The Roger C. Dowdy and Janie Wineman Dowdy Endowment for Initiatives in Peacebuilding through Spirituality and the Arts will support programmatic opportunities and initiatives for students and the University of Lynchburg community to explore how the arts and interfaith traditions can collaboratively impact peacebuilding for the common good — resulting in a more peaceful and equitable society, an expansive awareness of spirituality in everyday life, and a greater understanding of the arts in religious or secular traditions and the “public square.
Dowdy’s 40 years of peacebuilding background inform not just his work, they’ve also shaped the scope of the endowment. He envisions a high-quality programming that explores peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue through a variety of artistic disciplines and media. The endowment is an ongoing tribute to Roger’s late wife, Janie Wineman Dowdy ’70, to the couple’s love for the arts, and the power of Lynchburg’s liberal arts education.
“When Do You Feel Safe?” – Bullets to Bells
In the Fall 2023 Semester, the endowment welcomed artist Stephanie Mercedes, an uncategorized Queer Latinx artist renowned for her large-scale performances and installations rooted in sound. Mercedes guided students in melting bullets to create school bells, symbolizing a collective voice against the ongoing crisis of school shootings. Each bell size correlates with the annual fatalities from such incidents, engaging participants in a profound exploration of safety perceptions.
As part of this unique experience, Mercedes conducted a bullet melting ceremony on campus, allowing students, faculty, staff, and the local community to contribute to the project firsthand.
The campus community also had the opportunity to participate in an interfaith panel discussion featuring campus and community leaders, the bullet melting ceremony, and an opening reception. Individuals and classes had the opportunity to interact with this exhibition housed in the Daura Museum from Oct. 20-Dec. 9, 2023.
