One Peace at a Time
Our latest Genesis at the Crossroads’ (GATC) Children’s Humanitarian Peace Quilt program took shape out of a quest to create artistic opportunities to both foster and grow the generous and giving spirit innate within young children, and cultivate philanthropic young adults.
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We are extending the quilting workshop from our March 2006 Peace it Together program beginning with over 350 students at multiple public and private schools and community centers in the Chicago area. These One Peace at a Time workshops enable children, ages 8 – 17 to have the opportunity to both fashion a quilting square with their own creative expressions for peace in the world and to write about their thoughts while doing so. Quilt artists are donating all of the in-kind labor to professionally transform these creations into quilts for Iraqi children abroad. Some of the children will be from private as well as Chicago Public Schools, community centers of diverse ethnic backgrounds, Girl Scout troupes and refugee youth programs. Following the individual quilting workshops, a group of Jewish, Moslem and Unitarian students will be part of a moderated inter-faith dialogue program this December.
The
quilts will be displayed along with their written work when the Merchandise
Mart Properties (MMPI) features GATC during the One of a Kind Show, December
7-10, 2006 in Chicago. MMPI will also partner with us for our Genesis
at the Crossroads’ Concert for Peace with CSI: NY’s
Gary Sinise and The Lieutenant Dan Band, concluding the show on December
10th. To expand the breadth of this programs’ impact, the quilts
and the performance will then travel to museums of peace and tolerance
across the country in Los Angeles, Washington, DC and New York City,
before they are shipped to Baghdad. Both the tour and an expanded
companion arts-education program is currently in its final development
stages for early Spring of 2007 at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Funds
permitting, these quilt workshops will continue indefinitely at each
destination with designated war-torn country recipients (Darfur, The
Congo, Beirut...) to be chosen by each individual American community.
This entire program is currently being filmed for Genesis at the Crossroads’ children’s documentary, exploring how children see themselves as part of the global challenge and effort towards a peaceful world. This film also explores the thoughts and feelings of children as they grapple with the possibility and impact of their own philanthropic acts.
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