The Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival is taking place in Nicosia, Cyprus and is organised by the NGO Home for Cooperation, a community centre located in the middle of the dividing lines in Cyprus, in the Ledra Palace area, UN Buffer Zone, Nicosia. The festival serves the organisations' cultural and artistic agenda and as one of its peacebuilding programs. The Buffer Fringe Festival showcases new and experimental work by local and international artists, challenges physical and artistic barriers, and creates opportunities for artists to meet and exchange ideas. It is a unique annual event in the region dedicated to bringing together artists from diverse backgrounds and promoting bi-communal collaboration in a divided city. Established to foster dialogue and creative exchange across the longstanding divide between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, the festival operates without public funding and relies heavily on grassroots efforts and collaborations. Embedding creativity into a social process, the festival questions the role art can play at a moment and a space of transition to produce alternative subjectivities to dominant ideologies. At the same time, the festival develops interdisciplinary tools which enable exploring the relationship between arts and peacebuilding.

Studies of the Buffer Fringe Festival and their approach of peacebuilding

The Buffer Fringe Festival has been subject of multiple studies that examine the work of the festival in the context of peacebuilding giving an in depth insight into their work, strategies, and learnings. Find two case studies here: