how can we, as artists (whatever our form), bloggers and international friends, USE our art, intelligence, CREATIVITY and our collective power, right NOW, to foster and spread peace and love throughout the world? How can we work TOGETHER to bring about change?
What are your thoughts. We can begin today. Let’s talk about this. Let’s hear what you have to say. Maybe, together, we can make a difference.
Rethinking Life 
Comments on: "think about this…" (28)
I’d like to think that we all already try to make a difference in the world in our everyday lives but, in terms of a collective effort, I think we share here our experiences and perceptions to better help others to open up to other possibilities. I know that my time here has led me to people that I would never otherwise have encountered. In sharing ideas and opinions on many subjects a greater openness has been effected in me and I already thought I was open. There’s so much I don’t know about the lives of other people in different cultures and so much I don’t know about many things. This is a great avenue for discovery if people are willing to be open to the potential offered. I have so far found this to be the case.
In terms of using the collective to advance peace and love there may be ways apart from what I have mentioned in terms of greater openness and understanding but I can’t think of any off hand. Not very creative of me. 😉
I think if we take what we learn here, like an open university of thought, and apply it in our lives then that is a pretty good start. I’d be interested to hear other ideas on this for other possible ways forward that could make a positive difference.x
Great response. And it’s certainly a way to make changes, one person at a time and passing it on. I don’t have computer skills, at all…but I was wondering if it was possible to start something like “Artists for Peace,” where we could make political art that would highlight a problem that we agree upon and we all work on. Poetry, music, artwork, etc., Something that would collectively grab our interest. We could put each other’s work on our blogs or, if someone knows how to do it, and is willing, make a patchwork quilt kind of thing using contributions from artists like a poster, we could put on our blogs. I don’t actually know if that’s possible, or if it would do any good but I’m just thinking while I’m writing to you. Maybe we could even self publish ARTISTS FOR PEACE and the proceeds could go to a “good” cause. Essays, life experiences, artwork, poems, musical scores, etc., Again, I don’t know if this is possible. Well, thank you for your response. I really appreciate it.
If you have something you would like to share on Artists4Peace please blog it and then email the link to artists4peaceproject@gmail.com so we can make sure to reblog it. That way nothing will be missed!
I’ve been seriously pondering this lately – it’s burning in my gut. I don’t have an answer just yet, but I like the concept of “Artists For Peace.” The format and how it was presented will be the key. I’m thinking – we’ll arrive at an answer.
Wow! A time machine and an answer to this question. I’m so excited to see what you come up with…can’t wait. I don’t know enough about computers to do anything productive but I think we might be able to do something. Looking forward to your ideas. I envision a huge group meeting somewhere…where we can work together or exchange ideas and get something going. 🙂
Absolutely!
🙂
Gigi, I must give this great consideration. You are such an inspiring lady!
Take your time. I’m interested in what you come up with…we all need ideas. Thank you so much. Hugs, xxxxoooo
You have the ability to stir things up – make great change, one of the things I love and admire about you. I can see this really turning into something Gigi! I’ll be thinking about it!!! xoxoxo
Thank you. I look forward to your suggestions:) I’m so happy that you like the thing that most people hate about me…stirring things up:) I appreciate that:) xxoo
Hmm, i don’t know about doing something right now as we are all physcially disconnected because of internet, but i think giving a part of your salary to those in need (homeless, parents with many children etc.) is doing good and also caring about people who are broken and need help or someone to listen to them. etc. Things like these are the ones who do the most good so I’ve learned.
Thank you.
This has been on my mind too; how to make a difference. An “Artists For Peace” collaboration sounds great. It reminds me of Kozo Hattori’s “Bloggers For Peace” initiative: http://everydaygurus.com/2012/12/20/we-can-make-a-difference-right-here-right-now/. I haven’t got time at the moment but I will look into how he made it work. I think everyone agreed to use a particular tag on their posts and a logo.
