PASOS ADOPTS A NEW LOGO
December 14, 2011

PASOS STAFF JOINS GLOBAL YOUTH CONNECT FOR THEIR
FIRST ANNUAL YOUTH FOR HUMAN RIGHTS GALA
November 17, 2011

Pasos staff joins Global Youth Connect and its Executive Director, Jesse Hawkes, for their Gala honoring Valentine Iribagiza,
a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. GYC is an international organization of youth acting together for human rights,
responsibilities and compassion.

Jesse Hawkes, GYC Executive Director and Rwandan Genocide survivor Valentine Iribagiza.

JOINT EFFORT WITH METRONOME-ISRAEL INTERNATIONAL PEACE EDUCATION INSTITUTE
October 7, 2011

Museum staff and board met with Adi Foksheneanu of Metronome-Israeli International Peace Education Institute to
discuss collaborative efforts in facilitating and developing the practice of peace education internationally through
join work of academics and practitioners. The goal is to execute novel peace education programs that move beyond
region-insular perspectives to reflect a holistic understanding of the field.

Left to right: Museum Founder Nitza Escalera, Metronome Founder Adi Foksheneanu, and Museum
Advisory Board Member Betty Reardon; Museum ED William Repicci, and Adi Foksheneanu.

PAUSE FOR PEACE
September 21, 2011

PAUSE for Peace (Peaceful Acts Under Surveillance Event) takes place at noon on the International Day of Peace.
People participate across the globe at noon in their time zone.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE DINNER CELEBRATION
September 17, 2011

Museum members gathered at Colors Restaurant in NYC
to celebrate the International Day of Peace and to recognize
the strides made by the organization in the past year.
Participants engaged in an analysis of the current state of
world affairs with regard to peace initiatives, which provided
a basis for a thoughtful discussion of new programs and
strategies in the coming year.

COLLABORATION WITH CENTER FOR THE ARTS
September 12, 2011

Board Chair, Nitza Escalera and Executive Director, William Repicci met with Lois Saperstein,
Executive Director of the nonprofit Center for the Arts and President of The Arts Marketing Partnership.
Given the synergy of our respective organization’s mission statements, we have joined in a collaborative
effort. Center for the Arts is dedicated to raising awareness of the impact of the arts. It offers a broad array
of workshops for both adults and children that facilitate expression through a supportive framework.
For more information, visit: www.center4arts.org.

PASOS REACHES OUT TO THE NATIONAL JAZZ MUSEUM IN HARLEM
August 10, 2011

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem opened its doors to Pasos ED Bill Repicci recently with Jazz Museum Executive Director Loren Schoenberg playing host. As a preeminent Harlem institution, the Jazz Museum on E126th St not only offers exhibits, a resource center, concerts, lectures and workshops, it also builds the local community with its focus on opportunities for socialization. Schoenberg shared plans of their new 40,000 sq ft museum that is in development on 125th Street. Pasos is also using its Virtual Museum to feature the humanitarian work of jazz musicians connected with the museum. Check out more on the National Jazz Museum in Harlem at: http://www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org/

Check out our Jazz Corner exhibit featuring Jazz Museum Co-Director Christian McBride.

Left to right: Loren Schoenberg—Jazz Museum Executive Director, conductor, saxophonist, and
scholar; the National Jazz Musem in Harlem.

PASOS PARTICIPATES IN THE WALT WHITMAN CHAMPION LITERACY AWARDS
June 26, 2011

Pasos Program and Exhibit Director, Lea Giddins joined Soka Gakkai International-USA (SGI) and The Walt Whitman Birthplace Association for the presentation of the Walt Whitman Champion Literacy Award, which took place at his birthplace in West Hills, NY. SGI is a worldwide Buddhist network, which promotes peace, culture and education through personal transformation and social contribution. This year’s award went to philosopher, peacebuilder, educator, author and poet Daisaku Ikeda.

“The eyes of a poet discover in each person a unique and irreplaceable humanity. While arrogant intellect seeks to control and manipulate the world, the poetic spirit bows with reverence before its mysteries.”—Daisaku Ikeda

Left to right: Lea Giddins (Pasos) and Lenora Wade (SGI-USA) Peace and Community Relations Chairperson; Presentation of
The Walt Whitman Champion Literacy Award.

PASOS PRESENTS PAPER AT 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF MUSEUMS FOR PEACE
Barcelona International Peace Center, Montjuïc Castle
May 4–7, 2011

At the 7th International Conference, Pasos presented two papers: ED William Repicci presented The Inspiration and Challenges of Creating a Museum that Empowers the Peacebuilder in Each of Us. Board member Dr Joyce Apsel presented Educating for Peace and Human Right: Peace Studies and Museum Studies. The International Network of Museums for Peace sponsored the event. Over 60 peace museum leaders from around the world gathered to focus their attention on the theme "The Role of Museums in the Transformation of a Culture of War & Violence to a Culture of Peace & Nonviolence."

The 20th century was the most violent century in history—witnessing many wars, violent upheavals and revolutions, the Holocaust and other genocides, as well as gross human rights abuses. These instances of human suffering and cruelty have been memorialized in museums and sites around the world. They aim not only to remember, but also to educate in the hope of preventing similar atrocities from ever occurring again. Many museums and sites have also become places of reconciliation and peacemaking.

The same century has also shown the power of nonviolence, of civilian resistance movements, and of grassroots peace activism. Museums and centers dedicated to these ideas and struggles—and their leading advocates, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela—provide inspiring examples of the possibility and effectiveness of nonviolent social change.

