Highlights
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Cultural Envoy Program
Cultural Envoy Teaches Technique to Dancers and Self-Esteem to Youth in Honduras
Washington D.C. based dancer, choreographer, and instructor in modern, Hip-Hop, and tap dance, Aysha Upchurch, conducted an exceptional two-week ECA Cultural Envoy program in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in November. The program was co-hosted with the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Sports and included workshops with independent dancers and several NGOs working with at-risk youth. During her program, Ms. Upchurch held numerous workshops for advanced students on breathing and movement techniques. She also introduced them to new rhythms from African dance. Ms. Upchurch talked about using dance in conflict resolution, participated in press interviews, organized a group performance with workshop participants, and generally moved the public with her solos. The public performance on November 14, showcasing the results of the workshops was a huge success. The jam-packed audience enthusiastically applauded the results of two weeks of hard work, where each group had a chance to proudly present newly-learned choreography. Aysha's tap "Crazy for You", and modern dance "Addition of Choice" solos awed the audience. One of Honduras’ major papers called Ms. Upchurch an "urban hero."
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Cultural Envoy Program
Cultural Envoys Bring Modern Dance to Kazakhstan
For two weeks in November 2008, acclaimed American choreographer, Peter Kalivas and two members of his company, Megan Jenkins and Justin Viernes, took part in a Cultural Envoy program hosted by the Shymkent Ballet School in South Kazakhstan. Sixty children (25 of them from an orphanage) between the ages of 7 and 16 were introduced to American contemporary dance. Intensive daily workshops that were taught by the Envoys resulted in a colorful sold out gala performance at the new Opera and Ballet Theatre in Shymkent on November 15. The final performance, a blend of contemporary dance, ballet, and local folk dance, concluded with a large-scale original piece developed by Kalivas while in Kazakhstan. The dance piece involved all sixty children and the Envoys, demonstrating just how far the children had come in such a short period of time.
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Cultural Envoy Program
American Broadway Musical a Huge Hit in Russian Far East
Vladivostok enjoyed the fruit of the artistic labors of two ECA-funded Cultural Envoys -Bud Coleman, a skilled choreographer of the University of Colorado at Boulder and Clare Henkel, a costume designer of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Coleman and Henkel staged three performances of Sondheim’s musical “Company”. For the first time in Primorye, a Broadway musical was staged, capitalizing on the local talent of students from the Academy of Fine Arts. The project was a huge success with several hundred students, artists, and the broader community. During their three week stay in town, the Cultural Envoys also conducted musical and theatre dance workshops, had numerous rehearsals, and gave several talks on the American theatre, the nuances of American design, and the process of putting together "Company" at major universities.
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Cultural Exchanges Program
Iowa International Writing Program Participants Reflect on Benefits of the Program
On Friday, November 14, 2008, 14 international writers in the U.S. met as participants in the ECA-funded component of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. The group included a distinguished list of prize-winning poets, playwrights, fiction, and non-fiction authors from 14 foreign countries including Iran. The writers spoke about the prestige of the IWP program in their countries and expressed their appreciation to ECA for the opportunity to participate. The fall semester program made it possible for them to focus principally on their writing as well as to learn more about the U.S. through interaction with students and community groups in Iowa City, Chicago and several other U.S. cities. A number of them told of how they were inspired by different aspects of our society and culture, inspiration that would certainly become an intrinsic part of their future work. Following their visit to Washington, the writers traveled to New York City to meet with writers and publishers before returning to their home countries.
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Performing Arts Initiative
Paul Taylor Dance Company Performs in Bangkok for Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand.
As part of its year-long series of events to commemorate 175 years of U.S.-Thai friendship, the U.S. Embassy Bangkok, with support from ECA, welcomed the Paul Taylor Dance Company of New York for two performances at the Thailand Cultural Center. The performances were part of Bangkok's 10th Annual International Festival of Dance and Music held October 3–4, and considered one of Thailand's major international cultural events of the year. The world-class contemporary performance of Paul Taylor Dance Company offered six productions choreographed by famous American choreographer Paul Taylor, including "Promethean Fire," inspired by music of J.S. Bach, the lyrical "Mercuric Tidings" from composer Franz Schubert, and the intriguing "Byzantium" from composer Edgard Varese. The opening performance on October 3 was marked by the special appearance of Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand, who presided over the evening's performance. Thousands of others who attended the festival were thrilled by the performances, which underscored the excellence of U.S. artistic offerings.
