"Planeado en 2019. Retrasado por una pandemia. Llegando en 2026."
Peace Boat offices, Tokyo · 2025123rd Peace Boat Global Voyage · 2026
平和の船
An artistic and educational residency aboard Peace Boat's 123rd Global Voyage — from Yokohama to Singapore. Concerts, research-based lectures, and embodied facilitation workshops delivered by Vilma Esquivel and Patricia Vlieg to a global community of 1,600+ participants committed to intercultural dialogue and peace.
"The ocean has always been a space of crossing — and of encounter."
Peace Boat is one of the world's most recognized platforms for peace education and intercultural dialogue — a global voyage that brings together passengers, educators, artists, and activists from across the world for weeks of shared learning and encounter at sea.
The Bridges for Dialogue Residencia Peace Boat integrates artistic performance with research-based reflection on dialogue, cultural identity, and peacebuilding. Vilma Esquivel and Patricia Vlieg bring their combined practice — music, music therapy, academic research, and decades of intercultural facilitation — aboard for a voyage from Yokohama to Singapore.
This is an initiative at the intersection of art, education, and lived peace practice — where the ship itself becomes a laboratory for intercultural encounter. The residency marks Phase V of the Bridges for Dialogue trajectory: the formalization of a long and deliberate practice as a named platform with international presence.
"Planeado en 2019. Retrasado por una pandemia. Llegando en 2026."
Peace Boat offices, Tokyo · 2025The residency program is designed as an integrated arc — each element building on the last, creating conditions for genuine intercultural encounter and embodied reflection over the course of the voyage.
Concerts
Curated concerts weaving Latin American music, intercultural repertoire, and narrative context. Each performance is a structured space of encounter — where music opens a shared space across languages, cultures, and histories.
Conferencias y Charlas
Research-based presentations drawing on Vilma and Patricia's academic work at Soka University. Topics include music as vehicle for identity formation, embodied mediation, and the role of culture in peacebuilding.
Talleres
Facilitated workshops drawing on Vilma's background in music therapy and somatic regulation — bringing the body into the practice of dialogue across difference.
123rd Peace Boat Global Voyage — 7–17 de abril, 2026. East and Southeast Asia, port calls in Kobe and Hong Kong.
Japan · April 7
Salida at 12:00 noon. Embarkation, emergency drill, ship orientation.
Japan · April 8–9
Welcome Show rehearsals and two public performances with Flamenco on April 9.
At Sea · April 10–11
Concert ① — "Bridges for Dialogue: Encounters at the Beginning of our Journey" — two performances on April 11.
China · April 12
Arrive April 12 at 10:00, depart April 12 at 23:00. Free day in port.
At Sea · April 13–16
Lecture (April 14) · Workshop (April 14) · Q&A (April 15) · Concert ② "Panamá en el Corazón (Panama in the Heart)" two performances (April 16) · Farewell Dinner.
Singapore · April 17
Arrive April 17 at 7:00. Disembarkation. End of residency.
Sobre Peace Boat
Peace Boat is a Japan-based international NGO founded in 1983. It operates a global voyage aboard its own ship, bringing together passengers, educators, artists, and activists for weeks of shared learning, intercultural dialogue, and peace education.
Each voyage visits 20 to 30 countries, hosting onboard programs and port events designed to build people-to-people connection and global understanding. Peace Boat has been recognized by the United Nations.
For Bridges for Dialogue, this residency brings artistic diplomacy, embodied dialogue, and intercultural encounter to a global community already committed to peace.
The Residencia Peace Boat offers partners concrete value across three dimensions:
For
The residency marks the formal transition from trajectory to platform — Phase V of a 20-year arc. It places Bridges for Dialogue in a recognized international context, alongside educators, activists, and artists from across the world.
For
1,600+ participants across ten days and seven sessions engage with Panamanian and Latin American music, research-based peace education, and embodied dialogue practices — content that is exclusive to this residency and unavailable elsewhere on the voyage.
For
The residency generates documented frameworks, performance recordings, and academic outputs — contributing to the field of artistic diplomacy and embodied peace practice, and positioned for academic publication and institutional dissemination.
The Residencia Peace Boat welcomes institutional, philanthropic, corporate, and academic partners. All partnerships include recognition in residency documentation, access to research outputs, and direct association with a high-visibility international peace platform.
Alianza Institucional
Embassies, cultural institutes, universities, and bilateral organizations supporting the residency as part of their cultural diplomacy programs.
Apoyo Filantrópico
Foundations and individuals committed to intercultural dialogue, peace education, and the role of art in building human connection.
Patrocinio Corporativo
Organizations with a presence across the Panama–Japan corridor or a commitment to cultural exchange and international community.
Colaboración de Investigación Académica
Institutions supporting documentation, publication, and academic dissemination of the residency's peace-building frameworks.