More generally, peace museums demonstrate the ways and means in which societies can promote peace, justice, and development by peaceful means, without recourse to the ancient, largely discredited and now often wholly counterproductive instruments of the past, first and foremost armed force.

Left to right: Roger Mayou (Int’l Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum-Geneva, SUI) and Karen Snipp-Rentrop (Mobile Museum Rwanda) enjoying an art exercise between presentations; Alex Carrascosa (far right) engages conference attendees in his “Dialogue through Art” technique of communication; Peter van den Dungen, General Coordinator, Int’l Network of Museums for Peace (INMP).

PASOS JOINS PEACEBUILDING IN THE ARTS
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
April 1-3, 2011

Board member Bridget Gauntlett and Executive Director William Repicci participated in the Brandeis University Peacebuilding and the Arts Weekend Intensive in Waltham, MA. The Peacebuilding and the Arts program is part of the University’s International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life.

Facilitated by Dr. Polly Walker and Dr. Cynthia Cohen, the program is designed for students, practitioners, administrators, advocates and policy-makers in the fields of the arts, cultural work and conflict transformation. This allowed for engagement in discussions and activities designed to address key issues in the field, such as balancing artistic and socio-political intentions and the need to “do no harm.” A prime focus was the development of designs for arts and peacebuilding initiatives that reflect the basic principles of the moral imagination and the Acting Together project (a documentary film—featured in our Virtual Museum).

Left to right: Pasos ED William Repicci and program facilitator Polly Walker, PhD; Assoc. Professor/Ellen Smith (Assoc. Dir. Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program), Bridget Gauntlett (Pasos board member) and Libbie J. Shufro (AdLib Consulting); Cynthia Cohen, PhD, Director of Peacebuilding and the Arts program at Brandeis.

 

PASOS CO-SPONSOR OF CONFERENCE
Dreaming the Americas: Global Change in Performance
March 4 & 5, 2011

Pasos joined noted art organizations as an artistic affiliate of the 5th Annual NoPassport Conference:
Dreaming the Americas: Global Change in Performance.

NoPassport was founded by playwright Caridad Svich in 2003 as a Pan-American theatre alliance & press devoted to action, advocacy, and change toward the fostering of cross-cultural diversity and difference in the arts with an emphasis on the embrace of the hemispheric spirit in US Latina/o and Latin-American theatremaking. The conference is initiated and curated by Caridad Svich and co-curated by Catherine Coray (NYU) & Daniel Gallant (Executive Director, Nuyorican Poets Café).

The conference was on March 4 and 5, 2011 at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (236 East 3rd Street) with pre-conference special salon NO CUTS on MARCH 3, 2011 at INTAR Theatre. Presentation topics included: “Activism in Performance,” “Genocide and Political Atrocity in Theater,” and “The Global South” (speaker: Jose Rivera—Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “The Motorcycle Diaries” and award-winning playwright). There was also a work session with Sundance Institute Theater East Africa.

Left to right: Playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter, José Rivera, delivers the Keynote address; Sundance Institute Theatre East Africa: Deborah Ashmwe (playwright, and specialist, East Africa), and Philip Himberg (Producing Artistic Director); Genocide & Political Atrocity in Theater Erik Ehn (Head of Playwriting, Brown University), and Marcus Gardley (Prof. of African-American Theater and Playwriting, University of Mass.)

 

WINTER CELEBRATION OF PEACE
Central Park East II Elementary School
January 21, 2011

Board Members and the Executive Director of Pasos took part in the Central Park East II Elementary School (103rd Street, New York City) Winter Celebration of Peace in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. CEO Bill Repicci addressed the gathering of approximately 300 children, parents, and teachers. Attendees were introduced to our organization, it's goals, and how they could become—and already are—part of the movement that inspires Pasos.

An interactive booth displayed books, the Pasos quilt, artwork, and sign up sheets where children, parents, and teachers could learn about and become engaged in our efforts. The event also featured a student art exhibit, video presentations, a choral group, and orchestral performances which beautifully demonstrated the meshing of the arts and a theme of peacebuilding.

    

A DAY OF PEACEBUILDING
February 22, 2009

Friends of PASOS: The Museum and Center for Peacebuilding, sponsored its inaugural event at the Schomburg Center, the New York Public Library on 135th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Manhattan.

The day’s activities, all of which were free to the public, included a lecture and discussion, an art exhibition, peacebuilding activities for children and their families, and a dance performance.

PROGRAM

Presentation Topic: Steps Towards Building Peace
Location: The Langston Hughes Auditorium

SPEAKERS

Joyce A. Apsel, Board Member of The International Network of Museums for Peace, Professor - New York University
 
Betty Readon, Author, Founding Director of the Peace Education Center at Teachers College Columbia University, UN consultant and recipient of the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education 2001.

Dance Performance

SUITE 9/11—TOGETHER
Dance Performance by DanceWorks
The Dance Company of Westchester Community College
Choreographed by Company Director Mollyann Franzblau

 

Art Exhibit

MUSES ON THE PEACE PROCESS
Artists: Tobi Khan and Mary DeVincentis

Family Activities

BECAUSE CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
Peace Through Play / PEACE Unlimited, Inc.

Video Interviews of Event Participants

REFLECTIONS ON PEACE
Visitor Interviews conducted by Jose Luis Colon & Associate