroke recovery, and how movement was such a critical part of this daily practice that I would do with my mother. Because I couldn't really leave mum, initially, at that time, I would just go outside and dance on the way to the park, or I would dance in the street. I would dance at the bus stop, and I would post these daily things of my need for creativity as restoration and self-healing. The Performing Arts Centre’s administrator saw that and went, “Hey, I think you should come to our studio and do your practice here.” So that's how the Embodied Research Lab began. I went in, and with South African dancer Celeste Dillon, the primary focus is really on what are the priorities in terms of sustaining a physical practice as we age. We discovered that meeting weekly, we would really have a lot to share that we had encountered. There was a lot going on politically.
Read the full conversation.
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Upcoming Events
Conference: Geneva Peace Week
Geneva, Switzerland
October 13 - 17
“Geneva Peace Week is a leading annual forum in the international peacebuilding calendar through which organizations in Geneva and their international partners come together to share knowledge and practice on a diverse range of topics related to peace across contexts and disciplines,” including the arts. Online access is available for some of the programs.
Movie Premiere: We Forgive but We Don’t Forget
Geneva Peace Week
October 16
“The documentary We Forgive but We Don’t Forget, about local peacebuilders in post-conflict Cambodia, will have its world premiere on 16 October 2025 at Geneva Peace Week...
About the film: The Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 formally ended Cambodia’s civil war, which followed the devastation of the Khmer Rouge genocide (1975-79). But what happens after such agreements are signed? How is peace nurtured and sustained?
Co-directed by Swiss filmmaker Daniela Wildi and Cambodian filmmaker Rotha Suong, the documentary follows monks, genocide survivors, artists, educators, and community leaders in post-conflict Cambodia. Their stories show how peace is carried forward in quieter, everyday, and local ways that rarely make headlines but deeply shape life after conflict. The film invites viewers to confront the burden of memory, witness the resilience of communities, and recognize the courage it takes to create space for reconciliation.”
View more events.
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Opportunities
Program: Emerging Leaders Artivism Alliance 2025-2026
Deadline: October 1
“The Emerging Leaders Artivism Alliance is a pioneering program that positions individuals with a migration background who are combining arts and activism to utilize their resilient life experiences as potential for leadership igniting action and driving meaningful societal change.”
Funding: Craft Research Fund Grants
Deadline: October 17
“As the Center’s first and longest-running grant program, the Craft Research Fund is dedicated to supporting new and interdisciplinary research about craft in the United States [with grants of up to $15,000]. Since 2005, the program has supported 255 projects in 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico by distributing over $1,900,000.”
Funding: Curtis Institute of Music Tuition Scholarships
Deadline: December 10
“The Curtis Institute of Music highly values a diverse international student body. Since its founding in 1924, Curtis has welcomed all applicants regardless of race, geographic origin, religious background, socio-economic level, gender, or sexual orientation. The Curtis Institute of Music educates and trains exceptionally gifted young musicians to engage a local and global community through the highest level of artistry.”
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Photo Credit: AFP / Getty Images
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Resources
Press Release: UNESCO Warns on Dramatic Increase in Attacks Against Schools in 2024
September 9
UNESCO
“Today, 85 million children living in crisis situations do not attend school. In areas of armed conflict, attacks on schools have reached alarming levels, brutally jeopardising the future of hundreds of thousands of children and young people… In response to this alarming situation, UNESCO has stepped up its efforts worldwide to address threats to education in crisis situations and to support the continuity of learning at all levels.”
Report: All That is Lost: The Cultural Destruction of Gaza
PEN America/Liesl Gerntholtz
September 18
“This report examines the effect of the war on 36 cultural, historical, religious, and educational institutions and sites, and also includes three instances of deliberate book burnings and two cases of reported looting of archaeological artifacts.”
Report: Protecting and supporting At-risk and Displaced Arts Professionals Across Borders
On the Move/Yohann Floch, editor
2025
"On the Move’s research and action project, focusing on the situation of at-risk and displaced artists, enters a new phase with the publication of case studies, comparative analyses, and syntheses of focus group discussions and interviews. The year-long research and action project studies policies and practices in EU countries, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America that support the active inclusion of displaced artists and cultural professionals. The collective ultimate objective is to propose operational instruments that specifically address the active inclusion and long-term support of displaced arts professionals."
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Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts
Global Community Engagement, COMPACT
Brandeis University
415 South Street | MS 086 | Waltham, MA 02454-9110
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