News

On March 14, 2022 Voices Together: A Celebration of Art and Music officially opened at the Grebel Gallery. After travelling from Bethel College to Eastern Mennonite University, the original art found in the Voices Together Mennonite hymnal reached Conrad Grebel University College for its only Canadian stop along its tour of Mennonite colleges in North America.

Co-founded in 2015 by Jessica Reesor-Rempel and Chris Brnjas, Pastors in Exile (PiE) was one of the Grebel Peace Incubator’s first participants. Seven years later, PiE continues to bring young adults from across Waterloo Region together through candid conversations about peacebuilding and spirituality in modern contexts. What started as a safe space for young adults to explore their faith has presented Reesor-Rempel with a wealth of experiences that guide her approach to connecting with others as Grebel’s Interim Chaplain.

Since last Spring, the 2021-2022 cohort of Peace Innovators have been hard at work identifying challenges in their community, learning about the context surrounding these problems, and designing solutions to cultivate positive change. On a snowy Saturday in January, the high school students gathered virtually to participate in the first ever Peace Innovators Pitching Panel to request start-up funding for their projects.

For the fourth year in a row, the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement is hosting the Map the System competition at the University of Waterloo. As students and faculty across campus begin their systems thinking journeys, buzz about this year’s competition is growing. Read on to learn more about how this interdisciplinary competition brings together student researchers from around the world.

In the Fall of 2019, artist Yasmeen Nematt Alla was finalizing preparations to install Not Traumatic Enough for a Shock Blanket onto the crisp white walls of the Grebel Gallery. The bright orange blankets with words stitched onto them would surely stand out in the thorough-fare space, a stark contrast from the drones and weapons of warfare exhibit that covered the walls for months prior.

Since 2014, The Grebel Peace Incubator has supported two dozen peace start-ups as they innovate solutions to address local and global community challenges. During the fall term, the Centre for Peace Advancement was overjoyed to welcome two new ventures: Green Care Farms Inc. and BeBlended.

Envisioning a world without nuclear weapons has been a goal of the United Nations since 1945. In its first Resolution, the newly created UN made a commitment to eliminate nuclear weapons. In the 76 years since, the world has seen tens of thousands of nuclear weapons take over security landscapes alongside promises of deterrence and mutually assured destruction. At the same time, peacebuilders and those concerned with the effects of nuclear weapons have worked tirelessly  to limit the potential for nuclear war.

Earlier this fall, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)—the world’s largest technical professional organization—held their annual International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS) in partnership with the Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). The 2021 symposium was a four-day virtual affair, bringing together speakers from across the world under the theme of “Technological Stewardship and Responsible Innovation.”

On September 23, 2021, Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement participants and staff and faculty from Conrad Grebel University College gathered in the Grebel Gallery for an evening of reflection and community in honour of Peace Week 2021.

Since the launch of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement in 2014, our staff, participants, and partners marked the United Nations International C by celebrating innovative solutions to complex problems, advocacy to press decision-makers to work for justice, and efforts to bring communities together around the world. While the Centre encountered unanticipated challenges along the way, we never wavered in our mission to catalyze collaboration.