Margo Perun, a Peterborough writer and researcher in the arts field, has been in discussion with the Peaceful Communities group that has led to the creation of an arts coalition. The group -- tentatively known as an ‘arts coalition’ for now – is in its infancy and will pick up steam in the new few months, she says.

Margo says art has a very real connection to peace by being able to give a voice for people to express themselves. “The arts express volatile issues that would otherwise be destructive, handled outside of the confines of art,” she explains in a telephone interview.

“Art is able to communicate in an engaging way. Stories, metaphor, visual imagery…any kind of consciousness-raising can change the nature of lives and communities,” she says.

Margo will be on a plane to Portugal during the last two weeks of October for Pulses and Impulses for Dance in the Community, an international conference near Lisbon. The conference will feature more than 70 presented papers (including one by Margo) from attendees around the world. She is planning on talking up the linkages that Peterborough is making between art and peace, including the Peterborough Peace Builder Campaign.

“This is a great opportunity for exporting the idea around the world,” Margo says. “Arts for social change is an idea that has resonance in any country.”

Margo points out that art is the best vehicle for people who have experienced trauma and anxiety in their lives, too, a way for them to express their feelings in a creative form.

“Or for people who live with disabilities, art can be crucial to express themselves – such as wheelchair dancing. Art can convey, with beauty and grace, the challenges they face,” she explains.

Margo points out there are many individual groups in the Peterborough area who have made strong links between peace and art already. For instance, Kawartha World Issues Centre has been doing arts presentations related to non-violence issues for a long time, says Margo. “What we want to do is be able to link together and have a collective, community voice,” a voice, she says, which can then be taken to a wider audience.

“We want a full representation of diverse groups – people who would consider themselves disadvantaged and those of various ability levels.”

Once Margo returns from Portugal, she plans to accelerate her vision to create a Peterborough Arts Coalition. “The arts contribute not only to peace with their content, but in the very expression of it within a community.”

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