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California Climate Champion Monica Harnoto reflects on attending the Governors’ Global Climate Summit and speaking with Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality: “I found that the Governors’ Global Climate Summit 2 was an extremely effective demonstration of Californians leading efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It also succeeded in promoting worldwide collaboration and networking among countries.”
Germany isn't tearing down walls any more — it's trying to build bridges…The country is not alone in its efforts. The British Council promotes cultural ties to the United Kingdom in the Washington area; the Confucius Institute, China; and the Alliance Française, France. They are prime examples of soft diplomacy, argues American University's director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, James Thurber.
"Sleep No More does what all great art does: It asks questions rather than gives answers, it confronts your assumptions rather than comforts them, it takes you into a different world and transforms your own...We needed this. Boston has never seen anything quite like Sleep No More before. Neither has any North American city, New York included. The streets of Brookline seemed alive to new possibilities; so did the world of theater."
"But just how political is art? Or should it be? I ask this in the week the British Council marks 75 years of bringing UK culture to the world – and the world's culture to the UK. When the council tours the arts overseas, as it did by taking Bridget Riley behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia in 1971 and more recently sending Gregory Burke's Black Watch, a searing play about the Scottish Black Watch regiment's tour in Iraq, to New York – we can hardly help but ask what role the arts should play or are playing here?"
"British theatregoers have become reasonably familiar with this immersive style of drama … All this is new for Massachusetts audiences, who haven't had much opportunity to experience the kind of theatre that doesn't involve sitting in rows in purpose-built venues."
"I’ve seen “Macbeth’’ numerous times over the years, but never before has that villainous usurper of the Scottish throne actually shouldered me aside on his way to the feast where he will meet the harrowing sight of Banquo’s ghost."
California Climate Champion Elizabeth Valencia reflects on attending the Governors’ Global Climate Summit and meeting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "He was amazing…He said something I will never forget. He said, 'I want my son to look back one day and say my dad stopped this.' I was in awe ‘... this is my new hero."
California Climate Champion Adam Raudonis says “The presence of the youth representatives of California at the conference demonstrated to the audience of government leaders, business executives, organization heads and scientists that the upcoming generation is already dedicated to continuing their work. The leaders recognized that one doesn’t have to be a governor to inspire more sustainable practices. We can all try to become “greener” in our everyday lives.”
"Rebecca Chan, a California Climate Champion and Columbia University sophomore, recently returned from Okinawa, Japan where she studied the effects of climate change on coral reefs and discussed the ramifications of a warming world with scientists and locals."
"A teenager with a passion for the environment, Rebecca Chan recently returned from Japan, where she studied the effects of climate change."
"When carpooling Miramonte High School seniors roll into prime parking spots guaranteed to them this year, they can thank two graduates. And if they start thinking about climate change a little more, they'll have Devin Finzer and Patrick Ouziel to thank for that, too. Finzer and Ouziel took the climate change issue to their peers as California Climate Champions, raising awareness about a warming planet and improving the school's carpool program."
"I’m volunteering as the photographer for Musicians for Harmony, a group run by Allegra Klein, a New Yorker working with the British Council to create the first National Youth Orchestra of Iraq. The ensemble was dreamed up in July 2008 by Zuhal Sultan, an 18-year-old pianist with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and the new project’s star."
Between pens and bridges: A transcontinental collaboration allows Mexican poetry to be published in English.
"Seven British teachers visited Montgomery County schools last month as part of the British Council's Teachers International Professional Development program."
“An impressive crowd gathered…at the Rayburn House Office Building for what was absolutely a lovely affair…following the speakers’ remarks, attendees representing Peace Corps, Volunteer Service Organisation, Brookings Institution and many other pre-eminent volunteer and service advocate organizations, engaged in lively conversations about how their respective organizations can collaborate on projects or co-ordinate their efforts to increase global action and citizenship..."
British Council Hosts Global Service and Active Citizenship Event Tonight and Citizens Cross Borders to Serve in Diverse Teams with Global Xchange.
As part of the Global Changemakers program, college student Luke Swiderski will represent the US at the G20 summit in London next week.
Sussex Technical High School in Delaware hosts eleven British teachers as part of the Teachers International Professional Development (TIPD).
New York theater PS 122 meets with Ben Todd, executive director of Arcola Theatre in London, to learn from the world's first carbon-neutral theater.
Senator Richard Lugar mentions the British Council in an article about reinventing American cultural diplomacy.
BBC World Service reports from the British Council's Darwin panel at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Education Week's Teacher Beat blog reviews the Teachers International Professional Development (TIPD) program and suggests further US-UK teacher collaboration and training.
Read TreeHugger's interview with California Climate Champion Adam Raudonis, founder of Students for Solar Schools.
TreeHugger sits in on a “green” brainstorm session between New York theater PS122 and London’s Arcola Theater, the world’s first carbon-neutral theater.
"...the most absorbing production of this year’s Under the Radar festival, “England,” a rich drama created with rigorous, poetic economy by Mr. Crouch, belongs to that wonderful genre of thoughtful plays that could be discussed for hours without exhausting its ideas."
“For American students, a university like St. Andrews offers international experience and prestige, at a cost well below the tuition at a top private university in the United States.”
