Arts and culture are not peripheral to peacebuilding – they are integral. Cultural practice functions as a form of social and institutional infrastructure, shaping how individuals and communities experience, navigate, and recover from conflict.
Cultural actors operate in multiple roles: as narrators where truth is contested, as connectors where trust is fractured, as facilitators of expression where civic space is restricted, and as sense makers within uncertainty and complexity. They also function as archivists when memory is under attack and as innovators when institutions collapse, frequently stepping into roles that exceed any formal mandate. In doing so, they contribute to processes essential to peacebuilding, including recognition, dignity, social cohesion, and resilience.
This research shifts the focus from arts and culture as tools or interventions to arts and culture as practices embedded in communities, relationships, and lived realities across different contexts and stages of conflict.
Commissioned by the British Council, this research presents a comparative, practice-based analysis of how arts and culture operate in fragile and conflict-affected settings, and what their contribution is towards sustainable peace across different stages and types of conflict.
Drawing on in-depth case studies in Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan, and Syria, alongside overview perspectives from the Baltic States, Colombia, and Northern Ireland, it brings together evidence from eleven countries and four continents.
The research draws on interviews, field visits, focus groups, and desk research conducted in collaboration with local researchers and local offices. Combining literature and policy analysis with practice-based insights, the report seeks to understand what works, under what conditions and for whom, and where and why approaches may fall short.
The full report, case studies and policy brief are online here:
https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/art-peace-building
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