Workshop on arts-based practices brought researchers of the PEACE network together in Sarajevo
On 27 and 28 May, several members of WG3 on Local Peace within the PEACE Action participated in a workshop on arts-based practices and their connection to local peace. Researchers from diverse backgrounds came together to explore these practices through co-creation sessions and reflection on concrete examples. The workshop took place in Sarajevo, a city still grappling with how to address its violent past. Local participants from the arts and education sectors also shared their experiences and insights. As participants, we asked ourselves: what did we take away from these two days?
An embodied exploration of arts-based practices The workshop opened with an embodied improvisation exercise rooted in theatre practice, offering an introduction to the diversity of arts-based methods. Participants were asked to bring an object that represented (local) peace to them. This object became the starting point for both individual and collective imagination, for exploring space through the body, and for reflective writing inspired by the concept of transformation.
For many, this was a new way of thinking and working. People engage with arts-based practices in different ways: what resonates with one person may challenge another. Openness, attentiveness, and sensitivity to the group dynamic proved essential. It was inspiring to see how everyone found their own way to participate, even when stepping outside their comfort zones.
Arts-based practices and research
This embodied introduction led to broader discussions about the role of arts-based practices. What are our aims in using them? How can they be integrated into research? Why are different forms of knowledge production (academic, artistic, curatorial) valued differently? And how do we move from informal, context-driven practices to more structured methodologies?
Arts-based practices can serve multiple purposes in research: as tools for collecting data, analyzing it, or communicating findings, or all of these at once. Through presentations of their own work, participants explored these different dimensions. Examples highlighted the power of visual language in imagining peace, and how art enables us to bridge differences and express what may otherwise be difficult to articulate.
Sarajevo: a meeting place of history and culture
The workshop was held at the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an especially fitting location. Sarajevo, shaped by a recent history of war and violence, provided a powerful context. Participants learned about the war through the experiences of ordinary people and gained insight into how, often with the help of art and artists, they continued their daily lives under extreme conditions.
Representatives of local peacebuilding organizations emphasized the role of art in facilitating conversations about a painful past, both in educational settings and outside of them. Despite a deteriorating political climate and increasing polarization, they remain committed to bringing people together and countering division and segregation.
What comes next?
The workshop also provided space to reflect on how to better communicate the value of arts-based practices to policymakers. Key points included the need for recognition of these approaches, long-term funding mechanisms, and support for relational and co-creative processes, as well as building on existing projects and collaborations.
At the end of the workshop, participants shared a strong sense of community. Many left with new questions and inspiration for their own work. In a time when results are often expected to be tangible and economically measurable, these two days offered a sense of hope. They reminded us that the research process itself is meaningful and central to academic work—even if that value is not always easy to quantify.
The Working Group on Local Peace, and particularly the Sarajevo workshop participants and facilitators, will discuss the workshop’s findings during the upcoming PEACE webinar “Arts-Based Practices and Local Peace”.