ICAP: Using Art to Foster Peace and Non-Violence

Most discussions of peacebuilding focus on diplomats, treaties, and ceasefire negotiations. But peace is not built only at negotiating tables. It is also built in classrooms, concert halls, and exhibition spaces where people learn to value human dignity and reject violence. The International Committee of Artists for Peace (ICAP) works in exactly this space, using music, theatre, dance, and visual art to plant the seeds of non-violence in the next generation. For students of conflict resolution, ICAP offers a clear example of how culture and the arts function as serious tools of trans-national peacebuilding.

What is the International Committee of Artists for Peace? 🔗

ICAP is a non-profit organisation that uses the creative power of the arts to build a culture of peace and develop future peacemakers. It was founded in 2002 by a group of well-known artists, including jazz musicians Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, actor Patrick Duffy, and flamenco artists Pascual and Angela Olivera, together with their mentor, the Buddhist philosopher and peacebuilder Daisaku Ikeda.

The central idea behind ICAP is simple but powerful. Art can cross the boundaries that often divide people, such as language, nationality, religion, and culture. A piece of music or a painting can communicate a message of shared humanity to an audience that might never sit through a political lecture on peace. ICAP harnesses this quality, working with artists across many disciplines to instil the ideals of humanism and non-violence through dialogue and creative expression.

Why art for peacebuilding? 🔗

Conflict resolution is often divided into two broad goals. The first is negative peace, which simply means the absence of open war or violence. The second is positive peace, which means transforming the deeper social structures and attitudes that produce violence in the first place. ICAP’s work belongs firmly in this second category. Rather than responding to conflicts after they erupt, it tries to shape values and mindsets so that violence becomes less likely from the start.

This focus on the “minds of men and women” is not unique to ICAP. It reflects a long-standing belief in peace studies that lasting peace must be cultural and psychological, not just political. By targeting youth in particular, ICAP aims to influence people during the years when their values and worldviews are still forming.

How ICAP works: performances, workshops, and exhibitions 🔗

ICAP carries out its mission through several distinct but connected activities. Each one is designed to reach a different audience or address a different aspect of peacebuilding.

Peace concerts and performances 🔗

Music has been central to ICAP from the beginning, which is unsurprising given its founders. Since 2002, the organisation has sponsored concerts, musicals, exhibits, dialogues, and peace-building workshops across multiple continents. These performances are not merely entertainment. They are framed as occasions to reconnect audiences with their shared humanity and to spread messages of harmony and tolerance.

ICAP also marks International Jazz Day on 30 April, a day designated by UNESCO that celebrates jazz as a force for unity and dialogue across cultures. This connection between an art form and a globally recognised observance shows how ICAP links creative work to wider international peace efforts.

Educational workshops for youth 🔗

One of ICAP’s most important contributions is its work with young people. The organisation runs the iChoose musical programme, a youth-empowerment and anti-bullying initiative carried out in schools. It also encourages established artists to mentor young people through individual counselling, school workshops, seminars, and joint performances.

The logic here is preventive. Bullying, intolerance, and aggression among young people are early forms of the same attitudes that, on a larger scale, fuel social conflict. By teaching children to resolve disagreements without violence and to respect difference, these programmes try to break cycles of hostility before they harden. Young participants in such workshops often report feeling more confident about handling conflict peacefully in their own communities.

Art exhibitions 🔗

Visual exhibitions form the third pillar of ICAP’s activity. These displays bring together artwork, photographs, and written reflections that explore themes of peace, conflict, and human dignity. Exhibitions are particularly effective because they can travel from city to city and country to country, reaching new audiences without requiring a live performance each time.

The “Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World” exhibition 🔗

A notable example of this exhibition work is “Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World.” This international exhibition was first launched in 2003 and was created in support of the United Nations Culture of Peace, connecting to the broader movement that ICAP and its partners belong to.

The exhibition opened at United Nations Headquarters in New York in February 2004. According to a United Nations note to correspondents, the display highlighted the work of around a dozen individuals famous for their role in conflict resolution, while also showcasing essays and artwork by children who will one day inherit the task of building peace. The message was that both renowned figures and ordinary people, including children, have the power to contribute to global stability.

