Arts for Peace
Start date: May 1, 2008,
The mission of this particular Arts For Peace Foundation project is to create a residential programme for three countries, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Palestine. The overall theme of the programme is to create positive interaction, cultural understanding, social inclusion and cohesion, enhancement of the life skills of the young people. The programme will be facilitated by the Arts For Peace Foundation with the assistance of Professor Marjorie malkin, of the University of Illinois using the tenets of Therapeutic Recreation. The Arts For Peace Programme Director and Evaluator is Mr Terry Dignan who is Programmes Director at Barretstown Castle County Kildare. The programme will be hosted at Durrow Abbey House in Ireland, the residential headquarters of the Arts For Peace Foundation, kindly leased to us from the Irish Government on a permanent basis. The residential programme will utilise informal and parallel education and the disciplines of Therapeutic Recreation as the template for the programme the duration of which will be 18 days, and three days travel. Forty young people aged 15-17 will be facilitated at Durrow under full supervision of professional child care workers and youth psychologists. The interactive peer driven programmes, utilise the disciplines of Recreation Therapy in an organic safe, custom made environment with a core strategy of informal, parallel education and peer education to promote self empowerment, social inclusion, self esteem, self awareness and confidence, positive self expression, team building exercises and positive understanding of the diversity of others. The programmes are rooted in goal driven methodology where the positive aspects of every young person's uniqueness are positively utilised by the group to problem solve in specific group and individual exercises through programmes designed by educators evaluated by child psychologists and child care professionals in accordance with each young person 's needs, in drama, painting, pottery, group mural work, story telling, peer direct group cultural awareness programmes, sports, horse riding and care of the horse, outdoor activities, orienteering and horticulture among others.