The European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) would like to apply for the Creative Europe call as project leaders. Among other activities they had in mind to foster interdisciplinary cooperation between artists, creative practitioners and people with lived experience of restorative justice (mostly victims) and create a community for exchange and growth. They wish to include in their project the organisation of a live REstART festival in Leuven or Brussels in November/ December 2025. EFRJ searches for a consortium that may include art projects around the topics they are working on (criminal justice, social justice, violence prevention, non-punitive responses to harm, peacebuilding…). As partners they can easily jump in taking the lead on a specific WP (as they are used to work with EU funded projects): they can support event organisation, dissemination, training on restorative practices (e.g. in case of tensions within the art sector!), etc.

Organization: The European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) based in Belgium is an international network non-profit organisation works to advance access to restorative justice in Europe, within and beyond the criminal justice system. They believe in the potential of meeting with our “difficult other” in order to transform injustice and experiences of harm into something different. Such meetings can take form in victim-offender encounters, restorative circles and many other innovative methodologies.
Since 2017, they started to work with artists and creative practitioners across Europe & organised their first REstART festival (online in December 2020). They are committed in cooperating with artists who disseminate the values and practices of restorative justice (e.g. telling stories in the forms of theatre plays, films, documentaries, paintings, poetry…) and with creative practitioners who use arts and innovative creative tools to encourage dialogue when non-verbal communication is difficult (e.g. with children, migrants, but also adults that prefer to use images and/or movement to speak).

For further info, see here (.docx).