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Young Cultural Innovators

Blood Memory
Photo by Richard SchabetsbergerAdrienne Benjamin
Blood Memory
By: Adrienne Benjamin 

Salzburg Global Artist in Residence Adrienne Benjamin writes about her experience in Salzburg, language barriers, and the relation to her ancestral past

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Lessons on Being Seen and Unseen and Forging New Connections
Lessons on Being Seen and Unseen and Forging New Connections
By: Moira Villiard 

Salzburg Global artist in residence Moira Villiard reflects on her stay at Schloss Leopoldskron and the art of being present

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Using Art to Make Change Happen
Using Art to Make Change Happen
By: Amanda Lovelee 

Salzburg Global artist-in-residence Amanda Lovelee and her collaborator, Emily Stover, use play and curiosity to get people thinking about our shared futures with all living things

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Finding Beauty in Nature while Writing about Ugly History
Finding Beauty in Nature while Writing about Ugly History
By: Dina Porell 

Salzburg Global artist in residence Dina Mousa reflects on Egypt's dark past and her time at Schloss Leopoldskron

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On Poetry, From the Personal to the Political
On Poetry, From the Personal to the Political
By: Carl Swanson 

Salzburg Global Artist in Residence, Carl Swanson reflects on poetry and his time at Schloss Leopoldskron

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New Perspectives and Ways of Thinking
As seen from above, Sunbox Ambassadors in South Africa positioned on a field replicating the Sunshine Cinema logoAs seen from above, Sunbox Ambassadors in South Africa positioned on a field replicating the Sunshine Cinema logo
New Perspectives and Ways of Thinking
By: Shiba Melissa Mazaza 

Co-founder of Sunshine Cinema Rowan Pybus discusses how his Salzburg Global experience gave him validation and courage to push further ahead

Before becoming a Salzburg Global Fellow, Cape Town-based filmmaker and art-activist Rowan Pybus believed he was doing exactly what he needed to do within his purpose as a film enthusiast. However, while attending a Cultural Innovators Forum program in 2015, he realized he had many changes to make, both in the outside world and within himself.

After establishing multi-award-winning ethical media production company Makhulu Media in 2005, he spearheaded many groundbreaking projects that helped the world see South Africa in a new light, partnering with Greenpeace, WWF, and Google, to name a few. Years later, he recalls the advice he was given - “Don’t work in your business, work on it”  - and how this one line enabled him to be a better leader.

“I was working too close to each action,” Rowan reflects. “I was trying to do too much within organizations. My role was to build out big ideas with the team and to help those that do work in the business to achieve their goals.”

Shortly after Makhulu was born, this new way of thinking led to the formation of his public good film company, Sunshine Cinema, which he co-founded with his wife and fellow visual artist, Sydelle Willow-Smith, operational in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.

At Sunshine Cinema, they’ve built a solid team of creative activists who train “Sunbox Ambassadors” working in film, photography, and audience facilitation. The ambassadors host free film screenings and produce current affairs podcasts they share with their WhatsApp community networks. Key themes around gender, land, conservation, economic development, and social cohesion became the focus, and the company began to expand the horizons of everyone they met.

After surviving a horrific car accident, Rowan and Sydelle accelerated their program, infusing a home solar system into an old Land Rover, and set about bringing the best African-made films to rural and urban areas. Out of this came an invention - the Sunbox - which allowed them to hand over the power of a cinema to anyone who felt the urge to wield it. This solar-powered cinema-in-a-box is now in the hands of more than 30 young people all over Southern Africa.

Working “on and not in” the business helped him forge a new path and a solid support system for his teams, which has led to tremendous strides for both Makhulu and Sunshine Cinema despite the pandemic.

While Makhulu laid the foundation for Rowan’s dream, Sunshine Cinema was created to “spark conversation,” particularly because African cinema has grown exponentially across time. However, the upkeep of cinema spaces such as theaters and projection halls has quickly declined. Rowan knew film and storytelling were the perfect media to affect how people behaved for the good of society, but projects such as these with the kind of societal impact he was seeking needed immense injections of funding. Remembering the wise words he was imbued with, he began to work on the company, chasing investment opportunities with new vigor.

“At Sunshine Cinema, we were able to focus on finding investors to help us build out a world first course in partnership with the University of Cape Town. I believe that I would not have had the courage to write messages to powerful people had I not received the validation in my own thinking that I did while attending the Salzburg Global program.

“Today, the course focuses on teaching impact facilitation using African-made films to spark meaningful conversations. We are launching to the public in 2022, and it aims to bring the art of face-to-face conversations across divisions that lead to mutual benefit for all who care to listen, empathize and learn from one another.”

The program is set to feature key filmmakers from across the country in Dylan Valley, Gcina Mhlope, Judy Kibinge, and Anita Khanna in a never-before-attempted impact program that will last six months and be conducted online.

Another takeaway since Rowan attended the program at Salzburg was being exposed to 360-degree video. He took this experience and developed an idea that has come to be known as 360HIV: Choice, the world’s first stigma-free sexual health immersive education experience. He then leveraged his network to get support from Google, UNAIDS, the South African Department of Health, and funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to bring his idea to life.

What is key to note about this experience is the young people in attendance can choose how the story unfolds. Upon studying their approach later, they realized their mode of delivery increased memory retention of the key information by as much as 70 percent, bringing the project to academic review, pending publication.

In harnessing the power of his own light and enabling others to do the same, Rowan has come to understand the true meanings of impact and activism. Instead of focusing on what he could do on his own, he opened himself up to empowering those around him, and the results will be felt for generations to come. Such is the collective power of storytelling.

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Faith, Fun, and The New Victorians
Bettina Muchmore and Philipa Naudi standing in a chapelBettina Muchmore and Philipa Naudi are The New Victorians (TNV), a singing duo based in Malta
Faith, Fun, and The New Victorians
By: Shiba Melissa Mazaza 

Salzburg Global Fellows Bettina Muchmore and Philipa Naudi discuss how their Cultural Innovators Forum experience sent them on a tour of chapels across Malta

Bettina Muchmore and Philipa Naudi are The New Victorians (TNV), a singing duo based in Malta, drawing strength from sisterhood, live sonic manipulation, and theater. With a population of just over 500,000 people tucked between Sicily and North Africa, the island is culturally vivid, with a sense of intimacy amongst its bijou of artists.

The duo found their creativity composing, directing, performing, and sharing their harmony with the world. TNV’s 2015 debut album, Seeker Seeker, set the pace for a gleaming future, propelling them toward numerous live acts and releases. It also led to two commissioned electronic music theater pieces in 2018. The first was Rave & Behave, a children’s show for Ziguzajg International Arts Festival. The second was VII (Sette) for Teatru Malta, which quickly became a soldout show at Fort St. Elmo in June 2019.

After spending painstaking hours lobbying for artists’ recognition and support from the Maltese government, their momentum grew. The following year they joined the 2020 cohort of the Cultural Innovators Forum, organized by Salzburg Global Seminar. But, alas, fate had different ideas for how the next year of their lives would be spent.

“I think Salzburg Global Seminar came at a time when I really needed it…” says Naudi. “We had just come from a long period of isolation, not just physically in terms of friends and family but also in terms of inspiration. Typically, we’d fly overseas to perform in Edinburgh or London... It would always fill up our tanks, remind us of the power of art and connection, and why we got into this field in the first place.”

The pair needed to find a way to keep making music that would energize them and their fans at home. Malta happens to be a difficult place to make a living as an artist in particular because of its small size. However, the two kept their spirits high. While attending the Cultural Innovators Forum, the duo had a lightbulb moment.

“During one afternoon session, we discussed ideas about what we can continue doing to support ourselves,” says Muchmore. “It was a very free brainstorming session that helped us see what was unique to our country, our island, our skillset... We didn’t feel pressured to make it an end product in any way. And I remembered thinking, we have so many chapels in Malta... If we’re only allowed to have audiences of 30 people with lots of distance, how could we have a tour of different chapels in Malta so people could go to different concerts in their own village?

“Tours don’t really happen here because it is so small, and it was interesting to think about bringing a tour to Malta. Church and faith usually bring people together, and it was Christmas time, so I think that it was really beautiful to get to the core of that season.”

With just a month until Christmas to pull it off, the sisters felt like it was too outlandish an idea at first. But faith in their ability to bring families together with music after such a taxing year kept them afloat. On the islands of Malta and Gozo (which are two separate dioceses), there are 359 churches, with 313 in Malta and 46 in Gozo.

In just a few weeks, the two and their team visited each chapel, planned photoshoots, prepared marketing materials, and ensured safety protocols were in place. The end result was nine beautifully lit performances across the island, including Santa Katerina Chapel in Żejtun and Imtaħleb Chapel in Rabat. Shows consisted of reimagined hymns and carols held in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Malta.

The shows sold out within two days of launch. It prompted them to extend the run of performances, making room for two or three concerts per night. It was a powerful statement for the creators that mere months ago had to fight for a place at the front of society’s mind.

“Taking the leap is what we always go for,” Naudi continues. “Doing things ‘afraid’ and having faith in your own ideas while hoping that if I am brave enough to enjoy it, other people will too. It’s clear that we’re all going through similar struggles, whether we’re on a tiny island like Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean or in freezing cold Canada!

“It was reassuring, knowing that whatever you’re feeling, disheartened, inspired… that there are people around the globe now that are a kind of your creative family

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Music, Land, and Language
Separate photos of Lazaros Damanis and Sacramento Knoxx on a gray backgroundLazaros Damanis (left) attended the Cultural Innovators Forum in 2014 and is now collaborating with Sacramento Knoxx (right)
Music, Land, and Language
By: Shiba Melissa Mazaza 

Athens-based Cultural Innovator Lazaros Damanis discusses his cross-hub collaboration with Detroit-based Sacramento Knoxx

Athens is a vivid city and one of the most historically influential Greek city-states. It carries values from the classical age that blend, bend and sometimes break with the modern era of social media, social capital, and social shifts. History speaks of philosophers on hills contemplating the meaning of life, the source of creativity, olive branches exchanged in moments of interrelatedness, and our ability to alter our worldviews once those connections are fully explored. Yet, so often, words like “democracy,” “compassion,” and “philosophy” are bandied about without much substance. Still, today, two Salzburg Global Fellows aim to ensure this trend doesn’t continue.

