12 years, 25 Countries, Thousands of Angels: A Round Table on the Healing Power of Art was held in Moscow

On September 18, 2026, the World Trade Center hosted the Round Table “The Value of Unity. The Healing Power of Art. Angels of Peace”. The event was part of the Second World Public Assembly “New World: Values That Unite”, which concluded in Moscow in September 2026.

Experts, cultural figures, and public leaders considered the international art project “Angels of Peace” as a model of humanitarian partnership that strengthens the constructive power of unity, healing, and peace through co-creation.

Participants discussed how artistic images can overcome cultural, linguistic, and religious boundaries and create space for dialogue based on universal human values: love, gratitude, faith, and the desire for peace. Speakers paid special attention to the role of art initiatives in supporting physical, emotional, and spiritual health, as well as to making creativity accessible through tactile technologies and multisensory formats.

The meeting was moderated by the Director of the International art project “Angels of Peace” Natalia Yatsenko; she outlined the main agenda of the Round Table: to find a way to unite resources “not through budgets and complex structures, but at the call of the heart”.

The host spoke about the history of the art project, which has become a vivid example of how a personal creative impulse born from an experience of healing transformed into a bridge between cultures, generations, and countries. Over 12 years of work, “Angels of Peace” has united artists, poets, and audiences from 25 countries around the world. These are all real steps toward creating a space where art becomes a source of support.

- I can say with confidence: our project is an idea from above, a divine origin. The world is going through difficult times, but if every artist paints their angel not out of a sense of duty, but at the call of the heart, perhaps, the world will begin to heal”, - emphasized Natalia Yatsenko.

Introducing the first speaker, Olga Vakulinskaya - President of the regional branch of the Women’s Federation for World Peace and of the International Festival “Children - Angels of Peace” and head of the vocal and choreographic ensemble “Angels of Peace” - Natalia Yatsenko shared the touching story of how they met.

When the art project “Angels of Peace” was being registered, it turned out that an organization with a similar name, written in Latin script, was already operating in Moscow; it was represented by Olga Vakulinskaya. Instead of entering into a dispute over rights, the parties found a legal solution that allowed both organizations to retain their own names in the international arena. According to Natalia Yatsenko, this example became a vivid embodiment of friendship, openness, and genuine interaction.

Olga Vakulinskaya thanked her colleagues for many years of friendship and shared a joyful milestone: in 2026, the vocal and choreographic ensemble “Angels of Peace” turned 19. Over these years, a whole generation of artists has grown up - many former students have already become parents themselves. With a warm address, the speaker urged:

- Children are be born for happiness - this is what everyone working in culture and art is striving for today.

A special place in the speech was given to the theme of art as a universal language. According to Olga Vakulinskaya, through artistic creativity “people learn to hear how each other’s hearts beat, and through this they heal the world”. With musical programs, the ensemble regularly travels abroad and gives concerts in schools, where genuine “bridges of peace” are built between children and creative groups from different countries. These meetings follow a special scenario: participants approach one another, speak of repentance for the difficult past of their nations, and together seek paths to genuine unity - in the present and in the future. True friendship is born on the pure note of forgiveness.

Vice-President of the International art network IWS Globe Sara Mohebian (Iran) shared that over the years of working in exhibition spaces, she had repeatedly seen how a painting penetrates from the depth of one person’s soul into another’s heart and conveys the most important messages. It was “Angels of Peace” the speaker noted, that taught her that art is a language that needs no translation:

- At meetings like today’s Round Table, boundaries disappear: I am no longer Iranian, and my viewer is no longer a foreigner. Everyone present simply becomes human. This is where the value of unity lies.

Sara Mohebian emphasized that art is also an act of care, a kind of therapy that affects three levels at once: through the body, feelings, and spirit. She expressed deep confidence that it is art that can become a bridge of dialogue and restore people’s trust in one another, and she declared her full readiness for any cooperation.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Vasily Kandinsky Foundation for Art of the 20th - 21st Centuries, artist and architect Nikita Novikov spoke about the activities of his organization. The foundation is registered in Russia with the support of descendants of the great Russian artist and continues the work of the Kandinsky Committee at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, which existed until 2016. An important milestone was the signing in March 2026 of a Cooperation Agreement with the World Peoples Assembly.

The center of the foundation’s cultural life became Fort Konstantin in Kronstadt. Here, in May 2026, the sculpture symposium “Sea Citadel” took place, and in August, a plein air event attended by ten of the most famous realist artists from all over Russia was held. The artists worked from life, exploring the historical and literary heritage of Kronstadt, St. Petersburg, and the Leningrad Region.

The World Peoples Assembly proposed that the foundation develop this idea into an international project and invite artists from abroad. According to the speaker, the implementation of cultural projects endowed the fort with a special spirit - the spirit of the “Angel of Peace” for the entire Kronstadt district.

The foundation’s director, art historian, and expert of the “Angels of Peace” project, Nina Robachevskaya, in turn, announced the organization’s plans for the near future. Among them:

• holding a joint plein air event, “Genius of the Place”;

• creating museum and exhibition space for the “Angels of Peace” project;

• providing comprehensive expert support for art projects, including attracting professional artists to preserve the high artistic level of the works.

