Geneva Peace Week Closing Ceremony: Arts and Peace Encounters

About the event

As Geneva Peace Week 2025 draws to a close, we invite to join us at the Closing Ceremony on 17 October to reflect on a world in flux and the importance of arts and culture in peacebuilding efforts on all levels of society.

• Date: Tuesday 14 October, 11:00-12:30
• Venue: Maison de la Paix / Geneva - Auditorium Ivan Pictet & Online
• Main Organiser: Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation
• Partner: Geneva Peacebuilding Platform

Our systems, societies, and ways of living are shifting at unprecedented speed. Emerging technologies, evolving geopolitics, climate crises, and the erosion of multilateral systems and the rule of law make the future increasingly unpredictable.

Now more than ever arts, culture, and imagination are not luxuries—they are essential. Peacebuilding pioneer John Paul Lederach reminds us in Moral Imagination that effective peacebuilding requires more than technical solutions; it depends on the creative ability to envision and cultivate a future of justice, reconciliation, and human connection. By combining empathy, cultural understanding, and imaginative thinking, peacebuilders can transform conflict into opportunities for constructive relationships and sustainable peace.

The Caux Arts and Peace Encounters initiative invites artists, peacebuilders, changemakers, policymakers, and academics to connect and share the skills and qualities needed to foster peace through the power of culture, arts and dialogue.

We are excited to partner for this year's Closing Ceremony of Geneva Peace Week with the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform to bring arts to the centre, not the periphery of Geneva Peace Week.

Through personal testimony interactive discussion with artists, practitioners and diplomats as well as a live performance, the session will emphasize the power of storytelling, imagination, and culture in shaping peaceful futures.

Join us as we explore the transformative power of culture and the arts. 

Speakers 

H.E. Ambassador Sabine BAKYONO KANZIE, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the UN in Geneva

Barbara AEBISCHER,  Specialist Culture and Development, Peace, Governance and Equality Section Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC

Alvaro QUIROZ, Founder of Brigada12 Laureate Young Activist Summit 2024

Maruee PAHUJA, Visual Artist, Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy Practitioner, Caux Arts and Peace Encounter Advisory Committee & Creative Leadership initiative for young leaders

The event will also feature a live artistic interlude by singer-songwriter Nale MELERD (Burkina Faso).

Moderator

SARAH NOBLE, Head of Global Engagement, Caux Initiatives of Change

Sarah Noble is a Canadian-born peace advocate and storyteller currently based in Geneva, Switzerland. Sarah is the Head of Global Engagement at the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation where she works on partnerships, inner development,  the Caux Arts and Peace Encounters, and the Caux Forums. She is also co-founder and Curator of the PeaceTalks, a global storytelling platform dedicated to stories of peace at Interpeace. She has over 20 years of experience in strategic communications, fundraising, and partnerships in global organizations focused on peacebuilding, humanitarian issues, and non-profit public interest media. Passionate about storytelling as a tool for healing and social change, Sarah believes in its power to address global challenges. In her TEDx talk, Storytelling is Our Real-Life Superpower, she highlights how narratives can shape a better future. Sarah is the mom of 2 small kids and is motivated by a desire to be a good ancestor. Sarah has an MA in International Affairs from Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and a BA in Political Studies and Economics from Queen’s University.

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About Geneva Peace Week

Geneva Peace Week is a leading annual forum in the international peacebuilding calendar through which organizations in Geneva and their international partners come together to share knowledge and practice on a diverse range of topics related to peace across contexts and disciplines. 

#GPW25 #ArtsandPeace