What makes this exhibition such a useful case study is its dual structure. By placing the achievements of celebrated peacemakers alongside the voices of children, it visually argued that peacebuilding is not the exclusive job of leaders and experts. It is a shared, intergenerational responsibility. The exhibition went on to tour several countries and major universities, demonstrating how a single cultural project can carry a peace message across borders.

ICAP and the United Nations Culture of Peace 🔗

ICAP does not operate in isolation. Its work is deliberately aligned with the United Nations framework on a culture of peace, which gives the organisation its institutional anchor as a trans-national actor.

The UN framework behind the movement 🔗

In 1999, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace through resolution A/RES/53/243. This document defined a culture of peace as a set of values, attitudes, and behaviours that reject violence and seek to prevent conflict by addressing its root causes through dialogue and negotiation.

The Programme of Action identified eight areas for action, including peace through education, sustainable development, respect for human rights, equality between women and men, democratic participation, and the free flow of information. The UN also declared 2001 to 2010 as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, placing special emphasis on shielding children from violence.

Where ICAP fits in 🔗

ICAP positions itself as a contributor to this UN vision. The organisation explicitly works through collaborative efforts in support of the United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action toward a Culture of Peace. In other words, the UN sets out the goals and principles, and organisations like ICAP help translate those principles into concrete cultural action on the ground.

This relationship illustrates an important point about modern peacebuilding. Trans-national institutions and treaties create frameworks, but civil society organisations, including artistic ones, are often the actors who carry those frameworks into communities. The UN framework specifically called on everyone, including civil society and artists, to participate. ICAP is one answer to that call.

Recognising and rewarding peace through the arts 🔗

Beyond creating its own programmes, ICAP also works to encourage the wider artistic community. The organisation recognises individuals and organisations that contribute to making the arts a vehicle for peace. Through honours and awards, it draws attention to creative work that promotes non-violence and rewards those who use their talents for social good.

This recognition function matters more than it might first appear. By celebrating peace-oriented art, ICAP helps build a sense of community and momentum among artists. It signals that using one’s creativity for peace is valued and worth pursuing, which can inspire others to follow. In this way, ICAP works to create what it describes as a groundswell movement for peace, culture, and education that extends beyond any single project.

Why ICAP matters for the study of conflict resolution 🔗

For anyone studying international and trans-national peace institutions, ICAP offers several lessons. First, it shows that peacebuilding is multidimensional. Alongside formal diplomacy and law, there is a cultural dimension that shapes the attitudes on which peace ultimately rests.

Second, ICAP demonstrates the role of non-state actors. It is not a government or an inter-governmental body, yet it advances goals set by the United Nations. This reflects the growing importance of civil society in global governance, where networks of committed individuals work alongside official institutions.

Third, ICAP highlights the value of prevention. By focusing on youth and on shaping values early, it works to reduce the conditions that lead to conflict rather than only managing conflict after it begins. This long-term, structural approach is exactly what the idea of positive peace describes.

Of course, the impact of cultural peacebuilding is harder to measure than a signed treaty or a counted ceasefire. Critics might reasonably ask how much a concert or an exhibition really changes behaviour. The honest answer is that the effects are gradual and indirect. But that does not make them unimportant. Shifts in culture and values, though slow, are often what make political agreements durable in the first place.

What do you think? Can the arts genuinely change the attitudes that lead to violence, or do they mostly reach people who already believe in peace? And how should we measure the success of cultural peacebuilding when its effects are so long-term and indirect?

References

1. https://icapeace.org/about-icap/
2. https://www.herbiehancock.com/2016/04/30/nternational-committee-of-artists-for-peace-icap/
3. https://www.peaceinsight.org/en/organisations/international-committee-artists-peace/
4. https://icapeace.org/our-mission/
5. https://ssabuddhist.org/building-a-culture-of-peace-for-the-children-of-the-world-exhibition-opens-at-national-library/
6. https://press.un.org/en/2004/note5847.doc.htm
7. https://www.refworld.org/legal/resolution/unga/1999/en/12411
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Peace
9. https://securesustain.org/abstract/international-committee-of-artists-for-peace/