Expressive Arts Programs
Arts are a vital complement to conflict resolution skill-building. When we couple arts activities with discussions that build conflict resolution skills, the skills can be more tangible and reflection can deepen. These third graders explored anger when upset feelings weren’t actually erupting; they used writing to befriend anger. Students tried out new ideas: that anger sends a message that we can pay attention to, and that we can learn to express anger’s message constructively. By interlacing the lesson with songs and creative writing, the skills themselves were anchored in a multi-faceted way.
Expressive arts include a panoply of activities like drama, dance, musical theatre, graphic art, visual art, performance art; music, and creative writing to name the most common forms. All of these artistic endeavors offer opportunities for conflict discovery – a process of reflection and increasing awareness about one’s orientations to and reactions to conflict.
Art has the power to connect people and build community. In addition to developing an affirmative classroom climate, activities with music, storytelling, creative movement, poetry, and dramatics can help students gain deeper understanding of social situations, reinforce important social messages, and provide direct opportunities to practice skills relating to conflict resolution. Assignments in drawing, painting, and sculpting, as well, can be structured to explore the dynamics of relationships. Over the past two decades, in particular, songwriters, poets, and conflict resolution trainers have been devising new material to explore peace building creatively.
Videos of Possible Interest
- PeaceJam Juniors
- Conflict Resolution Flashmob dances to “We Can Work it Out”
- Conflict Resolution Educational Gaming: Behind the Scenes with Cool School and Harmony Island
- Ring the Bells music video
- Another Bully Busters Song
- Peer Mediators as Change Writers
- Talk It Out – Bronx Intl High School Peer Mediator Music Video
- Recess Redone – The Power of Play
- Kids rap – conflict resolution and respect
- Playing and Practicing Peace in Baltimore
- Inspirational Quote from Bill Kreidler
- In the Harmony
- Lions International Peace Poster Contest
- In a Responsive Classroom
- Restorative Justice Arts Initiative
See MORE VIDEOS...
Sample Catalog Resources
Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.
| Resource Title | Description | Links |
|---|---|---|
| They drop beats, not bombs: Music and dance in youth peace-building | 19-page PDF article from the Australian Journal of Peace Studies, volume 3, 2008 which "focuses on how young people can use music and dance for peacebuilding. It utilises the framework of positive peace so it is concerned with much more than the absence of war or direct violence. Positive peace is a peace with fustice, including gender justice. It involves an assurance of fair social, economic and political arrangements’ and the preservation of human rights. Peacebuilding from this perspective seeks ‘to prevent, reduce, transform, and help people recover from violence in all forms, even structural violence that has not yet led to massive civil unrest." | |
| Non-verbal active listening skills | Word document which describes active listening and outlines five body language postures that mediators should use when listening. | |
| Core nonverbal communication concepts | Twenty-six page training packet exploring nonverbal communication. | |
| Peace bridges: Newsletter of Peace Education Centers, issue #10, 2007 | Pdf newsletter of a conflict resolution education program in Armenia, with most stories written by school children. | |
| Peace new birth, number 1 | Newsletter of a conflict resolution education program in Armenia, with most stories by school children. | |
| Nonviolence playlets | 25-page MS Word document providing examples of nonviolence in action. "These short playlets are intended to dramatically reconstruct actual experiences in which nonviolent direct action has been used, successfully, to overcome violence." Designed for use with youth of different ages. | |
| Training overview | Word document with training overview for faculty participants in nonverbal communication training. | |
| Marital and partnership communication | Powerpoint presentation discussing communication in relationships: including gender differences, nonverbal communication, marital communication, marital conflict and domestic violence. | |
| Storytelling For Peace | In this 4-part series of web articles, Caren Neile outlines a case for the use of stories and storytelling in preventing conflict, reconciling differences and building peace. Included are 7 sample stories from different parts of the world, a select bibliography, and a directory of storytellers and story-educators for peace. | |
| Cycles of harmony: Action research into the effects of drama on conflict management in schools | 13-page PDF paper which, "describes the first five years of an ongoing action research project (1996-2000) investigating the possibilities of using a combination of drama techniques and peer teaching on a whole-school basis to help school students explore the causes of conflict, and develop strategies for conflict prevention and mediation ... A number of principles relating both to conflict management and to drama, together with a tentative pedagogy for using dramatic strategies and techniques have emerged. These are elucidated, and the project and some of its provisional findings are described." | |
| Communication for competency | Word document exploring nonverbal and verbal communication with emphasis on direct and indirect language, with exercises. | |
| Introduction to nonverbal communication | Word document introducing workshop on nonverbal communication, with exercises and games. | |
| Name that emotion | Word document that presents an exercise to identify emotions as people act them out without words or sound. | |
| Peace new birth, number 3 | Newsletter of the Peace Education Centers of Armenis - Peace new birth, number 3 | |
| Interpersonal skills for dealing with conflict: Respect and support in action | Powerpoint presentation introducing interpersonal skills proven successful in dealing with conflict. | |
| Exploring emotional literacy through visual the arts: With embedded literacy and numeracy skills | 21-page PDF document created to "enable staff who are not Arts practitioners to carry out this [art based] work. They are designed as individual projects but can equally be extended into small group activities ... The aim is to encourage the young person to express visually emotions that are difficult to articulate verbally." Projects include: Making masks (expressing feelings using facial expressions); Abstract art (expressing feelings using colors and shapes); Designing a chair (expressing how I feel about myself); Creating a book (expressing how I feel, exploring what I know about an issue in my life); and Drawing a neighborhood map (exploring safe and unsafe areas where I live). | |
| Nonverbal communication and conflict: It's not what you say that counts | Powerpoint presentation exploring nonverbal communication and conflict for children. Introduces PIE in the SKY idea, which stands for Sending and receiving messages of Power, Involvement, and Emotion: Skills and Knowledge for our Youth. | |
| Peace new birth, number 7 | Newsletter of the Peace Education Centers of Armenis - Peace new birth, number 7 | |
| Theater and CRE | Powerpoint presentation exploring the use of theater arts in conflict resolution education. | |
| Peace new birth, number 6 | Newsletter of the Peace Education Centers of Armenis - Peace new birth, number 6 |