In an Art of Peace event on the downtown Tyler square, participants ask motorists to show their support for the cause of peace. The ninth Art of Peace festival starts Saturday and runs through Sept. 22.

The ninth Art of Peace festival, which starts Saturday and runs through Sept. 22, in Tyler will feature art, poetry, music and community activities.

“The aim of Art of Peace is to promote a spirit of creativity, compassion and community through partnerships, fellowship, dialogue, social action, music, poetry and art,” the festival’s mission statement says. The theme this year is Living Peace.

Art of Peace will have a booth at Day for Kids from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in Bergfeld Park; a meditation session from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Tyler Public Library, 201 S. College Ave.; and a Honk for Peace rally from noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 20 on the downtown square.

The Living Peace Open Mic Night will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Discovery Science Place Annex, 308 N. Broadway Ave. Presenters will explore peace using music, stories or poetry. Those who would like to perform can sign up by sending an email to annemccrady@inspiritry.com.

A peace pole will be dedicated at noon Sept. 21 at Golden Road Park, 2300 McDonald Road.

The festival will end with a celebration at 6 p.m. Sept. 21 at Ornelas Activity Center, 3402 Old Omen Road, that will include a meal followed by music celebrating the late folk singer and social activist Pete Seeger. Festival organizers also will recognize a person or organization as a community peacemaker.

Tickets to this event cost $15 for adults and $5 for students and children. Online ticket purchases are required and can be made at tylerpeace.com.

Participants are encouraged to stay after the concert and form a living peace sign.

Throughout the festival will be a self-guided Peace Tour with stops at the Peace Mural at Discovery Science Place, 308 N. Broadway Ave.; and the peace poles at Woldert Park, 701 W. 32nd St., Tyler Rose Garden, 420 Rose Park Drive, St. Paul Foundation, 1358 E. Richards St., Bergfeld Park, 1510 S. Broadway Ave., Rose Rudman Park, 450 Shiloh Road, and Golden Road Park, 2300 McDonald Road.

As part of the festival, Tyler Museum of Art, 1300 S. Mahon Ave., will host the art exhibition, “Living Peace,” from Sunday through Sept. 22. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1to 5 p.m. Sunday.

“Living Peace,” an anthology of poetry with peace themes, will be posted at ty

lerpeace.com on Saturday.

Each year Tyler poet and Art of Peace co-founder, Anne McCrady edits and publishes peace poetry centered on the Art of Peace theme.

“In 2011, the year Art of Peace began in Tyler, we included a poetry reading as part of our celebration and have continued that tradition,” McCrady said. “In those days, we could have never guessed that over the coming years, poets from around the world would meet one another on the pages of our peace poetry anthologies.

“It is nice to know that the very existence of this project has prompted poets and readers to be peacemakers,” she continued.

McCrady said this year she received 130 entries from poets in several countries and selected 50 poems for inclusion in the anthology.

The poems “are inspiring on their own, and they also speak to and affirm each other as a group,” she said.

The anthology will also be accessible after the festival at McCrady’s website, InSpiritry.com.

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