The Art of Reconciliation: Do reconciliation-funded arts projects transform conflict?
Dr Victoria Durrer is co-investigator on the Art for Reconciliation (AfR) project, which is led by Peter Shirlow at the University of Liverpool with colleagues Peter Campbell (University of Liverpool), David Grant and Des O'Rawe (Queen's University Belfast) and Matt Jennings (Ulster University).
Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council UK.
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(photo:Kabosh Theatre Company’s production of Dominic Montague’s A Queer Céilí) |
Art for Reconciliation (AfR) has developed within a growing field of arts practitioners, funders, community activists, educationalists and researchers who have used various art forms as methods of peace-building when responding to political conflict. It is claimed that arts-led approaches, which aim to prevent a return of conflict, produce work that reflects, represents, or responds to multiple forms of political conflict in ways that encourage conflict transformation between adversarial groups. |
Taking Northern Ireland as a case study, the project seeks to develop a better understanding of if and how these processes unfold. Dr. Durrer has been most closely involved in research regarding what forms of knowledge are valued in terms of funding priorities and funder-facing evaluations of art for reconciliation work as well as a close study of Kabosh Theatre Company’s production of Dominic Montague’s A Queer Céilí at the Marty Forsythe, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during its first run in March 2019.