At the moment, cultural and societal turbulence is at the epicenter of an ongoing transformation in Greece. Musician, artist and activist Lazaros Damanis believes resilience and adaptation lead the way to stay flexible enough to change with the surrounding world. In 2014, he became a Fellow of the Cultural Innovators Forum. His time at Salzburg Global reassured him he needed to further embrace global shifts. This assurance was reaffirmed when he met Sacramento Knoxx, a Detroit-based music archivist participating in the program. Thus, a seed was planted during his time at Schloss Leopoldskron that is still bearing fruit today.

“We met for the first time around noon; this was during a workshop that allowed us to introduce ourselves and share some views, mainly from our musical background. Since Knoxx is a songwriter/musician and I am a sound engineer/festival organizer, the path was already there. Knoxx is like a gentle mountain, calm and decent until he starts playing music. From this point, he transforms into a very vivid persona.

“For me, his character and the way he writes his lyrics... the passion for change with music as a tool made me feel quite close to his mindset. We both speak the universal language of music that feeds the soul and ultimately changes the world.”

In 2020, Knoxx, also known as Christopher Yepez, produced a track called LVNDBVCK during heightened tensions worldwide in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a police officer. The likelihood that two cultures so far removed from one another would be able to see eye to eye appeared to be small, but this was not true for the two creators.

Supported by the Cultural Innovators Forum and the Kresge Foundation, Knoxx and Damanis developed an idea for a joint project that emulated their connection. The project brought forth a combination of reverence for pre-colonial mother earth in the US, and the introspective nature of ancient Greek life, with the two finding common ground among the rubble 2020 had wrought.

The project was initially named “Waawiiyatanong,” a word that means “returning to the ways in which the people flourished here.” It is also the Indigenous name for what we understand today as Detroit. The pair were inspired by the idea of hearkening back to push their hopes for the future forward. Until the 1970s, it was illegal for Indigenous people to have any ceremonies in the US. Now they hope to host events that will break new ground for the people who know the land as it was before and can be going forth.

Athens is still, according to Damanis, “developing its transformational thought-culture.” Meanwhile, Detroit’s rich indigenous history, along with developing protest music in house and hip hop as havens for black and indigenous people, teach us more about cultivating a heritage of acceptance and respect, which can, in turn, translate to opportunities for reparations and growth in today’s cultural arenas.

“It is well known that music as a form of expression and furthermore as a universal language can involve different cultures and create connections amongst people. Our main goal is to preserve the cultural heritage of such a vivid area [in Detroit) using music as the main vehicle of our cultural exchange in order to create a multi-cultural cluster with an open-source philosophy.”

This idea involves three days of hybrid workshops, exhibitions, performances, and participation from both sides. Still, the pandemic has thus far prevented them from seeing the full extent of their dreams:

“Implementing the project as it was conceptualized is a bit difficult because we both believe that nothing can replace human contact,” says Damanis. “Having in mind that in Detroit, everyday living has a lot of unpredictable parameters, a purely online project may not have the same impact as it was planned.

"Living and working in Athens - and in other rural areas of Greece - under the scope of a country that works on resilience during tough socio-economic times, one of key factors that led us to a premature stability was the focus on our behavioral roots, bringing up values such as empathy, acceptance, courage and moreover to re-establish solidarity through participation and active citizenship.

“My aim is to apply in a different context methodologies and ideas that worked in my home, having the belief that it can be fruitful for the native arts and culture in Detroit, and of course for the people who are the real actors, acting as catalysts of change.“

As it stands, their project is still in production, but the two continue to think of ways to carve out a new path together, whether digitally or on the ground. In the meantime, Knoxx has released a new album called ‘Medicine Bag,’ which details his passion for Waawiiyatanong and the balance of mind, body, and spirit. Stream the deluxe version on Bandcamp.

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A Fond Farewell to Program Director, Susanna Seidl-Fox
A Fond Farewell to Program Director, Susanna Seidl-Fox
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Long-serving Program Director for Culture and the Arts to retire in November 2021

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Salzburg Global Appoints Values Process Facilitators
Salzburg Global Seminar logo and photos of Greta Muscat Azzopardi (left) and Carl Swanson (right)Greta Muscat Azzopardi (left) and Carl Swanson (right) are part of the Cultural Innovators Forum
Salzburg Global Appoints Values Process Facilitators
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Carl Swanson and Greta Muscat Azzopardi will support an internal process to identify the organizational values that guide Salzburg Global Seminar's work

Salzburg Global Fellows will help Salzburg Global Seminar identify the organizational values that guide its work as part of a new internal process.

Carl Swanson and Greta Muscat Azzopardi have been appointed Values Process Facilitators to meet this objective and begin their work later this month.

Swanson is an associate director at Springboard for the Arts, a national leader in artist resources and artist-led community development based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Muscat Azzopardi is a facilitator, coach, and communications mentor based in Malta.

Both have attended programs hosted by the Cultural Innovators Forum and remain an active part of the network.

Salzburg Global recognizes that identifying organizational values for the entire institution, including Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron, is an important part of strategic planning.

Salzburg Global is committed to reviewing its purpose, practices, and policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. On the recommendation of staff, board members, and Fellows, the organization will undertake this internal process to help solidify and communicate its values.

Working with staff, Swanson and Muscat Azzopardi will help define the organization's values that will guide future programmatic direction, institutional business opportunities, and brand identity.

Swanson said, "As a Fellow, I've experienced the value of these programs and have fond memories of the connections and experiences at the Schloss Leopoldskron. Organizations are made up of people, and so the work that we do towards clearer understanding and communication together makes for more creative and responsive organizations. Greta and I are here to listen, to raise up the values that are present, and work with the staff to build [a] common language and common goals. It is a very exciting project with a very exciting organization."

Muscat Azzopardi said, "I worked in the past with a group of hotels, implementing brand guidelines born from the aspirations of a small group of executives in a design agency. I, therefore, know the pitfalls of failing to involve the people at the heart of operations. I am so happy to now be facilitating an inclusive values process to acknowledge, celebrate and build on what this organization's members already hold together. This process is an important part of building tools that feel right and stay alive in the coming years."

Both Swanson and Muscat Azzopardi will deliver the identification of three to five core institutional values, a draft values statement, an action plan for operationalization, and recommendations for internal practices and communication.

They will virtually meet with staff from Salzburg Global and Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron next month.

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All the World’s a Stage: Faye Kabali-Kagwa on Rehearsing Realities and Reimagining Futures
Faye Kabali-Kagwa at the 2019 Annual Co-Lab of the Salzburg Global Cultural Innovators Forum
All the World’s a Stage: Faye Kabali-Kagwa on Rehearsing Realities and Reimagining Futures
By: Shiba Melissa Mazaza 

Salzburg Global Cultural Innovator reflects on how pandemic-induced lockdowns have forced shifts in many types of performance

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

This statement attributed to playwright William Shakespeare could not ring more true, as we look back on the year that brought the world quite literally to a standstill. COVID-19 and its effects showed us what really matters in today’s world – with Black lives being the most prominently vocalized. In an interview with Salzburg Global Seminar, Cape Town-based Salzburg Global Cultural Innovator and theater enthusiast Faye Kabali-Kagwa reflects on the roles we have played to bring us to this pivotal moment in history and how leaning on a network of young people who believe in creating a better world helped her find new ways to approach her passion for theater.

Under health and safety regulations, the world of performance-based arts had to shut its doors. However, the emergence of brands and organizations eager to protect their reputations found their way into the limelight, creating a new form of performance, eager to assure that they would be on the right side of history with refreshed mission statements proclaiming their support. It was in witnessing this that Kabali-Kagwa was able to revisit her own sensibilities and understand what true allyship looks and feels like.

“I used to find it very difficult to think of an ideal way of being... or an ideal life, or an ideal world,” says Kabali-Kagwa. “In a lot of ways, I’ve been thinking about how vision statements or mission statements for institutions (but also for yourself) are helpful in the sense that they bring to the fore things that you care about… 

“The truth of the matter is that there are always more ways in which we can be pushing back – small ways in which we can be empowering people; small ways in which we can be showing people kindness; small ways in which we can be socially conscious that don‘t come with status, don’t come with money, do not come with fame. They are practices. They are ideologies that are entrenched in how we view the world.”

In response to the ongoing pandemic, the Cultural Innovators Forumshifted its Annual Co-Lab from a week-long program in Salzburg to a month-long online engagement in 2020, with many Fellows opting to use the virtual space as a means to continue their connections long after the formal programming had ended. Moving to the virtual also enabled connections to be forged between years of different cohorts. 

South Africa’s lockdown forced Kabali-Kagwa too to bring her work into a digital space. However, with the help of a few fellow Cultural Innovators, she was able to retain a balanced approach to her work while being supportive of the Fellows that needed her too. Initiated by fellow curator from Baltimore, USA, Joy Davis, Kabali-Kagwa joined others from her Cultural Innovator Forum cohort on Zoom for weekly conversations – some that would last for hours on end. 

These were open sessions where people could come to share their feelings and speak about whatever was on their minds when the pandemic was at its most fear-inducing. For Faye, those sessions were essential – a lot of her peers were feeling lost, stir-crazy, and demoralized. For so many movers and shakers who were forced by the pandemic to stand still, they were providing COVID-19 support for artists and influencing policy, securing resources, and arranging support grants in hopes of salvaging their sectors. 

This put them in a position where they were often expected to have all the answers, which is a tough position to take when so much uncertainty lingered. There was not a lot of time to reflect when they were so busy doing damage control, and these weekly sessions enabled them to take a moment to do that while helping them navigate ideas like accountability for their own places in history, analyzing global power dynamics, and what solidarity really means for those who attended the Cultural Innovators Forum – all while being faced with a new mode of putting their learnings to good use. 

“I don’t know if there’s been a global shift in the acknowledgment of the way Black people have been treated historically. I know that last year was really, really big and the killing of George Floyd in particular hit very close… We have some Cultural Innovator Fellows from Minnesota who were protesting, and we were getting to that point in the lockdown where we were speaking weekly via Zoom, and it just was really, really real. People in South Africa could sympathize because there was extreme brutality happening in terms of evictions, even though they were supposed to be illegal during lockdown in the city of Cape Town where I live,” explains Kabali-Kagwa.

