Saturday, January 29, 2011

Brainstorming International Day of Peace Celebration

Pinwheels for Peace 2011

Mikel Ibarra assumed the leadership of the festival in 2010, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pinwheels-for-Peace-Oklahoma-City-Festival/147353361424#!/album.php?aid=290958&id=147353361424 when the founder, Linda Esser, retired from Putman City North where CAST started this festival at their school and then for the whole city. http://castfortheworld.com/events/.

Joan Korenblit: CEO of Respect Diversity Foundation http://www.respectdiversity.org/home.html 

Bill Bryant: President of the United Nations of Greater Oklahoma http://www.una-okc.org/

Carmen Clay: Rainbolt Family Service-Learning Chair, Casady School , YAC sponsor: https://www.casady.org/podium/default.aspx?t=28916&rc=1; http://casadyyac.blogspot.com/
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Mikel’s History with PW-4-Peace: Festival Chair: My personal history with Pinwheels for Peace began in 2005. That was the first year that art teachers Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan created the Pinwheels Project http://www.pinwheelsforpeace.com/pinwheelsforpeace/home.html and invited art teachers from around the world to participate with them in making a personal statement for peace. Each year the project grew and now it is a world wide event. I met Linda Esser as an art teacher in my district. When I heard that she was planning a city wide festival with her CAST organization http://castfortheworld.com/events/, I helped her in any way I could. I participated by bringing pinwheels the first year and I sat in on some planning meetings, making pinwheels displays, and did what was needed by CAST the 2nd and 3rd years of the festival. When it came to pass that Linda was going to retire she asked me to take over the Festival because she knew that my heart as an art teacher and hers were in the same place. We share the belief that art in school is more than just a class that kids can take for fun, but it is a way to raise consciousness and promote healing of oneself and the world. We also share the belief that art teachers need to advocate for art and promote their programs with extracurricular events and having their students artwork displayed wherever and whenever opportunity arrises. The Pinwheels for Peace Festival is a great opportunity for art teachers and students to come together, celebrate peace, and honor diversity in our community and within ourselves.

Joan's History with PW-4-Peace: Speakers Bureau: Since the first Pinwheels for Peace event at the Gold Dome, Joan has participated in planning the event at all levels. She has brought in most of the speakers, from human rights activists to superintendents of schools. Through the Respect Diversity Symbol Exhibit at Science Museum Oklahoma, Joan has promoted the event by showcasing collaborative artwork inspired by the International Day of Peace. This artwork has been displayed in the two month exhibit each year for tens of thousands of visitors to read about, see and enjoy. Participants visiting this exhibit are all ages and from diverse cultural, economic and social backgrounds. Dialogue is inspired by the exhibit each year. The theme of Pinwheels for Peace fits perfectly with the mission of the Respect Diversity Foundation: “To encourage pre-school -- twelfth grade students, throughout the state of Oklahoma, to explore diversity by collaborating on art integration projects. Also, to provide a showcase for students ‘ art-work for the community to view.”
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Bill's History with PW-4-Peace: Marketing and Treasury:  UN Association's Involvement with OKC's International Day of Peace Celebration: The OKC chapter of the UN Association (UNA-OKC) has been a supporter of the International Day of Peace celebration in OKC since 2007.

As a local chapter of the nation's largest grassroots foreign policy organization, we offer Oklahomans the opportunity to connect with issues confronted by the UN -- from global health and human rights to the spread of democracy, equitable development and international justice. Peace, security, conflict resolution, and the rights of children are important issues for us. So, it is natural that we would take a leadership role in the planning and staging of the International Day of Peace.

The resources of our chapter are very limited. We don't have any paid staff members in Oklahoma City, and our budget is very modest. Even so, we have been happy to participate with the other sponsoring organizations. Chiefly, we have helped out in two ways --

(1) By helping to publicize the International Day of Peace through our website and email notices. For example, here is the webpage we created for the IDOP ... www.una-okc.org/idop . And,

(2) By acting as the treasurer for funds raised to support the celebration.

We recognize that this event has been successful in the past because teachers, students, and community groups have lined up behind it. In fact, the teachers have been essential.

As long as the community supports this event, our chapter will be happy to participate as a co-sponsor.
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Carmen’s History with PW-4-Peace:Volunteer: Carmen trusts the power of the arts to inspire respect for diversity, unity, creativity, inner peace and global chance for a world at peace someday.  "My story started when a 4th grade teacher asked me to consider joining her students’ efforts to make pinwheels for the Gold Dome. The first couple of years, we only focused on the artistic aspect of the pinwheels and in intentionally bringing focus to thoughts of peace, harmony, kindness and service to others. I was introducing 9th graders to service-learning and this gave me the opportunity to present experientially ‘an advocacy project” and bring the words “collaboration and random acts of kindness and service as a path to peace” to life with teachers- willing to collaborate because they believed in Peace education- and their students (Kindegarden, 1st and 4th grade joined first.)  

As a language teacher, I saw the potential to teach commands and peace vocabulary as well as cultural perspectives towards peace in the Spanish, French, and Chinese classes. I was happy when two of the foreign language teachers at my school (Spanish and Chinese) embraced the project in 2009.  http://picasaweb.google.com/Cycloneservicelearners/PoochParadeAndPinwheelsForPeace2009#;


In 2010, at Casady School's Primary Division, Lower Division, and Middle Division, every child and faculty member made a pinwheel and received a t-shirt from the Shinnyo-en Foundation http://www.sef.org/ to help celebrate the International Day of Peace. http://serviceapathtopeace.blogspot.com/2010/10/one-persons-reflection-and-now-what.html.  In the Upper Division, foreign language classes-in French III students wrote Haiku poetry on their pinwheels- participated in the Casady celebration on September 21. YAC (service-learning intergenerational group), Gales(Spirit Group), and Stage Craft (made a giant pinwheel for the contest) made pinwheels for the festival at UCO.  I was not able to motivate freshmen via chapel announcements.  I did not have class time with 9th graders. The Casady Dance Club and the Casady String Quartet, performed at the festival at UCO. 3 members of the Shinnyo-en foundation came to the festival and 7 helped the Casady celebration on September 21 with chapel speeches. On September 21, at Casady, all the divisions placed pinwheels around the lake and wore Shinnyo-en’s 6 billion paths to peace t-shirts. http://animoto.com/play/XF3a6IMOjEFmKbFYbZ3Ugw

In 2010, for the first time, we focused on the cease of fire aspect of the international day of peace through Jeremy Gilles video http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/welcome, http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/  because of the connectivity Shinnyo-en’s initiative the Six Billion Paths to Peace had to the United Nations in New York the previous year.


In 2011, we hope to have, an intentional educational enriching opportunity, through pinwheels; multicultural artistic presentations, and peace films, in collaboration with OCU.  We hope this collaboration will bring greater participation to the city wide celebration of the International day of peace."


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BRAINSTORMING PINWHEELS FOR PEACE MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL 2011

1. Mission, vision and purpose of Pinwheels for Peace Festival: (will emerge from brainstorming)
a. Recognizing the international aspect-UN connection-Jeremy Gilles, creator of the international day of peace.
b. Celebrating the emergence of global peace: 24 hours hault from war-UN Connection-
c. Art – personal expression: Pinwheels From Inner Peace: ( Where,when, with whom do I find peace, Connection to others: Random Acts of Kindness, Respect for Diversity , World peace through service: Fighting childhood hunger and poverty, focusing on religious commonalities to serve instead of differences, focusing on children's human rights: Youth for Human Rights. Peace, a child's human right
d. Peace studies program (through film): Respect for Diversity, service: Film festival to be coordinated with OCU's departments, Casady School, JASO, Respect Diversity, Friends of the UN, and maybe Shinnyo-en
f. Multicultural festival: Artistic expressions that make the multicultural tapestry of Oklahoma
g. Pinwheel contest: Reason for the contest: Increase participation from different levels. Expected prizes: Contact stores of age appropriate groups for donations
h. Celebration of a focus on peace, respect for diversity, and kindness: An evening or mid-afternoon celebratory event for organizers and sponsors if funding is found, otherwise, we will try to get Target Stores to donate their Ben and Jerry service ice cream to participants. We need Target to provide volunteers to give away ice cream
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2. Date, time, and preferred location at OCU (Still at discussion stage)
Wednesday (21) vs Sunday(18) being discussed. Pros and cons being reviewed. Carmen will contact OCU to see when it might be best for them. OCU has had activities to celebrate the International Day of Peace in the past. We need to find out how to connect to them on Wednesday. If Wednesday, September 21 is chosen: Joan and Bill suggest that it should begin at 4:00. Bill would like for it to end at 6:00. Set-up: 3:00-4:00, clean-up 6-7. Bill and Joan assumed that films could run throughout the day at a specified venue where students with early classes could go late and vice versa. Lots of students have baseball, football and soccer practice on Sunday afternoons in September. We are interested in having a main celebration at night, should funding become available. Bill and Joan are both okay with whatever date Mikel( 924-6036) and OCU want to use.Bill stated”I'm leaning towards a Sunday event again.That will leave more room for other events on Wednesday -- programs, parades, etc., organized by schools and community groups. Perhaps they will get a boost from our Sunday afternoon kick-off. Mikel stated,my main reason for thinking the festival maybe should be on 9/21 is in the case that OCU is already having activity or organizations celebrate. We could possibly join with them and that would help our numbers. That is the only reason I have for not sticking to our traditional Sunday. I like it on Sundays and I think that it is a great way to spend the afternoon,yet our numbers are not so impressive in the attendance category. When we were at UCO I thought that being there would draw a large student crowd, but that did not seem to be the case. The campus seemed mostly deserted on Sunday. It seems like most of our participation and attendance comes from the sponsor groups support and the performance groups supporters. We have not brought in a large group of people just passing by or the general public interested in celebrating peace like I hoped we would. So hopefully with a lot of partners and advanced planning this year we can get to where we visualize! Thank you for being so "with it!"

Historically the Sunday festival started at 2:00 p.m. ending at 4, I think we cleaned-up until 5. The festival consisted of : Pinwheels, organizations with tables providing information about their mission and participants. There have been performances, speeches, a Pinwheel contest at three different levels. Devin went at 12:00 to help with equipment set-up, so set-up starts about two hours before.

Location will depend on date and collaborations, but preliminary desirable location is the area in front of the cafeteria at OCU and the theaters sponsored by different organizations showing possible movies-Films Passport to Peace- which ends at 3:00 if on Sunday.
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3. Overarching goal, objectives and process (will work on this once location, date, and main organizers are in place)
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4. Contest information-Prizes (Mikel provides the guidelines and is responsible for sending information to her database)
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5. Names of participating organizations and sponsors: (What are the responsibilities of the sponsors and collaborating organizations? Who is the paid staff? What is the cost of having the festival and who has paid for it in the past?)

Volunteer organizations: Carmen's list from brainstorming with Bill and Joan
Northridge Elementary - Mikel
Respect Diversity Foundation-Joan
United Nations of Greater Oklahoma-Bill
Casady YAC-Carmen (My experience has been: $25, pinwheels, one or two performing acts, art experience on site: Making pinwheels with participants, bringing participants)
Peace House-Batch
Peace Institute-Conna
OU Confucious Institute: Clydia Forehand?
UNITY: Native American Connection-?
Raindrop, Turkish House---Office Manager-new possible partner, interested in informational flyer
Shinnyo-en Foundation --- Haru-has been contacted, waiting for reply

Bill provided the following list: Potential Sponsors of International Day of Peace 2011
These groups were sponsors in 2010 …
Amnesty International - OKC Local Chapter, Elizabeth Chamberlain, amnestyokc@hotmail.com
John Walters: bigjohndiego@sbcglobal.net
C.A.S.T. Cultural Awareness for Students and Teachers
Mikel Ibarra: mikeliba@gmail.com
Casady Schools Service-Learning Program:  Carmen Clay: clayc@casady.org
CompassionateCommunicationOklahoma.org: Tom McLain: TLMSolutions@aol.com
Oklahoma Center for Conscience: Sadie Mast: mosesmast@gmail.com
Oklahoma Campaign for the U.S. Department of Peace: Barbara Hester: hester.b@sbcglobal.net
Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty: Margaret Cox: mocox1@cox.net
Peace Education Institute: Conna Wilkinson: conna11@cox.net
Peace House - OKC: Batch: batchokc@gmail.com
Respect Diversity Foundation: Joan Korenblit: rdfrdf@cox.net
Soka Gakkai International - USA / Oklahoma: Dee Freeland: dianna.freeland@gmx.ch
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And these are additional potential sponsors of our 2011 event:
Art of Yoga Studio & Gallery: April Helen: artofyoga@yogaoklahoma.com
Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots: Laura Belden: 340-1826 : beldens@cox.net
Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma: Paige Mills-Haag:
Oklahoma Citizen (blog): Rena Blaiz: peacearena@gmail.com
Sierra Club: Lisa Chambers: 250-6329: rockindiva71@yahoo.com
Martha Holland: 946-4962: marthaholland@sbcglobal.net
Mercy Health: Teri Everhart: 752-3777 : Teri.Everhart@mercy.net
Gaylene Stiles: 752-3604: gaylene.stiles@mercy.net
OKC Friends Meeting: Rex Friend: 557-1277: rexfriend@coxinet.net
Ojas Music: Steve McLinn: 682-9928: steve@ojasmusic.com
Westminster School: Trevalan Riggle: 831-0211: triggle@westminster.org
Capitol Hill Church of the Nazarene - OKC: Rev. Lance Schmitz: 476-2633: lanceschmitz@gmail.com
Gold Dome Society: Mary Lou Stokes: 819-7402: artz1@cox.net
Friends of Peace Pilgrim: Sue Tarr: 478-2480: ttarr@sbcglobal.net
And Others : We haven’t found yet …

