MY PEACE is an Erasmusplus project working to empower young people to engage in peacebuilding through music. Momentum is joined by Partners from France, Germany, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine in this two-year project.
To date, the project team has done extensive research in their individual countries, created a Good Practice guide with examples of peacebuilding and integration through music from across Europe. They have also developed a Peace Building Approach Road Map, which is a guide for Youth workers/educators, music stakeholders, peacebuilding stakeholders and young people to help each group to use music as a transformative tool for peacebuilding.
In recent months, each Partner has been working to host a series of 10 music sessions for young people and other stakeholders. These sessions combined the performance of established and new music with an educational and social commentary element.
Momentum collaborated with Atlantic Technical University (ATU) to share the work of MY PEACE with their student and leadership community. With the support of the Communications Manager and the Wellbeing Officer at the University, music sessions were arranged at the Sligo campus.
Members of the Traditional Irish Music Society and the Music and Bands Society were invited to attend and participate at MY PEACE music sessions held in the evening after classes had ended. The format of the sessions was largely informal but began with a presentation on the work of MY PEACE, its aims and objectives. Next, issues around peace building and conflict resolution were addressed and discussed, and students were asked to consider the role music could play in this.
Next, the attendees divided into groups and moved to a nearby classroom, where a discussion on peacebuilding, conflict resolution and the role of music in this was facilitated. Students were invited to share their reflections on how music had supported them and how it could be used to support others aspiring to peacebuilding. Many students chose to offer these reflections to the camera.
The sessions finished with the entire group coming together to collaborate and play music related to the themes they had discussed during the evening. Participants were from the entire Northwest region of Ireland as well as from Canada and France and from a range of academic disciplines. Everyone embraced the spirit and the objectives of the project, and Momentum looks forward to returning to the campus later this year to share the project video with the wider ATU community.
Visit the MY PEACE website to learn more and follow the project’s social media channels to get the latest updates.