“In this online space, we were able to be there for each other in a way that often is difficult to do in real life.”

Kabali-Kagwa was forced to go back to her drawing board to figure out a new way of creating connections. It prompted her to use WhatsApp as her medium of choice to produce The Shopping Dead, a fast-paced dramedy performed live on the app, virtually co-produced and screened by the South African National Arts Festival at the tail-end of 2020. A never-before-attempted, innovative approach to theater, Kabali-Kagwa found a way to inspire herself and her sector. Passionate about who her audience is, how they live and how theater can be something that slots into life, instead of becoming an imposition, is at the heart of her move to this widely adopted messenger service, further bringing the imaginary into the day to day.

As the world made moves toward the virtual space, much of the outcry for justice and peace did the same. From the checkered intentions of black squares on Instagram to marches to parliament, demands for investigation, and hashtag badges of honor, the line between reality and ruse began to perforate.

“The performance of allyship is tricky, since at this particular stage in our lives, we’re really, really, really cognizant of our professional standing and what that can mean,” says Kabali-Kagwa. 

“I think theater allows us to rehearse different realities... different ways of being so that they become embedded in who we are… so that when the real thing comes, it’s easier to respond. I think rehearsing futures in our daily lives is important. 

“I’m much more of a realist, though, and I don’t think brands and their allyship should be performed. The change needs to go back to the vision and the heart of the way they operate. Creating a new world rests in thinking about things on a molecular level, informing the way you act, the way you behave... 

“If I was more optimistic, I do think at different points in our lives we need something that transports us out of our realities and gets us caught up in a moment. We need to see what could be. The problem with performance is that it gives you a glimpse into what could be. It doesn’t have any material benefits. At the end of the day, you take the costume off, the lights come down... It’s useful in preparing us, but the problem is that it ends! There is a choice to not engage anymore.”

Whether allyship is real or performative, it seems that it is the way in which we choose to act that will best determine what this age will be known for. Thanks to the space held by Kabali-Kagwa and her fellow Cultural Innovators, one thing is certain: we cannot reach a better future without helping each other on the journey in whatever ways we can.

“For me, the Cultural Innovators Forum became pivotal in trying to figure out what kind of organization I wanted to be aligned with,” explains Kabali-Kagwa, who returned as a facilitator for this year’s online Annual Co-Lab – all of which was co-created between existing Fellows of the Cultural Innovators Forum and Salzburg Global Associate Program Director Faye Hobson.

“The Cultural Innovators Forum was one space where I could speak about my WhatsApp project, to get feedback and to have other innovative creators’ input over a period of months was invaluable. 

“One of the things I do well is connecting and holding space for people. I think Faye [Hobson] chose me because I have an enthusiasm in that respect that goes beyond the tangible. To do that was empowering for me.”

Faye Kabali-Kagwa is a Cultural Innovator Forum Fellow from the Cape Town Hub. She first joined the Cultural Innovator Forum in 2019. 
 

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The Future Of The “Young” Cultural Innovators Forum
Graphic that indicates "Me to We" and text, "We Do This Together - A Personal Process, One Next to Each Other" (Illustration by Marcello Petruzzi, Housatonic)Illustration by Marcello Petruzzi, Housatonic
The Future Of The “Young” Cultural Innovators Forum
By: Faye Hobson 

Associate Program Director Faye Hobson explains recent changes to the multi-year series  

In 2013, Salzburg Global Seminar launched a new multi-year series to connect creatives and communities in cities and regions worldwide. The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators, also known as the Young Cultural Innovators Forum, has since grown into a multi-disciplinary network encompassing creative practices including the visual and performing arts, literature, music, food, fashion, architecture, and design.

The Forum has welcomed more than 350 young cultural innovators (YCIs) from Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malta, the Mekong Delta, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Slovakia, South Africa, the UAE, and the USA. Thanks to the support of our partners, 32 mobility projects between 12 countries have involved more than 80 of these innovators.

Community co-creation is at the center of the Forum. By moving from “me to we,” each of us can build collective, collaborative, and cross-sectoral change. The program has continually evolved and adapted to the needs of the Fellows involved.

Earlier this year, we decided to reach out to our YCIs to ask for their feedback on our multi-year series name. Why? We received comments that by including “Young” in the title, we may exclude others and appear ageist.  

The original rationale behind the inclusion of “Young” was to communicate the importance of supporting rising talents and mid-career professionals. However, as the series has grown, so have our inaugural network members and the Fellows who have followed.  

As a first step, we launched a poll in our closed Facebook group, reaching 263 people. We presented three options and allowed Fellows to suggest alternative names. The original options included the Cultural Innovators Forum, Emerging Cultural Innovators Forum, and the existing name: the Young Cultural Innovators Forum.  

The feedback we received was hugely valuable. In total, we received 92 votes and many comments, which have helped us think about how we better communicate who we are looking for in future recruitment campaigns. Most of our Fellows who voted (84.78%) lent their support to one option. So we have listened to our Fellows, and we have responded.  

We are excited to confirm our multi-year series new name is the Cultural Innovators Forum.

Will this change who can apply for this program? Our focus will remain on helping rising professionals working in the cultural sector, but we will not be listing ages in our future call for applications as we have done so in the past.  

The Forum has always sought to bring in diverse participants, but we are now making a public commitment to prioritize applications from people of color, people with disabilities, those who identify as LGBT*, individuals with low-income backgrounds, and those from ethnically diverse, Indigenous, and migrant backgrounds.

Diversity is the strength of the Cultural Innovators Forum. We have Fellows with a range of life experiences, professional paths, and creative disciplines. We recognize the impact we can have on people’s lives and careers by providing them with their first international experience.  

We are continuing to look for like-minded and values-based partners to help scale this work and support our growing network. To find out how to become a support, send me an email and get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you.


* LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is currently widely used in human rights conversations on sexual orientation and gender identity in many parts of the world, and we would wish it to be read as inclusive of other cultural concepts, contemporary or historical, to express sexuality and gender, intersex and gender non-conforming identities.

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Reflecting on the Past Year and How We Move Forward Together
Salzburg Global Fellows taking part in the 2020 program of the Cultural Innovators Forum posing for a less traditional group photoSalzburg Global Fellows taking part in the 2020 program of the Cultural Innovators Forum posing for a less traditional group photo
Reflecting on the Past Year and How We Move Forward Together
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

We reveal our plans for 2021 and how supporters can help us fulfill our mission

Salzburg Global Seminar has made significant improvements to its work while overcoming the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic prevented in-person programs and events for the first time in our 74-year history, but we made radical changes to ensure we fulfill our mission.

Our online programs throughout 2020 expanded our capacity to collaborate with Fellows worldwide while still sharing some of Schloss Leopoldskron’s magic. The Schloss itself has undergone renovations to better meet the needs of our guests once in-person meetings return. In the face of disruption, we have made progress. It’s your support that has made this possible, and we want to go further.

Addressing the Challenges of Today and Tomorrow

Over the next few months, we will run 20 programs across six significant work areas, adopting a hybrid approach that includes more than 150 online meetings and workshops. Salzburg Global is focusing on the challenges of today and tomorrow. Here is what you can expect in 2021:

  • The Education Policymakers Network, held in partnership with The Lego Foundation, Diplomatic Courier, Microsoft, Qatar Foundation International, and ETS, will engage reform-minded education policymakers from over 20 target countries. This new program supports global education reform around developing social, emotional, and creative skills alongside cognitive and physical skills in young and school-aged learners.
  • The Humanizing Power of the Arts, a multi-part program of our Culture, Arts, and Society series is exploring the potential for rebuilding societies via the intersections between the arts and culture sector and four interrelated issues: climate, health, education, and justice.
  • Our Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety, and Justice Initiative will continue to help Fellows identify and spearhead the most promising global examples of violence reduction and criminal justice transformation, addressing themes ranging from data science to public health.
  • Emerging Urban Leaders, our new network of changemakers managed in partnership with World Urban Parks, will continue to meet online and implement innovative, practical interventions to tackle the problems facing urban environments and help build the quality cities of the future.
  • Members of Sciana: The Health Leaders Network will meet regularly throughout the year to discuss leadership and systems change in response to the pandemic and other global health challenges.   
  • Financial Services and New Geopolitics of the Post-Pandemic Era: What is the Bold Vision?, a two-day program the Salzburg Global Finance Forum, will tackle the geopolitical and market issues facing the financial services industry.
  • Our Cultural Innovators Forum will convene over 10 days in October and add new Fellows to a network of creative changemakers worldwide. Expect online discussions and innovative workshops focusing on personal and professional capacity-building in the creative sector.
  • The President, the Press and the People, part of our American Studies Program, will continue its series on the future of democracy to explore the roles and relationships between the executive branch in the US, the international media, and citizens of global democracy in a series of virtual town hall events throughout the year. These events will build toward an in-person event in July 2022 at Schloss Leopoldskron to commemorate the 75th anniversary of both Salzburg Global Seminar and the launching of the American Studies program.

Read our 2021 full calendar here.

Protect Salzburg Global Seminar’s Future

We are optimistic about the opportunities ahead, but the pandemic’s financial impact has deeply affected us. The ongoing burden of local lockdowns, international travel restrictions, and the financial challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely continue for some time. Your support is a critical component of our ability to turn the corner on this season of disruption.

Please show your support for Salzburg Global Seminar and the ideas, collaborations, and people leading the international community out of this global crisis by making a gift of any size.

Our programs have served as a launchpad for global progress for nearly 75 years, and your donation ensures we can continue our mission to challenge current and future leaders to shape a better world for years to come.

Thank you!

Donate Now

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Salzburg Global Fellows Selected for WISE Emerging Leaders Program
Headshots of Andrea Fahed (left) and Wairimu Mwangi (right), plus WISE's logoAndrea Fahed (left) and Wairimu Mwangi (right)
Salzburg Global Fellows Selected for WISE Emerging Leaders Program
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Andrea Fahed and Wairimu Mwangi among 23 leaders chosen for 2021 cohort

Following a “very competitive” application process, two Salzburg Global Fellows have been selected to join the 2021 WISE Emerging Leaders cohort.

Andrea Fahed, project manager at Lebanese Alternative Learning, and Wairimu Mwangi, founder and CEO of the Literature Africa Foundation, will join 21 other leaders from 12 countries for this year’s program.

