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Peace Week 2026: Poetry, Jazz, and the Practice of Listening
“It was in this Meetinghouse where I cultivated my spirit, where I found peace, where I found communion,” Willie Perdomo ’85 proclaimed, his voice carrying through the wooden benches and the quiet they hold. “It was in this Meetinghouse that I declared myself a poet.”
Perdomo—an acclaimed poet, educator, author, and former New York State Poet Laureate—returned to Friends Seminary on Thursday, as the keynote speaker for Peace Week 2026, addressing students, faculty, families, alumni, and friends gathered in the Fifteenth Street Meetinghouse. The event, held in alignment with this year’s Peace Week theme, Growing in Peace, Grounded in Spirit, offered an evening of poetry, music, and reflection centered on community, memory, and the formative power of place.
The program opened with a welcome from Interim Head of School Rich Nourie and an introduction from Kara Kutner, Director of the Center for Peace, Equity, and Justice, followed by original poetry from Grade 8 Peace Week poets Mila '30 and Katinka '30. Their readings grounded the evening in student voice and set a reflective tone.
Music and poetry came together in Variations on “That’s My Heart Right There,” a collaborative performance featuring Perdomo’s words set to jazz. Led by Upper and Middle School Performing Arts Teacher Nikara Warren and performed by student musicians, the piece underscored the idea of peace as something created collectively through listening and creative exchange.
In his keynote address, Perdomo reflected on his years at Friends Seminary and the role the Meetinghouse played in shaping him as an artist and as a person. Growing up in New York City in the 1980s, he spoke of poetry as a means of witnessing and survival, and of silence as a practice that taught him how to listen. The evening concluded with closing remarks from Kirsti Peters, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging, reinforcing Peace Week’s focus on peace as a lived and shared practice.
Click here for more photos from his keynote address.
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Perdomo—an acclaimed poet, educator, author, and former New York State Poet Laureate—returned to Friends Seminary on Thursday, as the keynote speaker for Peace Week 2026, addressing students, faculty, families, alumni, and friends gathered in the Fifteenth Street Meetinghouse. The event, held in alignment with this year’s Peace Week theme, Growing in Peace, Grounded in Spirit, offered an evening of poetry, music, and reflection centered on community, memory, and the formative power of place.
The program opened with a welcome from Interim Head of School Rich Nourie and an introduction from Kara Kutner, Director of the Center for Peace, Equity, and Justice, followed by original poetry from Grade 8 Peace Week poets Mila '30 and Katinka '30. Their readings grounded the evening in student voice and set a reflective tone.
Music and poetry came together in Variations on “That’s My Heart Right There,” a collaborative performance featuring Perdomo’s words set to jazz. Led by Upper and Middle School Performing Arts Teacher Nikara Warren and performed by student musicians, the piece underscored the idea of peace as something created collectively through listening and creative exchange.
In his keynote address, Perdomo reflected on his years at Friends Seminary and the role the Meetinghouse played in shaping him as an artist and as a person. Growing up in New York City in the 1980s, he spoke of poetry as a means of witnessing and survival, and of silence as a practice that taught him how to listen. The evening concluded with closing remarks from Kirsti Peters, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging, reinforcing Peace Week’s focus on peace as a lived and shared practice.
Click here for more photos from his keynote address.
Friends Seminary actively promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in all its programs and operations, including admissions, financial aid, hiring, and all facets of the educational experience. To form a community which strives to reflect the world’s diversity, we do not discriminate on the basis of race or color, religion, nationality, ethnicity, economic background, physical ability, sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Friends Seminary is an equal opportunity employer.
Friends Seminary — the oldest continuously operated, coeducational school in NYC — serves college-bound day students in Kindergarten-Grade 12.
