About Programs Fellowship News Calendar
Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change returns to Schloss Leopoldskron for the first time since 2019
More than 70 people from around the world met at Schloss Leopoldskron this summer to address how media organizations can reimagine their roles and responsibilities in societies today.
From July 18 to August 1, Salzburg Global Seminar brought together 46 participants from 15 universities to reimagine media after the pandemic.
The thematic focus of the 16th program of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change was “After the Pandemic: How Can Media Advance Equitable and Just Civic Futures?”
After a two-year absence, the Academy returned to Schloss Leopoldskron and convened participants from Argentina, Austria, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, India, Lebanon, Mexico, United Kingdom, and the United States.
During the program, participants took part in a range of activities; expert-led lectures and workshops, film screenings, cultural tours of Salzburg and Gosau and a visit to the Mauthausen Memorial.
Through different seminars, the participants got an opportunity to explore the intersection of art and media literacy, to foster human connections through an immersive experience inspired by the human library concept, to feed their civic imagination by creating and performing short sketches and to reflect on personal experiences by curating a mixtape.
During the program, Susan Moeller, professor at the College of Journalism and the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and director of the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda, delivered the Bailey Morris-Eck Lecture.
She said to tell stories, we should trust “those who are not acting in self-interest. Mis- and disinformation, typically from self-interested parties, adversely affect democratic institutions. We've all seen that play out. We've heard a lot about mis- and disinformation coming from the government. It's what's roiling both England and the United States. But it also comes from corporations; think of the tobacco or pharmaceutical industry, for example. Profit and power incentives are also often behind mis- and disinformation.”
Participants also heard from Tracie Powell, a leader in philanthropic efforts to increase racial equity and diversity in news media. Tracie, who is founder of The Pivot Fund, delivered this year's Brandon Memorial Lecture, which was titled, "Shifting Power through Equitable Journalism Funding." Reflecting on the experience, she said, "It's not a small thing to say that I got more out of the experience than I gave."
By the end of the Academy, spanning over two weeks, participants had worked on five different projects, which fall under the umbrella name, “[re]CONNECT: Transformative media learning experiences after pandemic.”
[re]CONNECT is a collection of interactive learning experiences and workshops which incorporate the elements of transformative media - care, imagination and agency to allow students to engage with media in a way that helps them better understand how they can support a strong and more inclusive world after the pandemic.
These projects include:
Speaking to Salzburg Global, several participants reflected on their experience at the Academy: “This experience reaffirms that libraries of knowledge are people at the end of the day. I have had the opportunity to learn and understand several lived experiences during my two weeks at the Academy. The beauty of the Schloss and Salzburg, the thought-provoking seminars, the well-thought-out final projects, and community engagement. I will be taking back home more perspective on how I can rethink and enrich the media pedagogies in my organization with the help of a network of ever-supporting faculty and fellows I can rely on for research,” Harika Srinivasan from Ashoka University in India said.
Meanwhile, Lukas Pleyer, from St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in Austria, said, “I'm very grateful for this experience because it was interesting to see how we are not that different, even if we come from all over the world. We had a whole other connection here. From Salzburg, I take with me being open-minded, thinking across borders, fostering relationships, and living with the spirit and mindset of changing things even on a small scale.”
Timothy Henares, working towards a master’s degree in environmental policy from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said, “I can't think of any other place on earth to be the perfect ground for ideas to grow and transform into action. Yet, more than the space and resources, the Academy's big success lies in its people — the students, faculty, hotel staff, and the seminar team — coming together to make a difference.”
The Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change is an annual program that convenes emerging leaders in media fields to build networks for positive change. If you would like to find out more about the Academy, please email Paul Mihailidis, Faculty Chair and Director.