Dear Friends,

Please read below about an exciting project, which is currently looking for more
participation in Thailand and Cambodia, especially as an artist-facilitator will
be travelling to these countries to help conduct workshops.

If anyone is interested, please contact me at kaippg@... . With
greatest thanks and all best wishes, Janet Feldman, KAIPPG
International/ActALIVE Arts Coalition


Hello! I am writing to introduce an exciting initiative called the "Peace Tiles
Project", which will be taking place during the next few months, culminating in
World AIDS Day 2005 exhibitions of tile murals at three international sites
(GFATM HQ in Switzerland, South Africa, and India), and local and national
venues in countries where workshops have taken place.

For completed tiles (jpegs) of the process see
http://www.flexvermont.org/photos/thumbsFR/index.htm.

In India, 200 schoolchildren are expected to participate in a program which will
culminate in a World AIDS Day conference, to include nonprofits, government
officials, media, and youth groups, as well as national and international mural
displays.

There are workshops and/or exhibits taking place in Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya,
Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon, Guyana, USA, Canada, Thailand,
India, Bangladesh, Switzerland, and Netherlands. We hope you will join us, as
youth raise their visual voices about HIV/AIDS and other issues that affect
their lives!

OVERVIEW: On World AIDS Day 2005, the "visual voice" of hundreds of children and
youth affected by, or at risk of, HIV/AIDS will be exhibited in communities
around the world. The exhibitions, the culmination of the first international
Peace Tiles project, will consist of murals composed of individually produced
collages ("peace tiles") that give expression to messages created by children
and youth about HIV/AIDS and other development-related subjects (MDGs).

The goal of the World AIDS Day Peace Tiles project is to raise awareness about
the vulnerability of children and youth, and to provide them with a dynamic
means for self-advocacy and self-expression. The Peace Tiles take their name
from the first such project, which has yielded murals for and by former child
soldiers in Uganda, who have in turn made tiles for the youth of Darfur, Sudan.

THE PROCESS

Peace Tiles are produced in structured 1 or 2-day workshops designed to engage
participants emotionally, intellectually, and creatively in a process of "arts
advocacy." Children are encouraged to bring artifacts from their lives that
speak to a personal experience with HIV/AIDS or their knowledge of the pandemic
or on related subjects close to their hearts and homes. These artifacts (photos,
letters, scraps of cloth, newspaper clippings, etc) are integrated into their
personal collages that may have "scrap book" qualities, narrative features, and
educational value. When put together, the tiles create moving and uplifting
murals that capture the vibrancy and hope of our children and youth around the
world.

The Peace Tiles Project is being coordinated by Lars Hasselblad Torres
(www.devarts.org ) in collaboration with ActALIVE, (www.actalive.org ), the
International Child Art Foundation (www.icaf.org ), Visual Voices
(www.visualvoices.org ), Arts for Global Development (www.art4development.net ),
Amoration (www.amoration.org ), and Art Heals (www.art-heals.com ).

More Information:
Peace Tiles World AIDS Day 2005: http://www.peacetiles.net
Email: Lars Hasselblad Torres (lars@... ),
Janet Feldman (kaippg@... )