29 Pieces

More than 250,000 children reached by our Artists Making a Kinder World Curriculum. More than 1500 teachers trained in our work. The seeds of 29 Pieces were planted with a bullet, the bullet that murdered a man in front of Founder Karen Blessen's house.
A Pulitzer prize winning journalist and illustrator, Karen reacted to the tragedy by using the tools of her profession. The result was a piece, titled ONE BULLET, which she wrote and illustrated for the Dallas Morning News. The article explored the act of violence and traced the path of its impact on the victim's family, the killer's family, the law enforcement community as well as the community at large.
Karen soon realized that telling the story wasn't the end of her responsibility; it was the beginning. She had to act to help keep the narrative from repeating itself over and over.
Once again, she turned to a tool she
knew-art-with hopes of using its power as a catalyst for peace. Engaging,
involving and inspiring our community's youth to learn, share and live the lessons
of peace became the unifying goal of the Worganization known as 29 Pieces.
Since its inception in 2005, 29 Pieces has grown in number and impact. Our workshops and classroom curricula have helped tens of thousands of students and adults develop their creativity and their love of peace. Our Dallas LOVE project used art to turn the city-of-hate perception upside down during the Kennedy assassination's 50th anniversary year. Our Piece 24 project united a coalition of business and community leaders as well as local schools to help artists create a 20-foot sculpture - a monument to peace that will have a permanent place within the community.
What all 29 Pieces efforts have in common is the use of art as the power source for beating swords into plowshares and planting new seeds of peace. It's not easy - it takes a lot of volunteers and supporters to make it work. But it is working. And while nothing we do will right the wrong of the murder that started this process, we can change what happens next.
29 Pieces was founded by Karen Blessen and Dr. Barbara Miller as a non-profit organization in 2005, and developed a number of major outreach programs.

Our Needs

The 29 Pieces Education: Legacy Initiative will make our vast breadth of educational content available to all teachers,organizations, and churches at no cost. Materials will be available in English and Spanish. We will provide 29 PIECES ORIGINAL CONTENT

1. 29 PIECES: Artists Making a Kinder World Curriculum: 20 original lessons. These include written lessons and a PowerPoint for each lesson.

2. METHODOLOGY FOR CITY WIDE ART PROJECTS: such as the Dallas LOVE
Project, the Dallas RESPECT Project and Dallas Teachers Speak

3. INTERFAITH WORKSHOPS: Methodology for using our Artists Making a Kinder World lessons, but adapted for Interfaith groups

4. PUBLIC SCULPTURE: Methodology for creating student and professional collectives for creation of public sculpture projects.

5. THE AMERICAN LOVE PROJECT: 29 Pieces is taking the model that was used in the Dallas LOVE Project and taking it nationally in the autumn of 2021.