Over the next 12 months, Fahed and Mwangi will participate in a series of collaborative and interactive modules on topics including ethical leadership and social innovation.

The program aims to cultivate the next generation of systems leaders in education with the tools, skills, community, and mindset required to transform their communities and change systems.

WISE hopes to empower a generation of education development leaders through combining knowledge with practical experience. The program is built on the conviction that empowering and mentoring young talent in education is integral to supporting and elevating innovation in education.

In addition to completing three residential training sessions (two virtual and, depending on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, one in person) provided by WISE, fellows will contribute to their organizations by applying their new skills to a project developed in partnership with Salzburg Global.

Fahed first attended a Salzburg Global program in 2019, taking part in Education and Workforce Opportunities for Refugees and Migrants. In her role at Lebanese Alternative Learning, she helps develop free digital support programs and access solutions for underserved communities.

Her project will focus on putting field workers at the core of the process and is developed in response to Fahed’s experience that many projects created by professionals working behind their desks are imposed on field workers. Often those projects do not meet the specific needs of the beneficiaries and impose more stress on field workers. Many times, they are not culturally adapted.

The project will focus on finding ways for teachers/field workers to help design solutions in future project proposals. As the project develops, Salzburg Global will work with Fahed on a 2022 program around teacher-centered innovation.

At the Literature Africa Foundation, Mwangi helps provide access to education and economic empowerment opportunities to vulnerable young people living in rural areas and informal urban settlements of Kenya. This mission is achieved through academic and literacy support, skills training, and mentorship.

For her project, Mwangi will work with teenage mothers and young girls in community high schools in Kilifi County, Kenya. The Girls Sexual Reproductive Health & Education and Empowerment Project will promote a more inclusive environment for girls to access quality education by equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to safeguard their health and dignity.

Mwangi participated in the Cultural Innovators Forum (CIF)in 2020 and is a member of the Nairobi CIF Hub. Salzburg Global will support Mwangi to organize a girls’ summit towards the end of the project, which will share best practices from the project to an invited audience of Salzburg Global Fellows from non-profit, governmental, and educational institutions working on similar issues globally.

This is not the first connection between the WISE Emerging Leaders and Salzburg Global. Faye Hobson, a program manager at Salzburg Global, is a 2020 Emerging Leaders cohort member. Commenting on Fahed and Mwangi’s inclusion in the 2021 cohort, Hobson said, “We are delighted to have been able to support the nomination of these two outstanding Salzburg Global Fellows to the WISE Emerging Leaders program. They will have access to a supportive peer group, mentoring masterclasses from members of the WISE global network, and an opportunity to explore how their work links to systems change.”

Dominic Regester, Salzburg Global’s program director responsible for education programs, said, “Salzburg Global Seminar and the WISE (World Innovation Summit in Education) have been working together on a number of initiatives since 2019. Salzburg Global was a knowledge partner at the Doha Summit in November 2019 and the two organizations co-organized the Education Disrupted, Education Reimagined online conference series that started in March 2020.

“Almost 4,000 people participated in the different convenings in the series and the e-book published in September 2020 has been downloaded more than 19,000 times. Salzburg Global is also very proud to co-convene the WISE Agile Leaders of Learning Innovation Network (ALL-IN) and to act as the Advocacy Lead. We are delighted that this partnership is further strengthened by the selection of two Fellows in the 2021 cohort of the WISE Emerging Leaders and would like to offer many congratulations to Andrea Fahed and Wairimu Mwangi, who came through a very competitive application process.” 

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Salzburg Global Fellows Receive Intercultural Achievement Award
A mural designed by Ralph Eya and Katharina Kapsamer"Smile at a Common," A New Genre Public Art Project from the People and for the People, has resulted in the creation of murals in different parts of the Philippines, Manila, and Vienna.
Salzburg Global Fellows Receive Intercultural Achievement Award
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Ralph Eya and Katharina Kapsamer receive praise for their project, "Smile at a Common," A New Genre Public Art Project from the People and for the People

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Moving from Me to We Online in Times of COVID-19
Moving from Me to We Online in Times of COVID-19
By: Faye Hobson & Louise Hallman 

The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators moves fully online for 2020 - embracing both the challenges and opportunities of online convening

Communities around the world are facing radical social, environmental, political, and economic disruption, while confronting complex challenges that range from the COVID-19 pandemic to structural inequity and racism, outdated systems of education and work, and climate change.

Shaping a creative, just and sustainable world calls for action at all levels and collaboration across many sectors. We need bold ideas and innovation to build a more vibrant and resilient arts sector that can advance inclusive economic development, positive social change, and urban transformation for livable cities. The cultural sector is essential to regenerate and energize societies, but artists and creative innovators have never been in a more precarious situation. This is especially true of members of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI Forum), many of whom have been severely impacted by lost income as a result of venue closures and cancelled work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Against this stark background, the 2020 programs and activities of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators – from the emergency grants and half-day regional programs in the spring through to the ambitious 10-day program and the follow-on Workshop Week and Hub Huddles in the fall – have all sought to connect, support, empower and inspire this growing global network of emerging creative leaders.

Moving from in-person to online convening presented challenges but in responding to those challenges creatively and innovatively, a great many opportunities were harnessed and successes achieved.

Read all about the YCI Forum in this year's report A Global Platform for Creative, Just and Sustainable Futures:

 

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Young Cultural Innovators Join Forces in Magazine Global Fundraiser
This is a photo collage of Usanii Magazine. It shows the Issue One front cover and two magazine features. These are bright and colorful features. The top right image shows performer Nviiri wearing sunglasses on a blue background. The bottom right image shows an interview with Maria Goretti, yellow and black text on a green background. The left image shows the magazine's front cover, featuring a large profile photo of Chemutai Sage.Image: Usanii Magazine
Young Cultural Innovators Join Forces in Magazine Global Fundraiser
By: Josh Wilde 

Salzburg Global Seminar Fellows Lai, Xochitl Calix, and Moira Villiard come together to crowdfund emerging artists’ magazine

Launched in April 2020, Usanii, the Swahili word for artistry, is a free magazine that features developing musicians, photographers, poets and more to raise awareness of their work and enable collaboration with established artists.

The magazine founder, Lai from the Nairobi Hub, participated in October's Young Cultural Innovators Forum (YCI) and wasted no time in joining forces with fellow YCI members Xochitl Calix and Moira Villiard, from the Detroit and Upper Midwest USA Hubs respectively. Their initial crowdfunding target is $10,000 to support his publication that showcases emerging artists from underprivileged backgrounds.

Embodying Salzburg Global Seminar’s mission to bridge divides, expand collaboration, and transform systems, Lai is now calling on more YCI Fellows to join his campaign.

“The whole idea of fundraising was really pushed by two YCI members, Xochitl and Moira,” he says. “They have been very instrumental in helping initiate what to look at and how to package the magazine. I have been reaching out to different YCIs from Europe, Australia, the US, Asia, and telling them about the magazine.”

Lai’s own story is inspirational. Growing up in the Kawangware slums of Nairobi, Kenya, his idea for the magazine started two years ago with just a pen and paper.

Saving up money to cover the cost of accessing a computer at an internet café, Lai produces the Usanii magazine and accompanying Conversations YouTube series, from interviews and design to editing and running the social media accounts.

“I cannot overstate how crucial [the crowdfunding] would be,” he explains. “I work as a music teacher. I earn around $6 per lesson. Out of that $6, I’ll probably use $5 at the Internet café. 60%-70% of my monthly income goes to the magazine.

“The fundraiser would allow me to buy a laptop most importantly, and a printer so I’m able to print the magazine myself at a lower cost.”

Still operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lai does not charge for the magazine, hoping its free accessibility will help the artists’ stories reach more people. Lai’s vision is to support global artists’ voices and provide opportunity for anyone who needs it.

Money raised will be used to buy essential equipment, hire staff and grow the publication. A percentage of funds will be donated to selected organizations that promote this fundraiser.

Villiard is working with Ugandan artist Steve Boyyyi to create paintings of African life which will be sent to those who give $150 or more. Lai says these donations will be split between Usanii magazine and Boyyyi, whose foundation supports Ugandan street children.

A painting of three zebras, in front of green foliage and a blue sky background      A painting of a person in blue and white clothing, walking with a dog by their side. They are holding some wood in one hand and carrying bananas on their head. The background is yellow and orange      A painting of two giraffes and two elephants by some water. One of the giraffes is having a drink. They are in front of a yellow, orange and red background

Images: Paintings of African life / Usanii Magazine

Should the crowdfunder reach Lai's ultimate target of $25,000, he hopes to utilize connections made through the YCI Forum to start monthly training and seminars from February 2021, where artists in Kenya will get a chance to interact and learn from YCI Fellows.

“We already have Fellows who have expressed interest in offering training in different fields throughout 2021,” he beams.

You can find out more information and donate to Usanii magazine through their GoFundMe page: https://gf.me/u/y8icmi 
 

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Support Our Pivot to Online Programming
Support Our Pivot to Online Programming
By: Stephen L. Salyer 

In a video message, Salzburg Global President & CEO Stephen L. Salyer on how our organization is weathering the COVID-19 crisis

The following text is an edited transcript of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwTGPgxot7I

It's quiet here today at Schloss Leopoldskron, but we remain very busy. 

Max Reinhart's library is my favorite room in the Schloss, maybe my favorite room in the whole world. We make magic here and as a Salzburg Global Fellow, you know that. We cherish this place. And we are committed to being hard on issues but kind to each other. 

For 73 years, Salzburg Global has inspired creative thinking and collaborative ideas across borders of all kinds. But the COVID crisis disrupted international travel and made it difficult for us to have in-person convening. 
Salzburg Global pivoted quickly online to engage thousands of Fellows across the world. Let me give you a few examples:

Our programs depend not on government support, but on grants, fees and individual gifts. Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron also helps support our nonprofit activity. 

Still, program postponements and hotel closures have hurt us this year. 

We need more than ever for those of you who value all we do, to step forward and support our work. So whether you're a regular supporter or considering making a gift for the first time, please let us hear from you today. And be as generous as you can. 

Thank you. Stay safe. And keep the spirit of Salzburg Global Seminar with you throughout the year. 

Support Salzburg Global Seminar today: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/donate  

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Young Cultural Innovators Win Major International Award
Robert Praxmarer and Thomas Layer-Wagner smiling in an action pose with some game controllers.Photo courtesy of Polycular.
Young Cultural Innovators Win Major International Award
By: Josh Wilde 

Salzburg Global Fellows Robert Praxmarer and Thomas Layer-Wagner recognized with inaugural Olympics of Innovation Challenge Award

Robert Praxmarer and Thomas Layer-Wagner met while working at university where they turned dream into reality, co-founding the interactive design and technology studio Polycular.

They are now in dreamland once again after their company won an international Olympics of Innovation Challenge Award for Artistic Vision at the inaugural World in 2050 Awards.

Described as “a forum for our future,” Diplomatic Courier’s World in 2050 think tank recognizes outstanding organizations tackling significant challenges across seven classifications: Society, Humanity, Energy, Health, Travel, Off-World, and Artistic Visions.

Solutions from each category will be championed at major global forums including the Innovation Olympics Festival, the United Nations General Assembly and the G20 Summit.

“I couldn’t actually believe it,” Praxmarer told Salzburg Global. “If you read through the other winners – SpaceX by Elon Musk, Johns Hopkins University, Bird – the names couldn’t be any bigger. They are the world leaders in their field. Then it says Polycular which really feels uncanny. A small Austrian company with 12 people being given this prestigious award. It’s more than a surprise.”

The judges praised Polycular’s variety and quality of work. From sustainable, environmentally-focused projects such as EgoGotchi where they reinvented the popular 1990s’ Tamagotchi toy craze to encourage greener lifestyle choices, to visionary ventures such as Morbus Genesis which uses computer algorithms to show everyday inanimate objects degrading, in turn encouraging audiences to rethink their own mortality, grief and loss.

“The great thing about working with digital technologies is that to some degree you have a lot of power in shaping virtual reality,” Praxmarer described. “That can be thought-provoking and offer new perspectives to an audience. If you can establish this magic moment, they are interested and you can get them talking.”

This accolade is just the latest for Polycular with other honors including the 2018 Umdasch Research Award for Learning and Education, the World Summit Award Austria for Education in 2019, and the Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award.

“We made our mark in the local creativity and innovation scene,” Praxmarer added. “We haven’t won too many international awards so this is one that stands out and we are very proud.

“We were university professors in the field of game development, interactive art and augmented reality. We set out to start a company to use creative processes combined with art, technology and innovation to make interesting projects, ideally with an impact to society. They often revolve around sustainability and awareness building. We think education is foremost to train a younger generation with digital means and games to give them a new perspective on important topics.”

Both Praxmarer and Layer-Wagner are Salzburg Global Fellows after attending the annual programs of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum (YCI Forum) in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The YCI Forum is currently taking place virtually with this year’s program considering, A Global Platform for Creative, Just and Sustainable Futures.

“I had the chance to be part of it at the very beginning of our company,” Praxmarer explained. “It was one of the best mentoring programs I’ve ever attended. I’ve attended a lot of mentorship programs from accelerators all over the Silicon Valley and other places. Salzburg Global still stands out in terms of quality, mentors, location, the people and the caring. This special vibe you can’t really describe; you really have to be there.

“This network of young people aren’t just talking pipe dreams, they actually are smart and resilient enough to pull things off. You can learn so much in one week. It’s one of the greatest places and I told my co-founder [Layer-Wagner] he had to go there. It brings you forward in your own thinking. It’s well-spent time to step back and really reflect on topics of leadership, innovation and creativity.”

Salzburg Global is a partner of the World in 2050 Awards and Praxmarer thanked Faye Hobson, YCI Forum Lead and Salzburg Global Program Manager, who first nominated Polycular.

“Without her and Salzburg Global, we wouldn’t even have entered this kind of award,” Praxmarer acknowledged. “Coming from Hallein in Salzburg, this is something really special, which we had to work very hard for. Some organizations believed in us like Salzburg Global and we hope to pay back the people that helped us. We are super proud to put Austria, Salzburg Global and Polycular on the map.”

Hobson also wished to send her congratulations on behalf of Salzburg Global.

“The YCI Forum strives to empower the next generation of changemakers. Robert, Thomas and the whole Polycular team are great examples of what can be achieved when you work hard and dream big,” Hobson said.

“I was only too pleased to nominate them for this prestigious award and even more delighted to hear they had won. It is fantastic to see our Fellows named amongst the biggest and best in global innovation.”

Looking ahead, Praxmarer says Polycular’s future is bright as they strive to shape the future of learning.

“I hope we realize our dream to redefine education through digital means,” Praxmarer added. “Using playful discovery where it’s about challenging the learner. How kids learn when they explore a room or play hide and seek. We want to find new storytelling solutions for experiential and transformative learning.”

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Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Childcare Resources
Woman holding a microphone and speakingChloe Hakim-Moore at Salzburg Global Seminar in 2019
Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Childcare Resources
By: Mira Merchant 

Through her work with NEXT Memphis, Young Cultural Innovator Chloe Hakim-Moore aims to close opportunity gaps in early childhood education and childcare in Memphis

Early childhood education – generally described as the teaching of children from birth to age eight – is a crucial part of child development. However, it is an area of education that is, unfortunately, often overlooked.

The upper bound of early childhood education corresponds roughly with the third grade in the U.S. schooling system, the year where children switch from learning how to read to using reading to learn, the primary method of education in Western societies.

Children who can make that switch in third grade are on track to keep up with increasingly complex learning. Their peers who are unable to make that switch, however, often fall behind and face difficulties catching up. More than an educational predictor, the ability to make that switch is also one of the biggest predictors across the education system for exposure to adult poverty.

In a city like Memphis, Tennessee, where approximately one in five residents experience poverty, developing and maintaining an effective educational infrastructure is crucial. Salzburg Global Fellow Chloe Hakim-Moore hopes to further this through her work.

Hakim-Moore is the founder and director of NEXT Memphis, an initiative of Porter-Leath that provides high-quality education, childcare, and health services for children. According to its website, the initiative is "a shared service program model that helps independent childcare providers reduce costs and improve outcomes so that they can direct more of their attention and resources to the classroom and families."

NEXT Memphis works to help both children and families. For families, this means helping provide adequate childcare to allow parents the freedom to pursue careers and education. Issues such as high cost and limited availability and hours unfortunately place many parents in the position of having to choose between career and childcare. A report found that, in 2016 alone, an estimated 2 million parents made career sacrifices due to problems with child care. For children, this means helping provide quality educational programming that will hopefully set them on the right educational track.

Hakim-Moore says, "In the span of human development… 90 percent of our brains form by age six… And so for children who have nurturing and safe environments, they develop… a really complex and elastic infrastructure that helps them take on the world as they develop. And for children who are deprived of certain things or [who have] experienced something that might be traumatic, you can imagine [it] like a building with less scaffolding."

Initiatives like these are especially important in cities like Memphis, where the child poverty rate is around 35 percent. Early childhood education and childcare programming are more than just educating the next generation; as Hakim-Moore says, "It’s an anti-poverty strategy that also goes along the lines of bringing more resources into communities of color. So it’s also an anti-racist strategy. We really focus on [creating] more equitable systems of opportunity for all residents, especially the ones who have, for identity reasons or geographic reasons, been chronically disenfranchised or overlooked.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for many businesses and organizations to continue regular operations, and childcare providers are no exception. According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the biggest threat to childcare providers is lack of funding. Without “serious and significant” federal support to childcare programs, 40 percent of them will close within 12 months.

Hakim-Moore describes the thought of massive closures as “unnerving.” She says, “When you start to see the supply shrink, the people who have more resources will be the ones who can maintain access, better than folks who do not have the same level of resources… And in so many ways, that is tied to historic policies that are inequitable, [and] systems that were created to intentionally disenfranchise people.”

Despite the challenges she faces, Hakim-Moore says her motivation comes from a simple idea: that her work has rarely, if ever, been about her. She says, “I grew up in situations that showed me very starkly the inequities in our societal systems… When I started going to work, my goal was, ‘How do I make systems let people breathe just a bit better?’”

A participant of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum, Hakim-Moore attended the Salzburg Global program Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform in October 2019, as part of 50 cultural innovators and creative practitioners.

She describes the experience as transformative and eye-opening, saying, “I used to think my artistic side and my entrepreneurial side needed to be distanced. What [Salzburg] showed me was that actually, they’re one and the same. The reason that I think I’ve found so much success as an entrepreneur are the things that also make me a creative…Those things to me… don’t need to inhabit separate rooms anymore. And I think that leaning into them actually makes me a better leader. It makes me a better manager. It makes me a better… person.”

In the future, Hakim-Moore hopes to continue working on equity initiatives in Memphis, which reach far beyond early childhood education. Access to health care, housing, transportation, and food is also critical. In her own words, she describes herself as being on a mission to uplift human dignity, saying, “It really is about how do we create experiences that allow people to enjoy this very short life that we are given.”

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Moving from Me to We in the Upper Midwest: Creating “Deeply Human” Spaces Online
Moving from Me to We in the Upper Midwest: Creating “Deeply Human” Spaces Online
By: Louise Hallman 

Young Cultural Innovators from the American Midwest “meet up” despite lockdown as regional program moves online

As Minneapolis, where the first-ever regional program for the Upper Midwest Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) “hub” should have been held, entered its sixth week of lockdown, the YCIs of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the same geography instead convened their regional meeting online.

Opening with responses to the question “What is currently bringing you joy?” the artists, creative community leaders and cultural changemakers of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators proved to be in good spirits as they joined the morning-long program  Moving from Me to We in the Upper Midwest despite the prolonged sense of physical isolation and disconnection.

What has changed?

For some of the Native American participants, that isolation and disconnection has been especially acute. They spoke of feeling disconnected from their family and community members who are isolated on reservations, many with poor internet connections, while they remain in lockdown in cities, unable to physically participate ceremonies such the powwows that celebrate the arrival of the spring and summer. 

The global pandemic has also served to highlight societal disparities. Minnesota already had the worst rate of removal of Black and Native children from families in the country before the pandemic. The pandemic is worsening these issues. From a lack of strong internet connections limiting who can participate in educational, cultural and social gatherings, to growing child protection issues as reporting decreases, Native populations have again been hit especially hard. As one YCI remarked, there is a real struggle to keep native people as part of the local, state and national conversations as stimulus packages are designed and cities and states start to look beyond their lockdowns. 