" 'Black Watch,' a play about the famed Scottish regiment’s deployment in Iraq, received rapturous reviews during its initial three-week run at St. Ann’s Warehouse, in Brooklyn, last fall...So this season, when the National Theatre of Scotland brought the show back, Feldman instituted a 'Pay for a Vet' program, whereby patrons could procure tickets for veterans who felt inclined to revisit what they had already experienced in the theatre of war in the theatre of Dumbo."
View excerpts from Black Watch and watch Charlie Rose interview director John Tiffany and actor Peter Forbes.
Nadeem Aslam, the February 2008 British Council UK Writer-in-Residence, is featured on NPR's All Things Considered.
The author, a half-British Californian, taught English at the British Council's Azerbaijan office from 2005-2007.
“Hello from Belfast in Northern Ireland - we’re here for a special WHYS on Tuesday with around 100 young people from all over the world who are here for ‘Transatlantic Network 2020.′”
Listen to a podcast of TN2020 members discussing leadership on the popular BBC radio program. You can also hear from the TN2020 members live from the summit at http://tn2020.net/.
“Seeing off this year's crop of Marshall scholars, as they left the United States to begin their university courses in Britain, was an uplifting experience…This year's scholars are an impressive and inspiring group, studying a fascinating and diverse range of subjects from trumpet performance to philosophy, from criminology to French painting."
“Twenty-six emerging leaders from the United States have been selected as inaugural members of the Transatlantic Network 2020…Tyler, Texas native, Kristofer Harrison is included in this group and has been identified as a notable young leader who will have a positive impact on the world in the years to come.”
“Shawn Renne Lent, who works in Columbia’s Center for Community Arts Partnerships, will join about 100 others from 16 different countries at the end of this month in Belfast and Dublin as a member of Transatlantic Network 2020… 'Our group looks at community art-making as a way to work through conflicts,' she said.”
(North County Times)
"'Climate change is very real to this generation,' said Annalisa Schilla, who represents the California Air Resources Board, a sponsor with the British Council of the California Climate Champions program. 'They have seen the changes in a way that other generations haven't before.'"
(written by TN2020 participant Jeff Johnson and featured on Ebonyjet.com)
"Obama stated, 'Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic.' So far, the British Council’s TN2020 members have stepped up as architects dedicated to the creation of such a bridge. I am happy to be a member of such an effort."
"Meet Sophie Angelis, one of 15 California Climate Champions (CCC). These are teens whose mission—shared with the California Air Resources Board (ARB) and the British Council—is to take grass-roots action to educate people about global warming and show them how to slow it down."
(The Wall Street Journal)
"Last month, the British Council launched the Transatlantic 2020 initiative to bring together young leaders from America, the U.K. and Europe. And Britain's "V" Organization...will build on their links with similar programs in America to explore ways in which our young people can volunteer in each other's countries."
"The point here was to take the discussion out of the hands of elites, and really create a connection between people who otherwise would not meet each other so they could discuss global challenges."
(Financial Times)
“Transatlantic co-operation was viewed overwhelmingly positively in the fields of business and trade, and in combating diseases such as HIV-Aids and malaria.”
(Eureka Dejavu's Dispatches from a Virtual World)
"Black Watch went beyond good and evil, into the heart of what it means to be most human."
(The Daily Iowan)
“Martin Davidson, the head of the British Council, will speak to the University of Iowa students, faculty, and staff today about cultural relations in a time of war, with a focus on the Middle East. ‘This is a complicated area,’ Davidson said. ‘We've tried to simplify it. Governments want to build influence overseas, but to engage the public we must express common issues.’"
(New York Magazine)
"For unsettling power, political punch, and just plain fun, nothing matched watching ten actors from the National Theatre of Scotland at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo, where their performance of Gregory Burke’s Black Watch made for the all-around best theatergoing of the year."
(The New York Times)
"A tapestry of battlefield fire and memory...an exploration of the Iraq war and its impact on the 10 characters onstage."
(The New York Times)
"A necessary reminder of the transporting power that is unique to theater...one of the most richly human works of art to have emerged from this long-lived war."
Related articles:
(Scotsman, UK)
"A beautiful, breathtaking, incredibly moving piece of real theatre... both a thoughtful treatise on the place of soldiers in a political world, and a savagely funny account of what it really feels like to be there."
Related articles:
"What we want," [British Council's director of drama and dance Sally] Cowling says, "is for countries to take work that surprises them, and not necessarily just take work that we might think fits in with our perceptions of their culture. We want to generate and encourage a mutual form of curiosity, and that can sometimes take years to bear fruit. When it does happen, and when it works, it's a real pleasure."
"The number of U.S. students ... attending 80 business schools in Britain for postgraduate degrees almost tripled during the last decade."
The eyes of the world have been on Scotland as voters went to the polls for the Holyrood and council elections.
"The British Council, which aims to build stronger relationships between the UK and other countries, has been host to many of the foreign journalists...among them was Washington Times political reporter Seth McLaughlin, who said the Scottish campaign was very different from elections he had covered at home
A small exhibit at the Chrysler Museum of Art explores the power of creative collaboration (Port Folio Weekly)
"While those within the hip-hop community and outside of it debate its influence on the ills of modern society, a quaint little exhibit from Britain is quietly making its way throughout America, providing a glaring contrast to the global image of this black-rooted art form that first took flight in the South Bronx."
"As the benefits of an international education become more widely recognized, a growing number of young Americans are enrolling in institutions in the British Isles."(Chronicle of Higher Education)
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