Art of Peace Charitable Trust (AOPCT) evolved from the Peace Angels Project, which was founded in 1992. AOPCT, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is dedicated to serving the public interest by interrupting the cycle of violence and actualizing change on a local, regional and national basis. This transformation is accomplished through sustainable and innovative approaches to weapons reduction.
AOPCT supports and partakes in small arms and disposal/destruction programs. Properly disposing of or destroying surplus or obsolete small arms and light weapons is important because surplus or obsolete weapons are often stored improperly, making them a public safety threat to the communities in which they are located, are often vulnerable to theft and diversion by criminals, and are a cost-effective and relatively simple way to reduce the threat that they pose. Small arms collection programs reduce the negative consequences of small arms proliferation and misuse because they:
• Reduce the supply of weapons
• Prevent weapons from being used in crimes, banditry and social violence
• Prevent weapons from fueling new conflicts in neighboring areas through gang violence
AOPCT works with various agencies and institutions to facilitate the collection of weapons. With the assistance of law enforcement and government agencies, hand guns, machine guns, decommissioned nuclear missile casings, land mines, parts of cluster bombs and other arms are amassed, melted down and combined through a unique and proprietary process. Those melted weapons are then transformed into Peace Angel sculptures – three-foot Emissaries, thirteen-foot Ambassadors and thirty-foot Monuments. Ongoing media broadcasts provide a velocity of effort for all aspects of collecting and melting weapons, and for creating and placing each Emissary, Ambassador and Monument.
Peace Angels will be erected in three cities in the United States – Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; and Washington, D.C. These cities were selected based on their size, location and national significance. Los Angeles is the largest city on the West coast, New York City is the largest city on the East coast and Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States.
