CITYarts, the New York-based non-profit which helps to transform communities through partnering artists with children to improve city spaces and encourage artistic development among youth, is to welcome a group of Iraqi children from 19 to 23 July as part of its Pieces for Peace program.
The visit will include a visit to the UN, tours of the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum of Natural History, painting at aCITYarts mural and discussion at CITYarts’ Pieces for Peace mosaic wall, interviews on Good Morning America, a Broadway show, and an afternoon in Central Park with surprise guests.
Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Investments, recently honored with the CITYarts’ 2010 annual Making a Difference Through the Arts award, stated: “I fully share and support CITYarts’ belief in the importance of using art and urban regeneration as a platform for bridging cultures and encouraging children from deprived backgrounds to have a stake in society and their cities, and this recent initiative involving Iraqi children is an excellent example of this which I am proud to be supporting.”
Says Tsipi Ben-Haim, CITYarts’ Executive and Artistic Director, “CITYarts and I are looking forward immensely to welcoming this group of Iraqi youths - Pieces for Peace collaborators - to New York. We hope to show them a memorable time as kids in New York, exploring the city, its people, and its cultural scene, and engaging with American youth under our Young Minds Build Bridges program."
The Pieces for Peace project was created in 2002 to build bridges of cultural understanding between American and international youth. It currently has as part of its program over 3,000 children in 50 countries across 6 continents.
The Pieces for Peace project is built on the premise that when kids create, they do not destroy. Says Tsipi Ben-Haim “We hope that the Pieces for Peace travelling exhibition of youth artworks for peace from around the world will reach as many countries as possible, kicking off mosaic Peace Walls in each city it visits, which will serve as a constant reminder of the youth voices for peace that participate in our project. This project infuses urgency in our kids' minds to get involved in becoming active participants in shaping their futures.”
Cityarts was founded in 1968 and has as its mission “to build bridges of cultural understanding, giving youth the opportunity to take an active role in shaping their own future. Since its beginning, CITYarts has created almost 300 projects that have transformed communities and impacted over 100,000 children, collaborated with more than 500 artists, partnered with over 1,500 sponsors, and engaged over 500,000 volunteers in the process.
