Culture and Conflicts - The Case of Ukraine

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Jan 27, 2015
by Susanna Seidl-Fox
Culture and Conflicts - The Case of Ukraine

Salzburg Global collaborates on Brussels event recommending the "mainstreaming" of culture in peacebuilding

Three-time Salzburg Global Fellow Alain Ruche leads discussions in Brussels

Culture needs to be “mainstreamed” into peacebuilding activities – this was the leading recommendation from a meeting of culture and conflict resolution experts held in Brussels in November 2014.

The one-day seminar entitled Culture and Conflicts: The Case of Ukraine was a follow-on event from the Salzburg Global session Conflict Transformation through Culture: Peacebuilding and the Arts and a collaboration between Salzburg Global Seminar, More Europe and hosts, the European External Action Service (EEAS).   

The seminar was supported by the EU and its Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP), with a view to providing a better understanding of the culture-conflict nexus through the lens of the conflict in Ukraine. The goals of the gathering were to discuss ways in which culture can contribute to or mitigate conflict and to formulate recommendations for policy-makers.  

The following six cultural operators were invited to share their work and experience with the EEAS staff:

  • Anya Medvedeva, Communications Director, IZOLYATSIA, Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Donetsk, Ukraine
  • Elena Tupyseva, Director and Co-Founder, TsEKh, Moscow, Russia
  • Hjalmar Jorge Joffre-Eichhorn, Founder, Theater for Dialogue, Kiev, Ukraine
  • Oksana Forostyna, Executive Editor, Krytyka; Journalist & Writer, Kyiv, Ukraine
  • Tina Ellen Lee, Artistic Director, Opera Circus, Dorset, UK
  • Yaroslav Minkin, Founder, Stan Art Group; Poet, cultural innovator and civil activist, Lugansk, Ukraine

Salzburg Global Vice President and Chief Program Officer, Clare Shine, and More Europe director Sana Ouchtati presented a concept note on culture and conflict, and Ronan Mac Aongusa from the European Commission introduced the IcSP.  The presentations were followed by intensive, interactive discussions among all the participants, with several common threads emerging:  culture as a soft, peaceful tool to address hard, serious challenges and transform seemingly stale, “dead-end” conflict situations; culture as a tool to mobilize and engage the wider population; culture as a means of stimulating dialogue, communication, and eventually understanding; the risks connected to the use and abuse of culture and cultural identities; and the need to integrate culture into general EU policies to make better use of its positive potential. 

Three main recommendations developed by the seminar participants included:

  1. The need to mainstream culture into peacebuilding activities,
  2. The need to revise EU granting mechanisms and procedures in this area to make them more flexible, reactive, and culturally sensitive, and to reach wider audiences, particularly through projects focusing on education and youth, and
  3. The need for enhanced engagement with stakeholders, including artists and cultural activists.

The full report of the event is available to download


Salzburg Global would like to express its particular gratitude to the six cultural operators who contributed their time to participating in the seminar in Brussels. 

Photos taken by Salzburg Global Seminar can be found on our official Facebook page. Additional photos of the Brussels event taken by session participant Yaroslav Minkin can also be found on Facebook.