Peace, Love & Hope Project

Published March 9, 2025 | By Avy Loftus

A BRIEF ABOUT THE PROJECT

Peace, Love & Hope is a unique anti-bullying project that spreads a global message by actively engaging children aged 5 to 15 in the arts. Founded in 2007 by a Montreal-based artist and art educator, Avy Loftus, Peace Love & Hope has so far reached more than 250,000 children.

Peace, Love & Hope promotes anti-bullying and anti-violence through art workshops, public presentations, personal story exchanges, outreach and exhibitions. Children are invited to participate in batik workshops, where they are taught the techniques and have the opportunity to create individual pieces on the theme of peace, love and hope. The pieces are then assembled into large-scale quilts which Avy brings on tours and exhibits at museums, cultural centres, schools and international children’s festivals, raising awareness and visibility for the anti-bullying and mental health cause for the young generation.

This initiative was originally inspired by Avy’s own experience with bullying as a mother of a bullied daughter, then 7 years old. Seeing the impact of bullying on her daughters’ emotional, physical, and everyday life spurred Avy to action, and Peace, Love & Hope was born. Since then, Avy has conducted workshops, exhibitions and outreach activities in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Gatineau (Canada); Hiroshima (Japan); Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington DC, Fort Worth (USA); Ballina (Ireland); Jakarta and Bandung (Indonesia).

For peace and non-violence to prevail, we must foster a culture of peace through our children. As defined by the United Nations Resolution, “the Culture of Peace is a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations” (UN Resolutions A/RES/52/13: Culture of Peace and A/RES/53/243, Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace).

Peace, Love & Hope invites children of all ethnic and socio-cultural backgrounds to participate in creative activities that foster dialogue and a deeper understanding of a complex societal problem. Through batik art workshops, talks and public exhibitions of the children’s collective artworks, Peace, Love & Hope strives to engage the participants to:

inspire hope and solidarity in other children, parents and communities around the world;
keep and spread peace at home, at school, and in their communities;
love one another, regardless of background;
participate actively in their communities through action, dialogue, and random acts of kindness.

PAST COLLABORATORS AND PRESENTERS OF THE PROJECT

Since 2007, Peace, Love & Hope has collaborated with and received support from more than 30 organizations, including: