We have been overwhelmed by the response to the Peace Cranes project, which has been led by Durham County Council’s Brian Stobie on behalf of the Festival.
This is one of our most popular ever large scale participatory projects. 194 schools and groups have signed up and are making colourful origami birds with messages of peace written on their wings. 62 schools across the North East are participating, with 132 schools from the USA, France, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Portugal. Romania, Slovakia and Spain. 11,60 children participating so far!
Schools have been asked to send 30 of the birds that children make to us to be part of regional exhibitions in Newcastle and Durham, which will be on display in April and some of which will be displayed as part of the children’s display at the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Museum.
The birds are now flying in and artist Jo Shippen is getting ready with a team of volunteers to string them together and curate the displays.
This project is open for submissions until 6th March, so click here to find out more and register to get involved.