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Traveling Exhibitions
Representatives from U.S. Participate in the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale.
The U.S. exhibition "Into the Open: Position Practice" opened to the public September 14th as part of the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale, eliciting enthusiastic and positive comments from both the press and the public. With partial ECA funding, the Slought and PARC Foundations brought together a team of 16 architects, urban researchers, and community activists to focus their creativity and talent on an exploration of the expanded role of architecture in addressing global social, economic, and community concerns. The exhibition, which was described by the International Herald Tribune as 'the best exhibition… in years,' gave the public an excellent insight into U.S. society and in particular our belief in the value of citizen activism and participation in a democracy. By the closing of the biennale in November, thousands of Italian and foreign visitors, including not only professionals but also students and foreign tourists, had seen the exhibit. The exhibit is made possible by public and private contributions, including ECA funding and support from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which owns the U.S. Pavilion in Venice.
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Traveling Exhibitions
Photography, Video, and Performance Artist Rainer Ganahl Works with Students and Garners Much Media Attention at Shanghai Biennale.
ECA-funded artist Rainer Ganahl participated in roundtable discussions with Shanghai artists and art students on September 9th and 12th, talking not only about the work being shown at the biennale, but also about his own artistic concepts and process. Students and artists remarked on this wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas with an American artist. Ganahl also gave tours of the exhibits for the students, explaining the work of various artists. During his visit, Ganahl's work, including his film "Crossing the Hangzhou Bridge," was covered by two daily Chinese newspapers, various Chinese web sites dedicated to the arts, and by Shanghai Education TV and Shanghai TV's English-language channel.
Harlem Gospel Choir Rocks and Energizes Lebanese Audiences
Through a Performing Arts Initiative grant to Embassy Beirut, the Harlem Gospel Choir gave a series of dynamic performances and outreach activities during their 4 day visit to Lebanon in early May. The Choir gave two performances to over 1,600 audience members of all ages and backgrounds at the downtown Beirut Music Hall, and a third performance to 400 at Notre Dame University. Fulbright and Fusion Arts Exchange alumni, Youth Exchange and Study (YES) high school exchange alumni were among those in attendance at the concert. Hundreds of English Access Micro scholarship students, most from rural, underprivileged areas rarely exposed to American cultural performances were also in attendance. The students - including Muslim girls wearing hijab (headscarf) - ended up on stage singing and dancing with the choir. As the concert ended, students crowded around the performers to shake hands and obtain autographs. The Choir also conducted workshops at local universities and participated in several media events to ensure maximum exposure throughout Lebanon. The Harlem Gospel Choir was the first prominent group of performers to come to Lebanon with U.S. Government assistance since 2005. The professionalism and stage presence of the singers enraptured audiences, and their reaction was perhaps the most tangible proof of the program’s success.
Cultural Exchanges Program
ECA Filmmaker Grantees Cap Program with Public Premiere at George Washington University’s Documentary Center
The Documentary Center presented “A Night of Short Films" June 30 honoring filmmakers who have completed a six-week training program at the Institute for Documentary Filmmaking and the ECA-funded International Emerging Filmmakers Fellowship Program. The evening featured a 45 minute program of short films which the Institute filmmakers and the filmmaker Fellows produced as capstones to their programs. This was followed by a presentation of certificates to the filmmakers and a post-screening reception. The Institute for Documentary Filmmaking is a six-month program that teaches film conceptualization, screenwriting, producing, editing, and other technical aspects of film. The International Filmmakers Fellowship is a condensed and concentrated version of the longer program. The participating filmmakers came from Kenya, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Somalia, India, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, and Jordan. The Documentary Center selected these ten individuals out of nearly 120 candidates who applied to the program from all over the world.
Performing Arts Program
Tony Award- winning Playwright, Actress and Poet Sarah Jones kicks off Israel’s 60th Anniversary of Independence Festival and Celebrations
Sarah Jones traveled to Israel on the occasion of the country’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. She performed two shows before sold-out audiences at the 18th “Theatronetto Monodrama Festival” at the Arab-Hebrew Theatre in Old Jaffa. Seats were added to accommodate the overflow of audience members which included top cultural figures, theatre critics, students and a broad cross-section of Israeli theatre aficionados. Ms. Jones portrayed a number of different characters in a direct and easygoing manner. The festival was one of the first events celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence.
