Post by Joana Ricarte

After a very intellectually stimulating journey of three years as a principal investigator at OppAttune Project, today marks the beginning of a new collaborative research and innovation project funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe program! ArtPeace (2026-2029) will investigate and strengthen grassroots cultural and creative practices for conflict transformation in Europe and beyond, contributing to conflict prevention, peaceful resistance, peacemaking, reconciliation, and the cultivation of a culture of peace. The Universidade do Porto | FLUP - Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto under my leadership in WP3 and WP12 will contribute to critically examine the manipulation and instrumentalisation of culture and heritage as tools for conflict, and to explore counterstrategies for harnessing their potential for peace through artistic, community-led and dialogical interventions. By analyzing the role of narratives and identity to conflicts and peace, we aim to provide a framework for understanding cultural (de-)weaponisation. This research will be translated into policy recommendations and strategies to improve policy frameworks on the role of culture and the arts for peacebuilding, conflict prevention, security and foreign policy by the EU and its member states. In times of increasing war and conflict narratives, in which radicalization is on the rise, this is a perfect follow up for the research developed in the past three years connecting extremism, dehumanization, and hostility to heritage, memory and the arts and culture. We hope this research will contribute to bring to the forefront the human side of conflicts, remembering who suffers most and creating emotional intelligibility to an increasingly inhuman environment. https://lnkd.in/dXcM7wsU