Thanks for being a catalyst…
😀
I’ll watch the video. And I look forward to any ideas you wish to share. I think a collaborative effort will have more power and people can be added as the effort grows. Thank you for the input. 🙂
It’s not a video, it’s Kozo’s idea that got Bloggers For Peace started at the end of 2012. If you put the tag B4Peace into your reader you can see the movement is still going. Here is a summary of his instructions:
1) Devote at least one post a month to/for/about peace.
I think we could swap this for your idea about having an agreed-upon topic, or you could set a broad topic and let people work within that maybe.
2) Put a “Bloggers for Peace” badge on your blog.
People could submit logos and we could vote for our favourite, maybe. The logo could be used to link back to a “Artists For Peace” introductory page.
3) Link your post to at least one other post from a different Blogger for Peace.
4) You might also want to add the tag “B4Peace” to your post.
We could use a tag like “Art4Peace” although we might want to check with Kozo that he’s happy for us to copy his model. We could always be a part of the B4Peace movement as well by using both tags.
5) Put instructions on your post for others to join the group or link back to this post.
6) Please feel free to share this idea with anyone and everyone.
What do you think?
I just read it and i think it’s great. It’s a wonderful way to spread the word. I like the idea of the icon on our blogs to show that we are Artists for Peace. I was also hoping for something a bit more. Maybe artwork directly made for AFP (Artists for Peace), all shown on the SAME day, maybe sent to the press wherever we live, with a letter stating our purpose. if we have enough art, something that reaches massive amounts of people who may think about Peace. Artwork that doesn’t just stay among ourselves but reaches out to those who don’t even blog. Maybe we could donate artwork to be sold for causes we set up and agree upon. I was thinking of an active and outreach type of thing. I don’t know if it’s what anyone else would want but even if we all put a piece of work on our blogs at the same time (same day) having to do with peace, it may show that we are artists dedicated to peace. Just some thoughts. Always get press involved if we can…reaches people, exposure for your cause can make a difference. Or, we can just stay small, depends on how many artists are willing to commit to the project. We could send our blog addresses and say something like, Artists for Peace present their work at these sites. The idea is to reach as many people as we can to keep the idea of peace alive. Photographers, painters, poets, essayists, musicians, film makers (videos), comics, anything…same day, every month, every other month, whenever…but dedicated to PEACE in the world. Or we could each make a piece of art and each month…all of us would show that piece of art on our blogs, the problem is that there would be a lot of overlap with each other. Well let me know what you think.:) Thank you so much.
I slept on it and had the same thought that Melanie had about having a separate AFP blog where everyone could post their work. I got all tangled up about the details of how it would be managed though. I think Melanie got further than I did. Perhaps we should start small and work up to more complicated stuff. I was also thinking that organising artists might be a bit like herding cats. 😉
On a personal note, I would be delighted to produce art for the cause and give it for free. The only sticking point is that I’m allergic to pressure – my muse disappears when there’s any hint of a deadline! Because of that, my contributions might be somewhat sporadic.
You are right. Start small. Have to check out if the name is being used. If Artists for Peace is okay to use, we can just put a symbol on our blogs. I don’t know how to do any computer things and Melanie is brilliant. I think you are also right about organizing artists:) Not sure it’s even possible to do something like this on line. So we could take one piece of art and all post that work at the same time, once a month (so 12 artists). So each month the same piece of artwork would be shown on all of our blogs on the same day…having to do with peace in the world. Or we could all put one of our own works on our blogs, on the same day of each month to celebrate peace in the world. Or we could do what you and Melanie said and have a blog of it’s own. I have no idea how to do that but it’s a good idea. I don’t exactly know where to go from here. I’ll think about it some more and get back to you. 🙂
This is a fabulous thought…off the top of my head i’m thinking
1- Yes we need a logo…maybe post a call for all artists to submit logos and then post them and call for a vote. (there is a polling function on WP i’m sure we could figure out how to use it)
2- I think it would be great if we discussed and decide on particular subjects/causes and create a shedule of topics that we could all write and publish at the same time each month. For instance: August- Peace in general, September- Spreading Kindness, October- Child Abuse Awarness… ((just examples))
3- on the designated day each month each of us would post on the topic scheduled and display the agreed upon logo.
4-Maybe we could create a separate email where everyone who is participating could email in their monthy post as well as posting them so we could compile them and create a book or books. Oh, maybe a series of Artist for Peace books! The proceeds from each book could go to the cause which is the topic of the particular book…
Am I making sense?!
5- Maybe we should create a separate Artist for Peace blog which would be a centralized place where we could post everyones art/essays poems etc as well as each indivual posting on their own blog.
6- On that blog we could have a page that is a bloggroll…listing every participating blogger with links to them.
I’ll give it more thought as well : )
I just wrote a long answer but pressed something and it disappeared:( I love your computer ideas. I love the same theme for all of us each month. I would like all of us to donate an original work to a charity/organization of our choice, so they can auction them off. We would,of course, have to have quite a few artists and they would have to be willing to donate maybe twice a year or so. The books could include poems, paintings, musical scores, photography, etc., and the proceeds could again go to the charities of our choice (as a group). I propose that we each turn in two groups that we would like to support. We can then consolidate the organizations and have a Master List from which to choose. We can make the list available to EVERYONE so if they would like to make private donations to an organization, they may want to see what we recommend. If we have enough artists/participation we need to notify the local press/media. Give interviews and tell the purpose and Mission Statement for Artists for Peace, to get other people thinking about pace, etc. I can’t remember what else I wrote but I’ll get back to you. Keep thinking up great ideas and let me know what they are:) Yay!
I know we still have to figure things out …and probably will not need a separate blog immediately but i wanted to secure the name while it was still available./so i created a blog as a place holder for now 🙂
http://artists4peace.wordpress.com/
I don’t know how to tell you how fabulous I think you are! Really, the language is so limiting. I think you’re wonderful. I can’t believe I finally found someone I could count on and who is really there…all the time…and means what she says and…well…thank you. I’m kind of overwhelmed that you did this amazing thing… Melanie…thank you. What do we do now? I know Michelle will send something about Peace. How do we do it? We can all just send Peace artwork to the blog and put the name on our blogs, right?
🙂 Well i just set up the basic blog, email and twitter addresses…We will still need to personalize and edit them.
Someone will need to act as administrator… i can send the logins/passwords to whomever we all decide upon. Or maybe we can have different moderators?
We maybe jumping the gun a bit…we need to see who is interested at this point. I just didn’t want the blog name to be taken.
The first thing is we really need is a logo. You could design the logo or Maybe you could post a call for logo submissions as you have more “artsy” followers than I do. Then we can vote on and choose a logo.
Once that is decided upon we can add that to the blog, twitter, etc.
We really need to organize a discussion with whoever wants to be involved at the beginning so we can brainstorm and iron things out.
But for starters.
1- we need a logo
2- all participating will display logo
4- in discussion mentioned above we should create a monthly schedule of topics
3- everyone participating will post to their own blog and then the moderators (whomever we elect to be moderators) will reblog them on artists4peace as well.
by the way the email is artists4peaceproject@gmail.com and the twitter handle is @artists_4_peace
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It’s hard to know what to do on an individual basis helping ones community is a step forward. The hungry the homeless, the displaced physically and spiritually Right now I am not feeling generous to anyone involved in the horrific
acts of terrorism so resistance is my thought process right now. Thank yoju Gigi for bringing this discussion around. Many hugs to you:)
It is difficult to know what to do. I agree. How can anyone feel generous toward terrorist? I don’t think it’s as easy to help people as it once was. People who want to help often don’t know who they can trust. Are the people truly homeless/in need, or is it, as so often happens, another con? The thing is, I think artists can have a profound effect on things through their art. Art reaches people on a different level and in a different way. A photo, painting, song, poem, book, film, story or dance can matter. At least that’s what I think. Art can trigger a host of things in a person. Art can do something nothing else can do, that’s why it’s so important.