During her short visit to Israel, Ms. Jones also offered extremely successful workshops to a mixed group of Arab and Jewish actors at the Arab-Hebrew Theatre. Arab-Israeli writers, actors, educators, and journalists attended her workshop at the Al Afuka Association for theatre and culture. Over 40 student actors participated at the Yoram Loewenstein Acting Studio. Another workshop was held at the Arab-Hebrew Theater for Arab and Jewish actors, where participants included students from a local college theatre department and actors from the Al-Midan Arabic Theater in Haifa, as well as both theatre directors. The participants were amazed by her skill and were eager to exchange ideas.
Performances and workshops ended with loud, sustained ovations and received broad press coverage in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Her message of peaceful multiculturalism was heard and understood throughout Israel.
Cultural Envoys
U.S. Cultural Envoys Break Clichés of Contemporary Dance in Kosovo
During their two week-long visit to Kosovo in April, Cultural Envoys Colleen Cintron and Marie Morrow worked with various dance groups; a traditional folk dance ensemble in Shota; the National Theater of Kosovo Ballet Troupe in Pristina; “Art Design" in Gjakova; and folk dance groups in "Mladost" in Strpce. The Cultural Envoys demonstrated new techniques of contemporary dance to the Ballet troupe, whose repertoire is mostly classical ballet. They also worked closely with the Ballet Troupe for two-weeks to create a "Contemporary Dance Dialogue Show" at the National Theater of Pristina on May 3. The "dialogue show" broke the clichés of contemporary dance in Kosovo and gave an audience of over 300, including the new Minister of Culture, a new perspective of this style. Envoys and the show itself received Kosovo-wide media coverage, with the envoys, U.S. Embassy staff, and dancers interviewed by the major Kosovo newspapers, TV, and radio stations about their collaboration. The Ballet Troupe hopes to bring the Envoys back to Kosovo to develop more styles, techniques, and an extended program.
Performing Arts Program
Taiwan: Battery Dance Company Connects with Aboriginal Students
The Battery Dance Company (BDC) arranged educational outreach workshops and master classes, a professional dialogue, a press conference, and one public performance during their visit to Taiwan in late April, 2008. Jonathan Hollander, the BDC’s artistic director gave a presentation at the Taipei Artist Village, was joined by the Executive Directors of the world renowned Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and the Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture. Nearly 60 Taiwanese art administrators, managers, dancers and university students enjoyed a rare opportunity to hear different perspectives on the management and presentation of the arts. Approximately 100 young Taiwanese dancers from two high schools in Taichung, and 30 professional adult aboriginal dancers at the Taiwan Indigenous Cultural Park in South Taiwan participated in a series of master classes with the members of Battery Dance Company. Twenty aboriginal student dancers of Szu Chen Junior High School in Taichung Country worked with the BDC dancers in an international cultural exchange program called “Dancing to Connect.” With BDC’s help, the student dancers created a new dance of their own and presented it at the Chung Shan Hall performance. Over 15,000 people attended the performance, including government officials, Taiwanese aboriginal groups, art and dance professionals, teachers, students, media, and the general public. The performances were highly theatrical, gorgeous, and mysterious, and they deeply impressed all audiences in attendance
Cultural Envoys
West Bank Women's Painting Workshops Foster Talent and Friendships
Washington, DC artist Helen Zughaib spent a month (February 16 through March 15, 2008) in different areas of the West Bank as a Cultural Envoy. A core group of twelve West Bank female artists worked together with Helen, using art to explore themes such as women’s issues. They shared their own stories of strength, courage and hope in works that were then presented during Women's History Week at The Sabatini Cultural center in Ram Allah. A beautiful exhibition catalog produced with artists’ biography and images of their works were also on display at the Cultural Center. The workshops were co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the U.S. Consulate. Local press was extremely supportive of the artists and Ms. Zughaib's participation. In addition to working with the core group of women artists, Ms. Zughaib worked with youth in the community.
