The Peace Resource Center will continue the observance of the 50th anniversary of its founding at Wilmington College, while recognizing five decades devoted to nuclear abolition through archival preservation, scholarship, awareness, activism and art. To mark this 50th anniversary milestone, the 35th annual Westheimer Peace Symposium will focus on nuclear abolition while commemorating 80 years since the United States detonated nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
The Peace Resource Center is the only academic center and archives in the United States wholly dedicated to the human experience of nuclear war as informed by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
The two-day Westheimer Peace Symposium, which focuses on nuclear abolition and the arts, is a hands-on experiential symposium facilitated by experts and artists to create awareness about the need to eliminate nuclear weapons to achieve local, national and global justice and peace. The two-day symposium will include multidisciplinary special events and workshops. WC President Dr. Coreen Cockerill expressed, “I hope these events inspire us to recognize the enduring power of Barbara Reynolds’s nuclear abolitionism and to take our own steps toward a more peaceful world.”
The first key event of the Symposium is a special screening of the new PBS American Experience documentary, Bombshell, The Fight to Control the A-Bomb’s Story, followed by an in-person discussion and Q&A with the film’s director, Ben Loeterman, and producer, Gaia de Simoni. The event takes place on Sept. 29, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Hugh Heiland Theater, Boyd Cultural Arts Center. Bombshell sheds light on the efforts of a group of intrepid reporters to let the world know the truth about the bombings of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
The second special event, which takes place on Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m., is a performance titled Borrowed Landscape at the Murphy Theatre in downtown Wilmington. It is written by the playwright duo tauchgold, with music composed by London-based composer Dai Fujikura and performed by actors and musicians from Cincinnati's concertnova collective. Borrowed Landscape is a play that “beautifully tells stories about string instruments like a Hiroshima piano, a double bass from Poland and a surviving Stradivarius violin in Budapest,” said Dr. Tanya Maus, director of the Peace Resource and Quaker Heritage centers. “The tales weave together our connection to music, history and how fragile life can be.” This event is free of charge and features open seating.
Throughout the first day of the symposium, plenary events include “Westheimer Panel: Messages of Peace from Hiroshima, Japan” by Yukihiro Ishikawa, secretary general of Tottori A-Bomb Victims Association and an atomic bombing sufferer. Later in the day attendees can take in the talk, “Quaker-led Paths to Nuclear Disarmament” by Bridget Moix (general secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation) and Allen Hester (legislative representative, Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending), who will share recent efforts by Quaker organizations to work toward U.S. nuclear disarmament with a special focus on the Quaker peace testimony as a guiding principle.
Throughout both days, participants can attend concurrent workshops with a focus on the intersection of art and nuclear abolition awareness and protest. Experts and artists from around the globe will facilitate the workshops, some of which are noted below:
- “Reflecting on Our Lives and Deaths in a Nuclear Age” with Jasmine Owens
- “A Nuclear Podcast for the Future” with Libbe HaLevy
- “Rethinking the Future: Theater and Performance for Peace and Liberation” with Queen Zabriskie
- “Capturing the Sun: Nuclear Abolition Photography” by elin O’hara slavick
- “Songwriting for the Nuclear Age” with Bob Lucas and Chris Westhoff
The symposium programs are provided at no cost, but registration is required online. See the Peace Resource website for more information/to register at: 50th/80th Commemorative Events Overview.