The speaker invited all participants in the meeting to join these areas of cooperation. Concluding her speech, Nina Robachevskaya emphasized:

- The world is becoming increasingly closed today, but it is precisely through their presence that people can open it.

Poet, writer, member of the Literary Council of Writers and Readers of the World Peoples Assembly, longtime friend of the international art project “Angels of Peace,” and Chair of the Jury of the “Poetry of the Angels of Peace” contest, Eldar Akhadov, shared that he had spent more than a decade and a half in the Far North, in the Arctic, where he worked and created. Inspired by the paintings of the art project participants, he wrote a cycle of poems that later became a poetry collection.

Head of the inclusive studio “Right to Happiness” Nadezhda Bolsunovskaya spoke about her team’s main task - to support young people with disabilities, give them the opportunity to fulfill themselves, and help them find their place in society through art. Together with the “Angels of Peace” project, the studio is breaking down established stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities.

The speaker paid special attention to a practice that has become a good tradition: young people create souvenir products bearing the symbols of the “Angels of Peace” project.

- In joint creativity, the main strength of any collaboration is the strength of unity, - summarized Nadezhda Bolsunovskaya.

Astrakhan artist Olga Belyaeva presented to those gathered her “Angel of Bright Colors” - a painting depicting a nine-year-old girl dreaming of becoming an artist. The canvas is divided into 20 sectors symbolizing the past, present, and future.

It is worth noting that Astrakhan has officially received the status of a “City of Angels of Peace”: today more than 408 posters decorate 11 institutions in the region, including about 100 works placed in two local maternity hospitals. Thus, almost all babies in Astrakhan now come into the world in a picturesque environment.

Freeride athlete, professional extreme photographer, videographer, and documentary director Konstantin Galat said in his speech that he had devoted the last 14 years to making documentary films about mountains around the world. More than 40 of his works have been translated into seven languages. Two years ago, the speaker conceived a large-scale project - a retrospective exhibition showing the incredible places he had visited together with friends - riders, athletes, and guides.

- People who live and work in the mountains are free of humanity’s ideological problems - they are so dissolved in the space of wild nature. And if there is ever a need to bring something from the “Angels of Peace” collection to these incredible corners of the planet, I would gladly take on such a task, - the speaker noted.

During the Round Table, the Art Project “Angels of Peace” and Turkish artist Aygul Okutan announced a joint project dedicated to the ebru technique - the art of painting on water. According to the authors’ idea, the creative experiment will become a genuine act of healing capable of harmonizing the souls and hearts of the participants.

Artist, poet, philanthropist, and member of the World Peoples Assembly Marina Yakovleva presented the Art Project “Angels of Peace” with letters of appreciation on behalf of the Bulgakov House Museum-Theatre, the Novokosino Moscow Longevity Center, the Pavlin Orthodox Children’s Home, and the Moscow Regional Blood Center. Personally, the speaker gave the project leaders an angel sculpture -as a symbol and reminder of everything that happened at the round table.

In response, PR Director of the International art project “Angels of Peace” Oleg Rovda awarded Marina Yakovleva a certificate “For active work in organizing exhibitions, creative evenings, and concerts.”

Then artist and participant in the “Faces of the Angels of Peace” project Elena Lantseva presented her painting “Let’s Draw - We Will Live!” and donated it to the Astrakhan Nursing Home for the Elderly and Disabled.

Artist, coordinator of the International Association of Cultural and Art Workers for Peace, and participant in the “Angel of My City” project Tatyana Kuznetsova spoke about the work “Angel of Omsk,” created under the impression of Mikhail Vrubel’s art.

Artist from Orsha Inna Goncharovian shared the story of her painting “Angel of Belarus” and expressed her readiness to involve medical centers in her home region in the project.

Artist and author of the painting “Happy Dreams” Olga Purtova addressed those gathered with warm words of gratitude. And writer Olga Pletneva showed an illustration for her fairy tale “My Angel” as proof that angels live not only on canvases but also in literary lines.

The Round Table was also attended by:

• Susan Kone - President of the Kenyan branch of the Women’s Federation for World Peace (Kenya);

• Vera Polyanskaya - representative of the Australian League of Russian Women of St. Magdalene (Australia);

• Irina Bondar - honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts, honorary member of UNESCO Greece, member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia (Russian Academy of Arts), expert of the Parliamentary Club of the State Duma of the Russian Federation (Russia);

• Siomara Briseida Delgado Reynoso - public figure, lecturer, instructor, representative of the Gnostic Center for the Study of Culture and Anthropology (Mexico).

Participants in the meeting agreed: art, capable of overcoming any boundaries and speaking the language of the heart, is becoming today an effective tool for healing, dialogue, and restoring trust. It is unity that is the key condition without which neither peace nor mutual understanding between peoples is possible.

The final chord of the Round Table was the song “Angel,” performed by its author - singer and poet Vladislava Oksyuta. The music became a harmonious conclusion to a conversation that united hearts.

Additional information is available on the official website of the World Peoples Assembly, on its VKontakte and Telegram accounts, and at media@world-assembly.org.