Traveling Exhibitions
Cultural Heritage Preservation in Kosovo is Highlighted through the Lens of Landmarks of New York Exhibition
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs-organized Landmarks of New York exhibition opened at the National Gallery of Art in Pristina, Kosovo to an audience of over 100 local architects, representatives of the Kosovo Ministry of Culture, and the general public in April, 2008. The opening was widely covered in Kosovo media. The exhibition commemorates the 1965 law to protect New York’s historic buildings, and the Charge d’Affaires Tina Kaidanow highlighted the U.S. Embassy’s commitment to preserving Kosovo’s cultural heritage, regardless of its ethnic affiliation. She further commented on how New York’s buildings have come to define the city as a place of multiple ethnicities, religions, and traditions, all powerfully expressed through art, architecture, and culture. This exhibition serves as an inspiration for Kosovo to develop its own cultural heritage in a similar manner, respectful of all ethnicities, their diverse histories, and traditions. At the conclusion of the Kosovo program, the exhibition will travel to the Cultural Centers in Prizen and Strpce.
Performing Arts Program
The Neo Classic Blues Duo Rocks Audiences in Ghana and Togo
The U.S. Embassy of Ghana in Accra invited Neo Classic Blues Duo Gaye Adegbalola and Roddy Barnes to perform in Ghana and Togo from April 3 - 13, 2008. Roddy and Gaye perform blues melodies from the 1920s and 1930s and narrate the history of these songs as a way of preserving the genre and promoting the universality of its expression. The duo held concerts in four cities throughout Ghana as well as Lome. Attendees included senior government officials, diplomats, NGO representatives, academics, and members of the media. Audiences appreciated the music accompanied by a brief narrated history of African-American society during the period and requested multiple encores. The duo's last evening in Ghana featured a concert at popular American-owned music venue JazzTones and a jam session with local musicians from Ghana and Cameroon.
Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad
Rhythm Road musicians thrilled audiences during Washington, D.C. tour
On April 17th, 2008, New Orleans Jazz ensemble Devin Phillips and the New Orleans Straight Ahead and The Dana Leong Band thrilled Washington, D.C. audiences with their individual musical styles and their accounts of foreign travels to Africa and Asia as part of their participation in the Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad tours. Members of the domestic outreach audience, assembled at the National Geographic auditorium, later sought out Cultural Programs Division Chief Colombia Barrosse to register their appreciation for this special brand of cultural diplomacy and encourage continued support for musical tours abroad. On the 50th anniversary of their creation, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs invited Bureau of African Affairs' colleagues, including Deputy Assistant Secretary Carol Thompson to the concert.
Cultural Programs
American Writers Engage Audiences in Oman and Saudi Arabia
From April 13 - 19, a delegation of four prominent American writers engaged students and local writers in Oman and Saudi Arabia on a variety of issues related to the writing process. While in Oman, the American authors also took part in a poetry competition of students reading sonnets at the Sultan Qaboos University. They discussed with the students their sources of inspiration and the importance of creative writing as a form of communication and expression. They also presented lectures and participated in discussions at Bayon College and Nizwa University, leading workshops on how to write for newspapers and other media. Later, the American writers visited Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, presenting their work to an audience of doctors and professors of Arabic and English at the Jeddah Literary Club. Audience members commented on the writing and discussed the difficulties that journalists face in Saudi Arabia. These events were part of the grant with the Iowa Writers’ Program.
Cultural Envoys
American Cultural Envoys Teach Jazz to Nicaraguan Musicians
American jazz musicians Alejandro Aviles (saxophonist) and Raul Romero (guitarist) engaged 40 music students, teachers and local musicians in Nicaragua through a two-week intensive jazz course call Introduction to Jazz, from March 23 – April 6, 2008. The participants represented a variety of musical styles and groups, including the Polytechnic University’s Music Conservatory, the Nicaraguan Music Academy, the Municipality of Managua Band, and the Nicaraguan Army Band. Through the jazz course and master classes, students, teachers, and musicians of lower economic means were able to develop their musical repertoire under the instruction and guidance of these two professional musicians. The Americans also performed at five well-attended concerts that were free to the public. In total, the jazz duet reached out to nearly 700 Nicaraguans during their concerts, jazz courses and master classes and shared the American musical tradition of jazz with a wide variety of audiences from diverse social and economic backgrounds in Nicaragua, and overall the program received wide print, television and radio coverage by the Nicaraguan media.
Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad
The Maya Azucena Band Brings Songs of Hope to Burma and China
Maya Azucena and her band opened their Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad tour of Asia with a program in Burma, followed by programs throughout China from April 2 - 14, 2008. The group thrilled local audiences in both countries with an incredible repertoire of American music, from jazz and reggae to the latest hip-hop styles, and won the hearts of hundreds of new Burmese fans and Chinese students. In Burma, their program included three highly attended performances, four energetic workshops with local youth on performance techniques and one jam session with two of Burma's most well known hip-hop stars - Kaung Myat and J-Me. After visiting Burma, the group visited Beijing, Shenyang, and Ghangzhou, China. In China, their program reached approximately 1,150 Chinese students through performances and workshops at four major universities. They promoted messages of hope, strength, freedom, inclusion, and participation. At one performance in Guangzhou, many of the fifty disabled students who were in attendance commented they danced for the first time in their lives at this event.
