Between September 24 and October 17, 2025, art and culture will take over the northeast of the country with the first cycle of small-format art exhibitions of the Arts for Peace Program (PAPP), called “Resonances: Art Continues to Beat.” During these events, more than 4,300 children, adolescents, and young people will take the stage to showcase the progress of this strategy led by the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Knowledge in partnership with the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) to the educational community.
Dance, theater, literary compositions, marching and symphonic bands, choirs, string ensembles, and vallenato groups will be part of the exhibitions, in which the artists, trainers, and experts will showcase the artistic work they have developed week after week in the educational establishments where Arts for Peace operates. This will also be an opportunity for students involved in this program to showcase their talents to their peers, teachers, and parents.
In the department of Boyacá, art exhibitions will be held in schools in the municipalities of Monguí, Tunja, Duitama, Chiquinquirá, and Úmbita; in Cesar, in the municipalities of Manaure, Aguachica, Chimichagua, Becerril, and El Copey; in Norte de Santander, they will be held in the municipalities of Convención, Pamplona, Salazar, Los Patios, Tibú, La Playa de Belén, and Cúcuta; and in Santander, in the municipalities of Suratá, Jesús María, Sabana de Torres, Barrancabermeja, Málaga, San Vicente de Chucurí, Piedecuesta, and Guadalupe.
The regional director of PAPP-UIS, Angélica Mora Dionisio, said that although the program offers educational opportunities in music, dance, theater, creative writing, and audiovisual arts, the artistic exhibitions are part of the program’s implementation and serve several purposes: “for the artist-educators to show the educational community the progress of their work with the students; students showcase their talent, strengthen their confidence, are encouraged to get on stage to perform in front of an audience, and inspire other children; and the educational community, including principals, teachers, and parents, see the importance and advantages of the Arts for Peace Program for the institution and the students,” Mora Dionisio said.
Following this exhibition cycle, the artist-educators and students will continue their commitment in the classrooms, providing continuity to the educational processes and preparing a second cycle of art exhibitions, which is projected for November 2025.
Collective logs and the memory collection process
Alongside the art exhibitions, the Arts for Peace Program will also include collective logs, which are spaces for reflection where artist-educators, school teachers, parents, and public and private entities outside the schools will meet to exchange opinions about the program, with the aim of collecting social memory and the impact it has on the territory.
Among the analyses to be carried out are: what contribution the program makes to students in terms of improving their concentration, listening skills, relationships with their peers and their environment; how it can change their lives for the better; how schools benefit; how it helps teachers in their work and relationships with students; how parents identify improvements or lack thereof in their children in terms of academics and behavior; how the program contributes to society in general through peacebuilding through art and culture; and how all these actors envision this strategy in the future so that it can be sustained over time.
“These spaces are vital because the program not only aims to offer educational art experiences and organize art exhibitions, but also to identify and record the benefits it brings to the educational community
and society in terms of forming better human beings, building cultures of peace, and how these benefits can be leveraged to ensure continuity over time,” said PAPP-UIS regional director Angélica Mora Dionisio.
