Irish project Partner Momentum reached out to the Atlantic Technical University (ATU) to share the work of MY PEACE with their student and leadership community. ATU is a multi-campus university based in the West and Northwest of Ireland. With a student body exceeding 26,000 across 600+ undergraduate and doctoral programmes, ATU serves a diverse community of learners, staff, and organisations and offers a unique blend of academic excellence, research innovation, and quality of life.
The Momentum team recognised that introducing MY PEACE to this diverse community offered a wonderful opportunity to share the work and objectives of the project with young people, educators and leaders at the University from a range of disciplines. With the support of the Communications Manager and the Wellbeing Officer at the University, music sessions were arranged at the Sligo campus.
Members of the Traditional Irish Music Society and the Music and Bands Society were invited to attend and participate at MY PEACE music sessions held in the evening after classes had ended. The format of the sessions was largely informal but began with a presentation on the work of MY PEACE, its aims and objectives. Next, issues around peace building and conflict resolution were addressed, and students were asked to consider the role music could play in this.
Following the presentation, the attendees divided into groups and moved to a nearby classroom, where a discussion on peacebuilding, conflict resolution and the role of music in this was facilitated. Students were invited to share their reflections on how music had supported them and how it could be used to support others aspiring to peacebuilding. Many students chose to offer these reflections to the camera.
The sessions finished with the entire group coming together to collaborate and play music related to the themes they had discussed during the evening. Participants were from the entire Northwest region of Ireland as well as from Canada and France and from a range of academic disciplines. Everyone embraced the spirit and the objectives of the project, and Momentum looks forward to returning to the campus later this year to share the project video with the wider ATU community.