The documentary ‘Acting Together on the World Stage’, accompanying the international ‘Acting Together’ anthology (New Village Press) on promoting peace through the use of arts, has been awarded a prestigious Telly Award. Dr Eugène van Erven (Department of Media and Culture Studies) has been involved in the ‘Acting Together’ project since 2005 and has contributed both to the book and the film.
Selected from nearly 13,000 entries from all over the world, Acting Together on the World Stage won a Bronze Telly in the Education category. Telly Award is the most well-known and prestigious professional video industry award in the United States.
Acting Together is a collaboration between Brandeis University and Theatre Without Borders. It documents peacebuilding performance, highlighting artists, peacebuilders, and community leaders from every continent whose rituals and theatrical works speak truth to power and support communities to mourn losses and build bridges across differences.
The feature documentary Acting Together on the World Stage highlights courageous and creative artists and peacebuilders working in conflict regions, describes exemplary peacebuilding performances and offers tools for the creative transformation of violence. The performances in the film illustrate that theatrical works and ritual are effective resources for non-violent resistance to injustice, for the rehumanisation of former enemies and for acknowledgement, remembering and healing in the aftermath of mass violence.
More information about the Acting Together project: www.brandeis.edu/ethics/peacebuildingarts/actingtogether
Dr Eugène van Erven teaches in the Theatre Studies department and is involved in the Community Art Lab of the Treaty of Utrecht foundation. He is artistic director of the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam.