Projects for Peace: Rhythms of Peace

The student leaders of each project will receive $10,000 in funds to pursue innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Most projects will be implemented between June and September this year.

This year, one project from Bennington College received a grant:

Anuarite Wairimu Gikonyo '25 - "Midundo Ya Amani (“Rhythms of Peace”): Dance for Sustainable Peace in the Grand Lac Region."

Gikonyo completed the project over the summer. Reflecting on the experience, Gikonyo wrote:

"Midundo Ya Amani was a reminder of the power of dance as a catalyst for personal, interpersonal, and social transformation. As dancers, we speak to humans beyond the social barriers of race, religion, gender, and language. As artists, we have the power to circulate ideas that challenge the normalised social orders and power structures. Through this programme, we witnessed how creative expression can unlock healing, inspire leadership, and offer a path forward in a region that has long suffered from conflict."

About "Midundo Ya Amani" (Rhythms of Peace)

"Midundo Ya Amani" (Rhythms of Peace) is a transformative dance initiative aimed at fostering meaningful creative collaborations across regional and socio-economic barriers in the Grand Lac Region. It brings together talented youth and young professionals to engage in a specialised workshop module that integrates training in dance and conflict resolution. The project centers vulnerable youth populations from Nairobi, Kenya, and Jinja, Uganda, proposing the universal language of dance as a means to address historical conflicts, cultural tensions, social challenges and personal traumas, thus promoting long-term reconciliation, cultural exchange and community building across the Grand Lac Region.

This project organically emerged from an encounter between Anuarite Gikonyo (Bennington '25) and Bertin Kasolene (founder of Inuka Dance Company in Goma, DRC).They met in Senegal at Ecole Des Sables, the internationally renowned school for African dance, and instantly connected over their shared visions for the role of art in social transformation. Both Anuarite and Bertin have personal connections to communities existing on the fringes of their societies, relationships with social workers and civil servants, as well as access to the network of East African movement artists, from the level of early career artists to its leaders. This project aims to build and enhance structures of support for community-driven dance initiatives in East Africa."

Projects for Peace is a global program that encourages young adults to develop innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Along the way, these student leaders increase their knowledge, improve skills, and establish identities as peacebuilders and changemakers. Projects for Peace headquarters is hosted by Middlebury College’s Center for Community Engagement.

Photos by Bertin Leader and Aidah Namukose