Los Angeles
The Valentine Peace Project
by Nicole Pugh
On February 14, volunteers and students in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Amsterdam will perform a public demonstration of love by distributing carnations and poems written by school children and the public at large. The event is sponsored by the Valentine Peace Project, an international community-based organization founded in 2006 and affiliated with EpicArts. The goal of the February 14th event is not to diminish romantic love, but to expand the basis of celebration of the commercial holiday to include peace and community connection.
Art projects, poems, peacemaking workshops and other expressions of community and interconnectedness are encouraged as well as classrooms projects and workshops around peace. Through these activities, individuals can create peace as a powerful sentiment and potential way of life in the 21st century.
“This was an opportunity to express or envision images of a more peaceful world, a unified global community and share experiences of connectedness with friends, family and strangers alike,” state the teachers at the Hollywood Schoolhouse, whose classrooms participated in the Valentine Peace Project in February of 2006. “Imagine a commuter on this day, or a pedestrian, or a student given a flower with words to brighten up the day—words from someone in their community—and the chance to realize the connections which can occur in our every day lives. This is what makes peace a real possibility in the world.”
The founder of the Valentine Peace Project is Federico Hewson, a European-American who now lives in Amsterdam. Hewson is co-founder of Same Planet Different World Dance Theater in Chicago and has collaborated with performance artist Rachel Rosenthal in Los Angeles. He currently works for an international treaty organization in the Netherlands and is a coordinator for Artists Meeting Place (pluginamp.com). He also volunteers with the American Peace Alliance for a National Department of Peace.
“Giving a stranger the gift of a flower and a poem written by the giver or someone in the world is a simple way to recognize how we are all connected,” says Hewson.“It’s easy to forget that love comes in many forms. This is a fun and creative way to discover the power of peace.”
Some participating schools in the Los Angeles area include Pilgrim School and Año Nuevo in Downtown L.A. and Marlborough in Hancock Park. Local writers, students and the public at large are invited to submit poems online and donate to the carnation fund.—NLP
For more information and links to peace organizations and education, visit www.valentinepeaceproject.org or contact Federico at fhewson@valentinepeaceproject.org. His phone number in Amsterdam is +3160616777520.