Article
Most Mira Youth Festival – Senior Fellows Study Trip is a joint project between Humanity in Action and Most Mira that will bring senior fellows to the annual festival in north Bosnia to reflect on the role of art and young people in post-conflict reconciliation in addition to leading workshops and publishing a joint report.
The project began with Senior Fellow Nick Micinski, who developed the idea to connect Humanity in Action with Most Mira, an organization he had worked with previously. In building their team, they reached out to the Humanity in Action community to gather interested participants.
They engaged in structured discussions with Most Mira trustees and other experts in the field of peace building in order to place their work in the broader political and social context.
Their project built on the work of Most Mira (Bridge of Peace), a peace building NGO that worked to confront art and reconciliation since hosting its first annual youth arts festival with hundreds of children of different ethnic backgrounds in 2009. Considering the highly politicized context in which they operate, their approach expressly focuses on art, not politics.
Most Mira worked with a smaller group of youth, involving 10 children from four neighboring schools and their teachers in drama workshops, leading up to a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in May 2013. The team of four Senior Fellows led workshops and worked with the youth to help them finalize preparations for their performance. They also engaged in structured discussions with Most Mira trustees and other experts in the field of peace building in order to place their work in its broader political and social context.