Bill stated, “In the past, we have asked sponsors for a $25 contribution. We actually had a surplus from the 2008 and 2009 events, which carried over to 2010 -- and that's how we were able to pay $500 to Steve to set-up stage and run the festival.
One of our failures last year was that we didn't have a good system for printing and distributing flyers. We didn't budget for that expense, which (I think) was a factor in the poor attendance.
As I say, this event has been done on a shoestring. We should probably think about asking more from our sponsors. Maybe we need a system of sponsorship tiers -- Gold, Silver Bronze (or something like that).
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6. People responsible for areas we as a group are willing to implement
We’d like to see a number of OCU departments involved (Carmen contacted Mary per this e-mail)
1. Department of Music
2. Department of Religion
3. Department of Dance
4. Department of Film
5. Department of Art
6. Foreign Language Department
7. Service-Learning Department

Carmen is working on sponsorship from Shinnyo-en foundation, JASO, Oklahoma National Memorial and Museum, Food Bank's Kids Cafes, A+ Schools(Stephanie Crossno), Rebuilding Together (Elderly connections to independent and assisted living facilities). OFLTA(was contacted 1/25 via e-mail), the Turkish House, the Oklahoma Library Systems, Casady Parents Association (Catherine Armitrage)

Joan has connections to the Oklahoma Association of Social Studies and art teachers. What else???

Mikel connects to all art teachers and what else???

Clydia could be the resource to OU Asian connections-Contacted via e-mail and awating reply

Japan America Society Connections: Dr. Gigi Hu and manga and anime film festival

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7. Film Festival When, Where, Who, Why; (Possibilities being discussed: The day of the festival and/or when organizations are willing to sponsor the films the week before September 21 and/or the week after)

a. Japan America Society: Manga and Anime Peace Festival in collaboration wiht Casady School Service-Learning, Dowtown Library, Oklahoma City University Foreign Language Department, maybe also Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum (Sadako story-paper cranes at the museum connections with the Hiroshima Museum)
-On a Paper Crane, Tomoko's Adventure: Casady, Downtown Library, Oklahoma City University : Facilitated by Dr. Gigi Hu and JASO Board
_ Barefoot Gen , a two part manga and anime film, possibly IF provided by Shinnyo-en Foundation with facilitation of Dr. Gigi Hu and JASO Board

b. Casady YAC in collaboration with the OCU Religion,Service-Learning Department , and Foreign language departments or clubs

The Peace Tree Film http://www.sandalwoodproductions.com/peacetree/ , http://www.sandalwoodproductions.com/peacetree/film.htm l,

Other activities already in place from OCU organizations because the celebrate the International day of Peace already at this campus

c. Friends of the United Nations in collaboration with OCU's film and Social Studies Department or Club
Jeremy Gilles story of the creation of the International Day of Peace http://peaceoneday.org/en/welcome .  Resource: Luc.Benyon@peaceoneday.org:
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 7:54 AM, To: Clay, Carmen, Cc: Executive Assistant to Jeremy Gilley, Subject: Survey competition:  Thank you for filling out our 2010 USA Peace One Day Education survey. I am delighted to inform you that you were selected at random as the recipient of a Skype assembly for your school from Jeremy Gilley!  We will need to arrange this to take place at a time that suits both Jeremy and your schedules’. To claim your prize please get in touch with me and we can arrange the assembly.Luc Benyon, Education Project Manager,
Possible connections to the Peace JAM initiative http://peacejam.org/   via video.

d. OCU Art Department or Art Club
Pinwheels for Peace: The Project, film and art experience for OCU campus http://pinwheelsforpeace.org/

e. Respect Diversity Foundation / UN in collaboration with Service-Learning/Social Studies OCU department
Youth for Human Rights: Story of Human Rights, Youth Version: https://secure.yhri.org/store/products/the-story-of-human-rights-dvd-youth-version.html.    The cost of the DVD is $15

8: Related Peace Items: Dr. Clydia Forehand in collaboration with OCU School of Music, Oklahoma Institute for Teaching Asia (OKITEA) and OU's Confucious Institute
Peace by Piece:

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cbc: clayc@casady.org; 405-749-3103