Cultural Envoys
Los Angeles Theater Experts Present Innovative Workshops to Young Salvadoran Musicians
Early in March, three U.S. theater experts from the 24th Street Theatre in Los Angeles traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador, as U.S. Department of State Cultural Envoys. They presented a series of 90-minute workshops entitled, "Unmasking the Musician." These workshops, designed for at-risk youth, and were attended by 120 young musicians of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of El Salvador (OSJ), as well as public school teachers and 200 children from a Catholic orphanage. These performances are popular among tourists and well-attended by local communities. With a little help from the L.A. Theatre Experts, the goal of enabling young musicians to gain confidence in their ability to explore and interpret music, communicate more fully through their musical instruments, and express their emotions was accomplished. This project helped support the development of arts and education programs, professional training and development of the musicians, which will also ultimately enhance the tourism industry in San Salvador.
Cultural Envoys
Cultural Envoys bring Hip-Hop to China’s Muslim West
Hip-Hop dancers/choreographers Michael Parks Masterson and Quae Parks traveled to China for a two-week Cultural Envoy program this March. The Cultural Envoys taught Hip-Hop to 45 mostly Uighur students from the Xinjiang Arts Institute in Urumqi, Xinjiang, capital of the Muslim-dominated autonomous region in western China. The students have largely been trained in ballet and traditional dance forms. Workshops and subsequent performances throughout this ten-day program were designed to reach out to underserved youth in this autonomous Muslim-majority region of western China. The first performance, which successfully integrated audience participation, included a mix of Uighur music and dance as well as U.S.-style Hip-Hop dance. It was attended by students, school administrators, and other members of the community. The program was well received by the dance students, and is expected to expose a great number of other people in the region (particularly youth) to an increasingly popular and modern form of American dance, thus helping to foster positive inter-cultural communication between the U.S. and China.
February 2008
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Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad
On The Road to Morocco
The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program launched the tour of the Bronx-based urban music ensemble UNIVERSES in Morocco from January 25th to 31st, where they were a “big hit” with audiences of inner-city youth. Included were two jam sessions with local bands from Casablanca’s Sidi Moumen neighborhood.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional Exchanges Alina L. Romanowski and National Endowment of the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia participate in the opening ceremonies of the Big Read Egypt program in Cairo
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Global Cultural Initiative
Launch of Big Read Egypt/United States
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional Exchanges Alina Romanowski and Cultural Programs Division Chief Colombia Barrosse, along with the National Endowment for the Arts Chairman, Dana Goia, coordinated the launch of the Big Read Egypt/U.S. program during the International Book Fair in Cairo on January 31st. Four Egyptian partner organizations have been selected by the post in Cairo, in conjunction with grantee organization Arts Midwest to organize groups of Egyptian participants who will read and discuss Arabic versions of three classic American novels. The launch received positive press in the local media and piqued tremendous interest among the public for the project. The program will bring communities together by reading and discussing selected books. The project will create a forum for the citizens of Egypt and the United States to learn about each others' cultural history, traditions, people and civic life by reading and discussing selected works of literature that represent, reflect, and comment upon each country's culture. The authors selected for the project are Egypt's Nagib Mahfouz and America's Ray Bradbury, Harper Lee, and John Steinbeck.
January 2008
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Cultural Exchanges Program
Creation: An Exchange between U.S. and Hong Kong Visual Theatre Artists
Members of the Hong Kong Theatre of the Silence presented a visual theater piece entitled “The Beginnings of Everything.” The performance, intended for a hearing-impaired audience, used sign language and other theatrical visuals in order to examine the origin of creation. The presentation took place on January 18 and is part of the 2008 Quest Fest, which showcases visual arts theatre and includes workshops and master classes conducted by twelve Hong Kong performing artists for students with multiple disabilities at five schools across Maryland. The program has received extensive national media coverage including coverage by the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, and Voice of America. This visit was funded in part by an ECA grant to the Maryland-based Quest: Arts for Everyone organization.