Peace begins when people find a way to reach one another.
Peace of Art began with a simple idea: peacebuilding can start with a conversation, a painting, a song, a classroom, a shared experience or a young person discovering that their voice matters.
Where the journey began.
Peace of Art was founded in 2016 in a region where conflict, displacement, social division and uncertainty were part of everyday life.
But our story did not begin with a theory of peace. It began with people: young people searching for opportunities, communities facing pressure and division, artists looking for ways to contribute, and people who wanted to participate in shaping something different.
We discovered that peacebuilding could happen in unexpected places.
Conflict is not only about violence.
It is also about the relationships that break long before violence begins.
We believe peacebuilding must therefore reach beyond formal institutions. It must also reach the places where people actually experience society: schools, neighborhoods, cultural spaces, community organizations, digital platforms and everyday relationships.
Sustainable peace is not something delivered to people. It is something people learn to build together.
Peace is more than the absence of violence.
For Peace of Art, peace is something people experience through dignity, participation, opportunity and belonging.
This is why our work may take different forms: arts, dialogue, education, youth leadership, civic participation, media, humanitarian action, community support or international exchange.
Local experience should not remain isolated.
Peacebuilding must stay close to the communities it serves. But local knowledge becomes even more valuable when it can travel, connect and be shared.
Over time, Peace of Art's work connected with organizations, institutions, communities and partners beyond its place of origin.
Today, Peace of Art International connects three legally independent organizations.
Understand Our International Approach ↗Locally rooted. Internationally connected.
Each Peace of Art organization remains rooted in its own legal system, society and local priorities, while participating in a shared international framework.
Peace of Art Lebanon
Where the Peace of Art journey began and much of its locally rooted experience was developed.
Explore ↗Peace of Art USA
Extending cooperation, education and international engagement into new spaces.
Explore ↗Peace of Art Deutschland e.V.
Our German organization rooted in Dresden, connecting peacebuilding with civic and cultural participation.
Explore ↗Organizations do not build peace. People do.
Our work matters because of what people do with the opportunities, relationships and spaces that are created.
A young person discovers that their voice matters.
An artist turns creativity into dialogue.
A volunteer gives time and skills to a community.
Two people from different backgrounds leave a conversation understanding each other differently.
We do not see young people only as beneficiaries. We see them as peacebuilders, creators and leaders.
Ten years, and still moving.
2016 was the beginning. It was never meant to be the destination.
Over the following decade, Peace of Art expanded its programs, communities, partnerships, international engagement and institutional structure.
As Peace of Art enters its second decade, we are strengthening international cooperation, governance, transparency, partnerships and our capacity to develop larger and longer-term initiatives.
But we want to protect what made the journey possible in the first place: staying close enough to communities to listen.
A world where difference becomes cooperation, not conflict.
A world in which people can live with dignity, participate meaningfully in their societies and use creativity, education, dialogue and human connection to build more peaceful, inclusive and resilient communities.
Turn connection into action.
Peace of Art strengthens people and communities by creating opportunities for dialogue, learning, creative expression, participation and cooperation.
Through locally rooted organizations and international partnership, we connect people, knowledge and ideas across borders and transform them into practical action for peace.
Peace is not a destination. It is a journey we create together.
Explore the work, evidence and international structure behind the next chapter of Peace of Art.