Help Fund Youth from New York to Join the Peace Boat!

Peace Boat US Start Date: Mar 17, 2014 - End Date: Jul 1, 2014
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
  • Study/Degree Abroad
  • El Salvador
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama

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by: Peace Boat US Start Date: Mar 17, 2014 - End Date: Jul 1, 2014
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
  • Study/Degree Abroad
This summer, Peace Boat US is collaborating with three nonprofit organizations to send youth from New York City on a week-long international voyage to acquire a hands-on arts education with professional and local artists in the Music and Art Peace Academy (MAPA) project. Aspiring young creators will participate in educational programs onboard the Peace Boat to engage in workshops, lectures and creative learning opportunities under the instruction of artists and guest educators.

Peace Boat US is a nonprofit that works to promote peace and sustainability through educational programs organized in partnership with the International NGO Peace Boat, which carries out its main activities through a chartered passenger ship that travels the world on peace voyages.

By traveling overseas and living in a new environment, students witness firsthand the socioeconomic, cultural, and political differences that exist in the world; an experience that provides a great learning context for applying peace education concepts. Programs encourage dialogue, critical inquiry, reflection and participation on current global issues, and are linked directly to the experiences in the ports of call. As future global leaders, the non-profit organizations World UP and Peace Boat US hope to inspire cultural understanding and international cooperation amongst youth through the international and universal language known as music.

Through this program, students will travel to visit indigenous communities in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama by way of the Peace Boat's 84th Global Voyage. The MAPA project will take place from July 31 - August 8, 2014.  

The students enrolled in MAPA will participate in an intensive program that will create music focusing on indigenous issues in Latin America. Instruction will consist of structured workshops, conferences and interactive programs that will allow them to develop skills ranging from musical production and recording to video editing and photography. The aim of the program will be to collaborate on a cross-cultural documentary project where youth will employ their understanding of audio production to create an international musical soundtrack for their journey. Students will combine their existing knowledge of audio software to record sounds with both participants on the boat as well as indigenous populations they encounter during their visits to local communities in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama.

About the youth's project:

The youth will work collectively to create a documentary film that will be shown at the United Nations during the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) on September 22-23, 2014. The documentary will be filmed by Zion Rivera, from DCTV's PRO-TV, the largest free media arts training program for youth in New York City. Offering professional training for NYC youth since 1978, PRO-TV each year now provides positive creative outlets for 200+ young people each year to address the issues affecting their lives and their communities. 

One student from the Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School (BCAM), will join us onboard to create the soundtrack that will accompany the documentary film. BCAM prepares their students for 21st century academic, creative, and professional success. Through an art, media, and technology-enriched academic curriculum emphasizing community collaboration, they challenge students to think critically and create knowledge in pursuit of personal excellence and meaningful social change.

Antoinette Stone, a youth from Global Kids, will be participating in the program as a photo journalist to document the voyage and the experience of the youth onboard. Global Kids works to ensure that urban youth have the knowledge, skills, experiences, and values they need to succeed in school, participate effectively in the democratic process, and achieve leadership in their communities and on the local stage. 

Additionally, Sarah Halford and Trixie Cordova, both Peace Boat US interns, will hold music and theatre workshops with the students onboard to provide a creative outlet for political expression through performance.

With your support, young people from WU School will engage in a unique cross-cultural arts-based exchange with indigenous populations in Central America. Please help us in sending these amazingly talented young people on a global voyage that promotes peace, human rights and the arts! 

For more information, please contact Emilie McGlone at info@peaceboat-us.org 
  • El Salvador
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama

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