Not all cities and states in the Upper Midwest have implemented full lockdowns, but the vast majority have mandated some form of social distancing measures, heavily impacting the arts and culture sectors with events canceled, venues shuttered and even parks closed. Federal stimulus packages, however, are difficult for artists and “micro business” owners to access as they struggle to prove their losses of income.

In much of the region, the arts and culture sector heavily relies on revenue from the tourism industry, both from visitors attending events and purchasing crafts and from state tourism boards. With some lockdowns and social distancing measures continuing for many weeks and months to come and out-of-state tourists discouraged from travelling, the artists and the sector as a whole will continue to suffer from a lack of funding.

As a YCI from South Dakota remarked, the impact of the crisis has been somewhat delayed on the less-populous parts of the country, where there are fewer artists but also fewer organizations to support them. “The faucet of funding is about to trickle,” they feared. 

There was “a window of unpoliticized activity where people were coming together,” said one YCI, but “that is over,” they lamented. Across the region, responses to the pandemic have become incredibly politicized with public protests and threats to sue state governments. “How can we cut through the political noise and find empathy for small business owners?” asked one YCI. 

There is a huge amount of uncertainty for the region and its individual towns, reservations, cities, states and communities. “We don’t know how to plan for the future if we don’t know how what the impact will ultimately be,” said one YCI.

How are communities responding?

Like many sectors and activities, arts and culture have moved online in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Even powwows have “gone digital”, with families filming and sharing videos of them dancing, drumming and singing in dedicated “social distancing powwow” Facebook groups. Such groups highlight the importance of the arts, culture and “deeply human” connections, especially such trying times. 

Other socially distant artistic activities highlighted by the YCIs included “porch concerts” with musicians performing online and/or for their neighbors with signs displaying digital payment information like Venmo IDs to collect donations; weekly livestreams billed as “digital-first Fridays”; “makers’ markets” selling artists’ wares on Instagram; and YouTube video tours around local museums. With many people turning to arts and crafts as a way to help them deal with their individual isolation and the resulting mental health stresses during lockdown, artists are offering online classes and delivering “quarantine arts kits.” In the public policy space, there have been calls for artists to be engaged to help “bring joy” to public spaces, such as by redesigning signage or installing art works in public parks. 

Much of this is currently being offered for free – but artists still need financial support. One Twin City-based nonprofit has been offering pro bono consultation to arts and culture groups to help them find new, more sustainable forms of revenue. This has been a “heart wrenching” experience said one YCI, as many groups that are reliant on grants have seen their funding pulled to support more immediate COVID-19-related causes. “What if we can’t save everyone?” 

What is needed for the future?

The arts clearly have an important role to play in supporting people through and after the crisis, not only on a personal level to address self-care, mental health and trauma but also on community, city and state levels to address wider issues such as political divides and social inequity. 

To be able to do this, the arts need funding. However, philanthropy too has its limits, with the sector facing reductions in endowments due to stock market volatility and reduced staffing impacting the ability to address new applications. Many funders have responded with automatic renewals for existing recipients and a shift away from funding prizes, travel and professional development in favor of relief funds for grantees. As one participant in the YCI Upper Midwest Regional Meeting remarked, foundations “can’t wait until the next board meeting. We need to make decisions now if we want to save the arts sector.” Where can these new forms of revenue and financial support for the arts be found?

Much emphasis has been put on “innovation” and “digital connections” during the pandemic, but as one YCI remarked, “Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech-based,” urging their fellow YCIs to consider how they can make use of “low-tech” such as radio and mail to connect with their audiences and communities.

The YCIs of the Upper Midwest have been tapping into and connecting with the wider, national and global YCI network and called on Salzburg Global to help them also connect more directly with the wider-still Salzburg Global Fellowship – truly “moving from me to we.” The growing reliance on online platforms and prevalence of online meetings from large-scale webinars to small “virtual coffee dates” is making these connections all the more possible across international borders and time zones. 

If digital convening is to remain the norm for some time to come, then everyone, especially creative, artistic people, need to work to “keep the humanity” during Zoom meetings. Opening up our homes, including our families and pets, and encouraging two-way discussions rather than one-way lectures were all encouraged – as were “virtual jamming sessions” for musicians. 

As one YCI remarked in closing and indeed as was reflected in the “what is currently bringing you joy?” in the opening introductions: “In isolation people are recognizing what they value, which is primarily culture and art and the togetherness those provide.” Even in the digital age, enjoying the arts and being “deeply human” remains key.  

This virtual regional meeting of the Upper Midwest YCI Hub was generously supported by The Bush Foundation and The McKnight Foundation

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Creating Digital Connections Across American Cities
Creating Digital Connections Across American Cities
By: Louise Hallman 

Young Cultural Innovators from across Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans “meet up” despite lockdown as regional program moves online

“Let’s arrive together!” declared Amina Dickerson as she opened the first-ever online Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) Regional Hub program and over 40 creative changemakers and community leaders from across four YCI city hubs across the US – Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans – all joined a Zoom call at the same time. 

While the duration and location of the program Creating Connections Across American Cities” might have not been as planned – for a few hours online instead of over a weekend at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Le Mondo arts venue and Waller Gallery in Baltimore, Md., USA – the same YCI energy could be found and connections were certainly strengthened, even in the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Calling in from their respective lockdowns, the Young Cultural Innovators, participants of the YCI Forum from the past six years, were encouraged by Dickerson, many-time YCI Forum facilitator to “Get comfortable, close your eyes, take deep breaths. Inhale the intentions for the day, and exhale all the stuff you want to get rid of.” With a land acknowledgement led by Ojibwe and Chicano rapper, Sacramento Knoxx, preferred pronouns declared and a visible joy at being brought back together, the inclusive space typical of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum was achieved – even on Zoom. This positivity was reflected by many in their “one word” given to start the day, with responses including “energy”, “cozy,” “grateful,” “calm,” “open,” and “happy.” 

But not all was positive. Many YCIs confessed to feeling “stuck,” “scattered,” “unfocused” and “unsure.” As large urban areas with sizeable populations of people of color, many of the communities that the Salzburg Global Young Cultural Innovators of Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans represent and serve have been hit especially hard by the virus. 

With communal and exhibition spaces shut down and events and community outreach cancelled due to social distancing measures, many of the YCIs are grappling with how best to serve their communities in these times of COVID-19. 

Some have been addressing immediate basic needs such as providing food and shelter for vulnerable groups, either through direct volunteering or by mobilizing other groups. Much of this mobilization and information sharing happens online (as with many things these days), but this raises further challenges of how to serve vulnerable portions of communities, such as the homeless and the elderly, who are not online. Some YCIs have been using “snail mail” and flyers in efforts to counter this problem.

Others are leading fundraising and promotional efforts to help other artists. “Fundraising is on everyone’s minds right now,” admitted a YCI from Detroit. While various grants and loans are being made available both from federal and municipal governments as well as foundations and private philanthropists, artists, musicians and other creative producers with irregular incomes particularly struggle to prove exact loss of income, making accessing such funds difficult. 

As much activity – including the arts, through such activities as online film festivals, arts-led discussions, and classes – moves online, there’s a fear that “digital redlining” is happening, with the exclusion common in cities in the physical space being replicated online, excluding marginalized people and communities even further from the arts. “Arts and culture is necessary to bridge communities; digital isn’t as inclusive as we think,” said a YCI from New Orleans. 

Many of the cities represented have already dealt with significant shared trauma, such as New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. With many people turning to the arts – either as a sector or individuals – to provide distraction and comfort amid the crisis, many artists feel a pressure to support their communities at a time when they themselves are struggling. “There’s a feeling of needing to overcompensate with online activity to stay relevant,” worried another New Orleans YCI. Addressing one’s own mental health through “radical acts of self-care and self-love” is much needed, suggested a YCI from Baltimore, to help ensure the arts can bounce-back post-COVID-19 and notburnout in the meantime. 

What Comes Next?

After sharing their respective cities’ struggles, thoughts turned to the future. Questions of how to reopen post-lockdown abound across sectors, and this is no different in the arts. Through breakout group conversations covering topics including the role of the arts in healing collective trauma, sustainable connections between the cultural sector and public policy, and rethinking business models for cultural initiatives, the YCIs considered the future for their respective organizations, work, and cities. 

Some concerns are immediate: “Will there be enough PPE (personal protective equipment) in order to reopen cultural spaces?” Others are more long-term: “How can we build back better?” Given the “squandered opportunities” post-9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, there was a shared desire among the YCIs to not miss this potential for a once-in-a-generation shift in how communities interact with each other and the arts. 

To build back better post-COVID-19, the arts sector needs capacity building, with some YCIs looking to how they can shift their grant-funded non-profit organizations to more self-sustaining social enterprises. 

A mind-shift on the value of the arts is also needed. Many artists, photographers and writers are “being asked to give and give and give” at the moment with little to no remuneration, unlike other disasters where they might receive hazard pay, lamented a YCI from Detroit. How can we collectively shift the mentalities of not only those who rely on and support the sector but also those within it to better value the work being done and the community service being rendered?

This was “No time for despair,” said Dickerson in closing. “It is going to be the creative spirits who will define what a new normal is going to be.”

Galvanized by their renewed connections across their cities, the YCIs committed themselves to making this program “a beginning, not an end” with proposals for future programming and regular monthly meetings. One upside of lockdown: the power of digital convening is clear.  

This virtual regional meeting of the YCI Hubs in Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans was generously supported by The Kresge Foundation

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Responding to Civic Priorities through Public Art
Art Fellows pose for a group photoArt Fellows pose for a group photo
Responding to Civic Priorities through Public Art
By: Soila Kenya 

Salzburg Global Fellows Alphonse Smith and Heidi Schmalbach help build artists’ capacity and address civic needs

In November 2019, ten artists in New Orleans, Louisiana, participated in a series of training sessions to create art installations at key intersections near drainage canals and pumping stations. The aim? To build awareness of how the city’s drainage infrastructure works.

Alphonse Smith and Heidi Schmalbach developed the training after receiving a micro-grant from Salzburg Global Seminar and the Kresge Foundation. Smith and Schmalbach, who attended the third and fourth programs of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators respectively, wanted to help local artists respond to civic priorities through public art interventions and creative place-making.

What came to fruition is the Civic Art Fellowship, a partnership between Arts Council New Orleans, of which Smith is executive director, and the Gentilly Resilience District. The District is an initiative led by the City of New Orleans’ Office of Resilience and Sustainability that aims to reduce flood risk, slow land subsidence, improve energy reliability, and encourage neighborhood revitalization.

Working in partnership with the District, Arts Council New Orleans is bringing an artistic flair to civic duty. Smith said, “The original concept was developed after meeting St. Paul artist and YCI fellow Amanda Lovelee in Salzburg, after which time a group of New Orleans YCIs visited Minneapolis to research best practice models.”

Heidi Schmalbach, a fellow YCI from New Orleans, was involved in the project as the former executive director and now an executive advisor to Arts Council New Orleans. She said, “There are a lot of people who already work for the city… in particular, the city of New Orleans, who are already creative professionals, artists, hobbyists when they’re not in their nine to five city job[s].

“And for various reasons, people feel like they have to hang up their creative hat when they walk in the door of city government. So we’re interested in the creative energies of people who are already in city government jobs and how to design with artists new ways to interface with [the public].”

Other partners involved with the Civic Art Fellowship include Crescent City Renaissance Alliance, the Water Leaders Institute, and Prospect New Orleans. The specialized training equips artists with technical knowledge related to critical civic issues facing New Orleans while providing peer-to-peer learning, mentorship, and social networking opportunities for the cohort.

The Civic Art Fellowship aims to produce public art along Gentilly’s water features to enhance the public’s understanding of living with water. While doing so, the Fellowship builds the artists’ capacity to address critical civic needs. Artists provide a sense of place through their work to advance future use and development of the location. They create lasting, innovative artwork that influences and shapes the development of the Gentilly Resilience District.

Despite the project’s projected gains, convincing government officials at the beginning of the process was far from easy. “There’s a key disconnect between the government and arts sector,” said Schmalbach. Smith added the critical issue is the two sectors don’t speak the same language. “I think we have a common language that we can speak, but that just hasn’t been defined yet,” he explained.

Smith said it was a matter of aligning agendas and ensuring each side felt their priorities were being addressed. Rather than merely commissioning beautiful artwork for the project, the Fellowship went a step further and also incorporated the artists’ training to benefit New Orleans’ creative scene. The city got what they wanted in artwork, but there was also a great benefit enjoyed by the participating artists.

Smith believes Arts Council New Orleans – and members of the YCI New Orleans Hub – can bridge divides between artists and government officials. He said, “It helps to give credibility and a little bit more weight to the idea that we’re not just these crazy arts non-profit administrators who are coming up with this idea that this is something that folks believe in. So to be awarded a micro-grant for that proposal says that the idea is valid. We’re hopeful that we can sort of build on that as we move forward with the program.”


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic, and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in “hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.    

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Salzburg Global Provides Community Support Awards for Young Cultural Innovators
Fellows come together for a group hug during last year's program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural InnovatorsFellows come together for a group hug during last year's program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators
Salzburg Global Provides Community Support Awards for Young Cultural Innovators
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Funds redistributed to support Salzburg Global Fellows in Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans in light of COVID-19 pandemic

Salzburg Global Seminar will support Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) who have lost income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In partnership with the Kresge Foundation, Salzburg Global will provide 25 awards up to $500 to members of the Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans Young Cultural Innovator Hubs.

Members from these Hubs were due to visit Baltimore, MD, this year for a regional meeting. Following a consultation, however, members suggested the funds be reallocated to support financially-hit Fellows.

Artists and cultural practitioners around the world have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the cancellation of scheduled projects, events, and opportunities.

Salzburg Global and the Kresge Foundation are delighted to accommodate the request from Fellows and provide assistance during these difficult times.


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic, and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in “hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.     

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Young Cultural Innovator Builds New Relationships in Detroit
Christopher Yepez received funding to organize several activities under his heartbeats:hood2hood project in 2017 and 2018Christopher Yepez received funding to organize several activities under his heartbeats:hood2hood project in 2017 and 2018
Young Cultural Innovator Builds New Relationships in Detroit
By: Oscar Tollast 

Christopher Yepez a.k.a. Sacramento Knoxx uses funding distributed by Salzburg Global to explore new methods of innovation and collaboration

A young cultural innovator based in Detroit, Michigan, has led a collaborative project designed to help improve the quality of life for future generations living in the city.

Christopher Yepez, a rapper, also known as Sacramento Knoxx, received support from Salzburg Global Seminar and The Kresge Foundation to organize several activities under his heartbeats:hood2hood project in 2017 and 2018. The project recognizes the powerful use of connection and technology to improve ecosystems.

Knoxx is a musician and filmmaker who helps direct the organization 'The Aadizookaan,' an indigenous-based multimedia arts collective. He received financial support after attending the third program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators in 2016. The project had several partners for different activities and events.

Three community concerts were held at high schools, reaching 120 students in the Detroit area. These concerts took place through a partnership with the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion.

Students were educated on race and housing in Detroit through music, performance, and the heartbeats curriculum. Knoxx said, "The partnership allowed us to combine Michigan Roundtable's mobile exhibit "We Don't Want Them," which focused on the history of race and housing in Detroit and how that impacts their current communities now, combined our literacy and cultural music work."

Knoxx and heartbeats also worked with We Found Hip Hop and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to program their curriculum and help host Dilla Youth Day. This day inspired 250 young learners from across the city to explore science, technology, engineering, arts, and math disciplines through participatory design with interactive beat making and sound design.

During the project, Knoxx has been able to build relationships with architecture and design teams helping to reshape the fabric and development in Detroit. He said, "It's very important as we contribute our cultural work and community organizing to ensure an equitable Detroit with design and culture. As we face a high portion of displacement and discrimination in a city with a robust history of [the] racialization of space and now the spatialization of race, building those critical relationships with architecture is very important in shifting the culture where humans can live healthy with not only each other but the earth as well."

Knoxx sees many ways for the project to give back to the community, including by contributing resources and tools to help with storytelling and growing talent for youth, adults, and elders. He said, "We have fostered relationships with media technologists, architects, educators, designers, and practitioners of health and wellness to launch our heartbeats initiative with multiple Detroit community partners and individuals that will continue to build [a] legacy through the support of Salzburg."

His participation in the YCI Forum enabled him to connect the dots and develop the project. Knoxx said, "Visiting and hopping over cultural barriers across the globe with the YCI Forum sparked the motivation to make new approaches of connection and relationships in Detroit, which sparked the idea of heartbeats, like how all of us share a heartbeat, that operates our body and is important for life."

Moving forward, Knoxx said heartbeats would have the chance to expand into a couple of community-owned spaces for arts, culture, education, health, and wellness. Plans are also in place to work with other music-based programs in school and community organizations. He said, "With this challenge of building space and developing land, it sharpens us to emerge new leaders and new relationships for building community and innovating the culture with youth, adults, and elders."

Since embarking on this project, Knoxx has seen young artists emerging onto the arts and culture scene in Detroit with their individual styles. "We're continuing to support our collective efforts within many capacities, ranging from intimate builds to large scale productions. I would like to work within a heartbeats capacity across native communities and reservations across North America, bringing music technology and well-being together to create change and beauty," he said.

"We're also engaging in many grassroots activities, so when there is support like this to help us execute and carry on the vision, it is truly amazing and appreciated," said Knoxx.


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected change-makers in "Hub" communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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From One Generation to the Next: Documenting the Oral Tradition in Food
Yu Nakamura's fascination with "Grandma's Recipes" began five years ago in JapanYu Nakamura's fascination with "Grandma's Recipes" began five years ago in Japan
From One Generation to the Next: Documenting the Oral Tradition in Food
By: Carla Zahra 

Young Cultural Innovator Yu Nakamura brings Grandma's Recipes to Cajun community festival Cochon de Lait

Nothing smells quite as good as a grandmother's kitchen, and no one knows that better than foodie Yu Nakamura. As the co-founder of 40creations, Nakamura has been documenting oral traditions from grandmothers, a generation of women who provide a fresh perspective on cultures that have historically been dominated by male storytelling.

Throughout her journey, Nakamura has found the secret to cooking like our grandmothers lies not in the ingredients we use, but, instead, in the fragments of wisdom traditionally passed down from generation to generation.

Pieces of advice such as "The most important step in making this pumpkin jam is to stir the jam clockwise!" have frequently been passed on to Nakamura during her search for culinary wisdom. While this instruction would probably be left out of an ordinary cooking book, Nakamura believes these quirks are the "wisdom of living" that can only be inherited by cooking alongside our elders. As family structures change, then, inevitably, so will the direction in which jams are stirred.

"Families are often living apart, having fewer children than in the past, and moving towards the nuclear family type," says Nakamura. "The fact that we no longer live with our extended families means we are not taught to cook side-by-side with our grandmothers, so we lost the chance to pass on their recipes and tips."

Nakamura's fascination with "Grandma's Recipes" began five years ago in Japan. Since then, she has collected recipes from grandmothers all over the world, sharing documentaries on YouTube and publishing a book in Japan and Korea, never leaving out the little bits of wisdom she picks up along the way.  

After attending the third program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators in 2016, Nakamura found a network of likeminded creatives who encouraged her to continue pursuing her documentation of oral traditions. Among this group was Samuel Oliver, who she collaborated with in 2019 through a travel grant from Salzburg Global and the Kresge Foundation, traveling with her film crew from Japan to New Orleans to document Cajun food, culture, and history.  

During the trip, Nakamura attended the Cajun community festival, called "Cochon de Lait," which is organized by Oliver and his wife's family. Together with a local photographer who she met through Oliver, Nakamura interviewed different grandmothers at the festival, all in their 80s, who shared their traditional wisdom of Cajun and Creole cuisine.

"As soon as I heard the story of Samuel and his wife's family's festival, I really thought that this would be a great opportunity for an 'outsider,' as well as locals who don't live with a big family, to learn about the community's food customs and wisdom," says Nakamura.

