Examples of partnership

Peace Direct has the privilege of working with some extraordinarily talented individuals

Jonathan Holmes, Peace Direct’s Creative Adviser, is a writer and director. He has directed and produced more than twenty theatre productions, including plays by Shakespeare, new writing, devised work and site-specific collaborations, and has run two theatre companies: currently he is director of the Equal Music Company. He recently organised and directed a concert of words and music premiering unheard songs by John Donne, featuring Emma Kirkby, The Sixteen, Matthew Wadsworth, Carolyn Sampson, Michael Maloney, Imogen Stubbs, Michael Pennington and Harriet Walter, which took place at St Paul's Cathedral in June 2005 and raised money for Peace Direct. He is preparing a documentary feature film entitled Perpetual Peace, alongside Noam Chomsky, Tony Benn, Harold Pinter, George Monbiot, Helene Cixous, John Berger and others. His play Fallujah will premier at the Riverside Studios in Spring 2006. He runs the organisation Agents For Change, which specialises in matchmaking individuals and groups seeking to make interesting, unusual and ethically committed work.

Ted Giffords, photographer, has made a long term commitment to Peace Direct through the Photographing Peace project. This explores how to capture in images the essentially intangible activity of changing hearts and minds? Ted’s first trip was to Kenya and Uganda – many of the images on this site came from that trip. The next trip is likely to be to Afghanistan in 2006.

Sacha Mirzoeff of Bivouac Productions also took part in the trip to Kenya and Uganda and has produced a short film of the peacebuilding process in Mandera, Northern Kenya. Other projects with Bivouac are under discussion.

The Royal Court Theatre, Out of Joint Productions, Conciliation Resources and Peace Direct collaborated on a seminar in July 2005 linked to the play, Talking to Terrorists. The seminar, with the theme Engaging with Armed Groups, attracted an audience of 240 people.

Women in Film and Television and Peace Direct collaborated on a seminar entitled Reporting War and Peace in March 2006.

The Virgin Group, as part of their Unite programme, have recruited a team of marketing specialists from different parts of the organisation to advise Peace Direct on marketing and communications, and to offer channels for Peace Direct to reach Virgin customers.