Poetry & Conflict Outreach Project

The Poetry and Conflict Outreach Project seeks to understand whether poetry can help conflicted groups focus the language of their disagreement into more fruitful, clear exchanges. 

We engage practitioners, community leaders, and others in studies, workshops and courses that incorporate poetry into the study and exploration of conflict resolution.

Using scientific methods, we study the language of participants to explore if and when the poetic methodologies of surprise, line-breaks, silence, narrative or tension influence conflicted parties’ participation, exchange, language and expectations in situations of conflict or disagreement. 

This project is based at the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University and is led by poet Pádraig Ó Tuama, PhD, and professor Peter T. Coleman. 

We offer:

• training for community members and leaders; 
• workshops;
• seminars; 
• public engagement and radio shows about poetry’s insight into the dynamics of conflict;
• research on poetry’s impact on polarizing conversations; 
• and academic engagement between practitioners and theoreticians.

• Watch The Poetry of War and Peace -  A Fireside Chat on Identity and Inclusion with Pádraig Ó Tuama and Amanda Ripley at the US Institute of Peace from early 2023.
• Listen to this episode featuring Philip Metres’ poem “One Tree,” of the Poetry Unbound podcast.
• Read "Could ‘Peace Speech’ Save the Planet?" on State of the Planet.
• Interview between Pádraig & Peter Coleman for the Corrymeela podcast.
• Profile of Pádraig Ó Tuama in The New Yorker.

Including, but not limited to:

Hearthland Embers Fund

Founded by Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg in 2019, The Hearthland Foundation was built to harness creativity and nurture moral imagination in service of our country. Still in its early development, the Foundation works alongside many to help create a more just, equitable, and connected America.

Specifically, The Hearthland Foundation makes grants, co-creates projects, and facilitates strategic collaborations among charitable organizations. Their three areas of focus are: 

• Building a shared democracy
• Telling an honest and generative narrative about this country
• Fostering a culture of accompaniment