The Dallas Respect Project

29 Pieces is challenging everyone to take The Respect Pledge. Let’s make respect go viral!

29 Pieces launched its first Respect Project in Dallas during the 2016 presidential election, when tensions were running high and communities were experiencing heightened levels of anxiety stemming from toxic public discourse.

We challenged everyone in our city, Dallas, Texas, to pledge respect in word and deed. The mayor of Dallas was the first to sign on! 20,000 students, teachers, and members of religious communities joined the effort to use their influence as citizens to call forth respect where it is due.

In addition to signing the pledge, participants created thousands of pieces of respect artwork reflecting the possibilities of choosing respect for themselves, others and the earth. In this way, they joined the collective effort to use art to make values like respect and compassion spread during a time that was too often fraught with fear, anger and hatred.

The Dallas Respect Project aimed to enhance the quality of life in Dallas by using art to realize the highest social ideals, such as respect for all living creatures, social and racial justice, nonviolence, and the importance of creative expression: monumental art for monumental change.

The project was based on our Respect Lesson(Opens in a New Window), one of over 15 lessons in our free art education curriculum, Artists Making a Kinder World. The lesson is designed to enrich the lives of our students by fostering life skills, including collaboration, honoring commitment, nonviolent problem solving, and effectively leading and communicating with respect for others.

The 29 Pieces team trained hundreds of teachers and artists to facilitate the Respect Lesson in classrooms and community centers across Dallas.

Students who joined The Dallas Respect Project cultivated professional skills by participating in all aspects of a major art project, including project strategy and design, team building, planning, construction and installation, interviewing, presentation and public speaking, budgeting, and event planning. These experiences taught craftsmanship, attention to detail, and analytical thinking.

The project also contributed to community and economic development in South Dallas and the Oak Cliff neighborhood. Students assembled their own artistic portfolios under the mentorship of successful entrepreneurs, leaders and executives from the local community.

29 Pieces’ educational programming continues to supply creative inspiration and needed revitalization to support many in our public school faculties. Through our free educational curriculum, Artists Making a Kinder World(Opens in a New Window), we hope to engage the broader public in peacemaking through art.