UNESCO ASPnet Arts and Culture for Peace Legacy Award

The UNESCO ASPnet Arts and Culture for Peace Legacy Award is a new award presented to projects that have inspired and engaged young people from ‘idea to reality’. Such projects

• have brought together young people, artists, experts and local communities to develop a major transformative arts and cultural legacy

• benefit as many people as possible

• promote the UNESCO Action Areas of developing greater peace, sustainability and intercultural learning

• and inspire generations of young learners and their communities for a long period of time.

Coventry Young Ambassadors’ Islands of Peace Japanese Garden

This youth-inspired project became the foundation for the UNESCO ASPnet Arts and Culture for Peace Initiative. It is appropriate, therefore, that this unique partnership project is designated the first UNESCO ASPnet Arts and Culture for Peace Legacy Award.

The Coventry Young Ambassadors Islands of Peace Japanese Garden is a permanent Peace Garden located in the City of Coventry at the War Memorial Park serving the people of Coventry and its many national and international visitors. It is free of charge – open all day for 365 days a year.

From ‘Idea to Reality’

The Islands of Peace Garden was the culmination of the the third Coventry Schools Peace Projects – inspired from ‘idea to reality’ by primary school students from five Coventry Primary Schools: Broad Heath, Finham, Howes, Park Hill and Stivichall.

Stronger together

The genesis of this partnership model was initiated by artists extending their theatre production work to introduce young people and educators to a new cultural art form - Japanese noh theatre. Through working together – artists, young people and teachers were all inspired to develop a much wider vision out of their work – to create a major arts and culture legacy that would benefit as many people as possible.

Based on their experience of building Japanese gardens in public places elsewhere in the UK, the Japanese Garden Society (JGS) was invited by the Between the Stones Project and the five Coventry Primary Schools to work with the children to help realise a full-scale garden project. Graham Hardman, Honorary Vice President and former Chairman of the Society and renowned garden designer, Robert Ketchell, led the realisation of the Young Ambassadors’ design concept. The schools worked with the local Council and a permanent site for the garden was found at the Coventry War Memorial Park – and now provides an ‘oasis of calm’ for people in this busy city centre and the largest civic park in Coventry.

Stronger together these young learners and their supporters inspired a transformative arts and culture endeavour that brought together artists, educators, experts, local volunteers, local communities and the Coventry City Council, and ultimately led to a celebration of this intercultural arts and culture legacy. In addition, a city-wide interest grew out of the project to encourage all Coventry schools to join the UNESCO Associated Schools Network.

Young Ambassadors inspired the design concept

The garden design concept included the young people’s most important ideas.

• Firstly, the garden can be seen to represent our planet

• Granite gravel symbolically represents the fact that over 70% of the planet’s surface is water, mostly sea water from our oceans and seas

• Seven continents are respresented by seven islands: five as individual rocks and two larger islands with some planting – symbolic of the scarcity of natural resources

• The two larger islands are connected with a two-part bridge, expressing the need for people to reach out to forge links of peace and reconciliation with others.

• The children felt that the broken bridge represented the fragile nature of our relationship with the planet, and that peace is fragile and not always easy to achieve, and that there can be obstacles that must be overcome.

The children thought that the islands can represent different things to different visitors. It is a garden for contemplation. For example, the children also felt that the two larger islands could also represent Coventry and Hiroshima, or, indeed, even two individuals who needed to make peace and reconcile their differences.

Young Ambassadors engaged with the construction of the garden

Throughout the building of the garden the children visited the site as often as possible and observed how the skilful aspects of the construction were undertaken by experts. They learned about some of the key aspects of the garden build and were allowed to participate in a number of key processes thanks to the careful supervision of the experts from Eurovia, Chiel Construction, and the Japanese Garden Society’s volunteers who gave generously of their time. In this way, the children could learn about the garden’s development throughout the building phases and gain a sense of the world of work and how ideas are turned into reality.

Supporters

The project was supported from the beginning by the Deputy Head of one of the Coventry Primary Schools, Rebecca Bollands, working on all three arts projects with Jannette Cheong and the Between the Stones Project team'; and Graham Hardman and Robert Ketchell for the last of the three intercultural projects – on behalf of JGS – using the children’s ideas and inspiration to realise the main garden working closely with the Coventry Schools and many others. 

The building of the garden involved the local community, Coventry City Council, the Coventry schools and construction workers from sponsoring companies, supported by volunteers from the War Memorial Park and members of the Japanese Garden Society led by Graham and Robert. The building of the garden would not have been possible without the support of many sponsors brought to the project by Rebecca, Graham and Jannette.

The following people and organisations have given generously of their time, energy, commitment and resources to the building of the Coventry Islands of Peace Japanese Garden.

We are deeply grateful for their vision and support to help us give the people who live in Coventry, and the many visitors from the UK and around the world - this beautiful gift of a Japanese Peace Garden symbolising our vision and hope for the ‘Islands of Peace’ we would all like to leave as our legacy for the future.

Organisations/Institutions

• Between the Stones Project

• Builders Supply Stores

• Chiel Construction ltd

• Crown Waste

• Coventry Primary Schools

• Coventry City Council

• Eurovia

• Finnis Scott Foundation

• Friends of the War Memorial Park

• Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

• Hansons Concrete

• Japanese Garden Society

• Japan Society

• London Digital Print

• Mayor of Coventry’s Peace Committee

• Mitsubishi Corporation, Corporate Management Support Office (EMEA)

• National Lottery Awards for All

• Niwaki

• Sakai Kuwahara Moving Service UK

• Severn Trent Community Fund

• Stanley Smith (UK) Horticultural Trust 

Individuals

• Rebecca Bollands

• Margaret Caistor

• Jannette Cheong

• Sheila Christie

• Katie Croft

• Graham Hardman

• Henrietta Heald

• Robert Ketchell

• Graham Marchant

• Maurice and Linda Mealing

• Nick Sanders

• Heidi Potter