Wherever Nakamura goes to learn about food culture, she is always pleasantly surprised by the similarities she finds in the different communities. "When I collect these recipes from grandmothers in different countries, it is strange to find that the similar things exist beyond the borders of the country," she explains. "For example, I always notice the grandmothers' ingenuity in feeding their families in the face of starvation, and their secrets to living happily even though they are poor."

Recounting the story of one Cajun grandmother who she met at Cochon de Lait, Nakamura says, "Mavis proudly told me that 'Cajuns don't waste anything.' She shared stories from her childhood with me, describing it as poor but truly, rich. Her parents were farmers, and Mavis had eight sisters, all raised growing cotton, sweet potatoes, corn, cows, horses, pigs, and dogs. Although they didn't have any money, they never went hungry as everything they ate was home-grown, and everything they wore was made by their mother from their own cotton.

"These situations are similar to what I discover in Japan, Thailand, and many countries in Europe too. They knew how to eat, how to live happily without money, and how to stay healthy. These stories teach us about the weaknesses of our own generation, which has not inherited this wisdom and has often overlooked it as trivial," she continues.

The most surprising trait that Nakamura uncovered during her time in New Orleans was the grandmother's love for drinking. "They have so much fun doing it while cooking!" says Nakamura. "But really, this trip has changed my perception of the Cajun community.

"Cajuns have large, close-knit families, and it seems like everyone loves to cook. At first, I thought it may be due to the influence of the Catholic religion, but I now realize the importance of their ingenuity and hard work to maintain those relationships. As Samuel's mother told me, there are three requirements to describe Cajuns: 'Who's your mom, are you Catholic, and can you make a roux from scratch?", says Nakamura.
 
It's all too easy to view Cajun culture through rose-colored glasses, Nakamura explains, especially when they open up their homes, slow-roast a pig from the early hours of the morning, and serve Cajun cuisine to more than 300 people while Cajun music fills the room.

"The truth is, Cajuns won't organize these festivals by themselves anymore as it's just too much work, so now it's up to the next generations to continue this tradition and add new colors to the mix," she says. "I realized that we need to continue to innovate our culture in order to pass it on to the next generation."


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic, and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in "hub" communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.     

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Salzburg Global's Cultural Innovators Expand Collaborations
Salzburg Global's Cultural Innovators Expand Collaborations
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Travel award scheme enables Salzburg Global Fellows to reaffirm existing connections and share new learnings

Salzburg Global Seminar has received financial support from the Kresge Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and Bush Foundation to offer travel awards to 20 Fellows for 16 projects.

Selected Fellows from the Cultural Innovators Forum have been backed to undertake new collaborative projects in 2020. The Fellows won travel awards after an internal call for applications, which received 22 submissions.

The awards will enable Fellows to travel to countries including France, Kenya, Malta, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. In these countries, beneficiaries will connect with other Fellows of the Forum.

New Experiences

For several Fellows, this will be their first experience in a new continent. This includes Gabrielle Garcia Steib, Muna Mohamed, and Korina Barry, who will visit Asia for the first time. Traveling from the Upper Midwest in the United States, the trio will spend time with Ji Young Lee, deputy chief executive of Hwansang Forest Gotjawal Park.

The trio will visit Ji Young Lee’s village and surrounding communities on Jeju Island in the Republic of Korea. They’ll then host three workshops highlighting the importance of connection and physical movement in natural spaces. The trio will primarily work with women and girls in the community who lack opportunities to travel.

From Greece to the United States

Dafni Kalafati will also hold a workshop as part of her travel award. She will partner with Holly Doll to further explore Native American issues. She will travel from Athens, Greece, to Bismarck, North Dakota, to hold a week-long art therapy-based workshop for female artists. The Buffalo Fire Woman Project will see participants work with different techniques and materials to create a booklet of personal and tribal stories. The workshop will create awareness about native issues in the U.S. and Greece, as well as foster self-worth and self-esteem.

Lazaros Damanis, also from Athens, Greece, will travel to Detroit, Michigan, to work with Sacramento Knoxx, also known as Christoper Yepez. They’ll aim to showcase career opportunities through formal and non-formal learning within the frame of the music industry – including music creation, event managing, and digital communications. Small events are being planned, including workshops, live studio podcasts, street events, and open discussions. His goal is to preserve the cultural heritage of Detroit using music as the main vehicle of cultural exchange.

Sharing of Best Practices in South Africa

Meanwhile, Alissa Shelton and Julien Godman will swap Detroit, Michigan, for Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa. It will be Shelton’s first trip to Africa and Godman’s first trip to South Africa. Both want to host two exchange events for local YCIs and others. Attendees will cook together while sharing their works and practices. Considering Detroit’s history of redlining and current property systems disintegrating black neighborhoods, Shelton and Godman are also interested in learning more about Palesa and Siphiwe Ngweny’s work with the Maboneng Township Arts Experience and from South Africa as a whole, especially in regards to spatial and zoning practices that amplify segregation.

As part of a separate proposal, Palesa and Siphiwe will also be visited by Charly Pierre. Traveling from New Orleans, LA, Pierre will hope to create a new recipe for success. Two of his Culture Forums will take place in a slightly different format where attendees will communally create a meal while discussing their cultural taboos. At the end of the meal, each attendee will leave with a recipe card featuring someone else’s reflections.

Promoting Cross-Cultural Exchange

Pierre is one of several Fellows from the sixth program of the Forum to receive a scholarship. Another is Chino Carlo Aricaya, who will travel from the Philippines to the United States. In Minneapolis, Detroit, and Baltimore, Aricaya will bring his show “Artempus” and offer workshops to help connect people to their inner artist. The show was designed as an education vehicle for cross-cultural exchange about the ideas of time, space, and the spoken word. Aricaya will connect with Julien Godman, Joy Davis, and Carl Atiya Swanson.

Swanson, from Minneapolis, has also received a travel award to help Maria Galea launch a new network in Valetta, Malta. Artz ID will be a network for contemporary visual artists, organizations, galleries, and large institutions. Swanson will offer his expertise, as well as toolkits and resources created in Minnesota. The duo is planning a series of workshops that will encompass practical business skills for artists, workshops on network-building and collaboration, and opportunities to explore concrete projects.

Joining Swanson in Europe is Steven Fox from New York City, who has the opportunity to learn more about the old worlds of France and Spain. His eight-day trip will build on his previous work looking at the historical and cultural connection of the French and Spanish cultures with regards to Memphis and New Orleans. He aims to share experiential research and analysis of French and Spanish explorers and American-related conquests. He’ll write a book of poetry and will provide updates on social media.

New Opportunities for Co-Creation

Poetry is just one medium to share a message. Mariano Pozzi will shoot an artistic film in the United States for the first time. Working alongside Dina Mousa, he will create a 15-minute fictional film titled “Two Lands,” which will focus on native communities in both Argentina and the United States. One story will represent an Ojibwa character in St Paul, Minnesota, while another story will represent a Querandi character in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both characters will discover the modernity of their cities and try to connect with their ancestors and cultural backgrounds.

Ralph Eya, from Manila, the Philippines, will also travel to Minnesota but to work alongside Adrienne M. Benjamin and the next generation leaders of Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe on a series of public murals. A facilitated workshop will accompany this. Through a process of co-creation, there will be art modules such as interactive portrait making and body mapping. Eya will also host a discussion with members of the Minnesota Hub about creative change-making frameworks and processes.

Also making the trip from the Philippines to the United States is Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan. He’ll travel to Memphis, Tennessee, to meet up with Lauren Kennedy. He’ll learn more about the UrbanArt Commission and how to use art as a tool for positive change in spaces, neighborhoods, and creative placemaking. He hopes to plant the seeds for a sister program that his organization – Pineapple Lab – and the UrbanArt Commission can collaborate on.

Memphis is also home to Orange Mound, the first African-American neighborhood in the history of America to be built by and for African Americans. Lucas Koski, from Minnesota, will visit the neighborhood to collaborate with Victoria Jones on how to use real estate strategies to generate wealth and equity, rather than extract it. He wants to understand how to be a better consultant and an expert in communities he is a foreigner to, particularly in relation to his role as an arts-based real estate developer for Artspace Projects. He will take part in multiple tours and discussions, hold a design charrette, and synthesize his learnings for a report.

Building Networks

Jones will also receive support for a separate travel award. She’ll travel to New Orleans, LA, to work with Sam Bowler, Nic Aziz, and David Baker. Jones wants to build infrastructure to support Black artists in Memphis. She will learn about Culturalyst from Bowler, the connectedness of galleries from Aziz, and how storytelling can transform these experiences from Baker. Rather than recreate the wheel, Jones wants to introduce existing technology to help push the conversation forward and improve connections in Memphis.

Bowler, meanwhile, is introducing Culturalyst to Makueni County, Kenya. With his travel award, he’ll set up an online artist directory for the county, which will be supported by a dedicated server, database, and frontend application. Upon arriving in Kenya, Bowler will meet with Esther Mbatha and plan events centered around educating artists about the directory and signing them up to be listed. He will be on hand to receive feedback from artists and make improvements to the Culturalyst network.

Traveling from Baltimore, Quinton Batts will visit Sioux Falls and Minneapolis to share his work and create further opportunities for growth. In Sioux Falls, he will meet with Zach DeBoer and assist him in painting a community mural. A day later, he’ll give a presentation about his social design research and projects at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) about human-centered design, pedestrian and bike-friendly cities, and urban farming to the local chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). He’ll then proceed to attend an Upper Midwest meet-up.


The Cultural Innovators Forum empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in “hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Strengthening Relationships Between South Africa and the United States
Siphiwe Ngwenya (second from right) and Palesa Ngwenya (far right) with fellow YCI Atianna Cordova (second from left) and Damon Batiste (center), president of New Orleans South Africa Connection (NOSACONN)Siphiwe Ngwenya (second from right) and Palesa Ngwenya (far right) with fellow YCI Atianna Cordova (second from left) and Damon Batiste (center), president of New Orleans South Africa Connection (NOSACONN)
Strengthening Relationships Between South Africa and the United States
By: Lucy Browett 

Salzburg Global Fellows from New Orleans, Detroit, and South Africa collaborate through Salzburg travel scholarship

A cultural exchange between YCI alumni has strengthened partnerships and had a positive impact on the Fellows’ respective communities.

Palesa Ngwenya and Siphiwe Ngwenya, who run the Maboneng Township Arts Experience (MTAE), and Atianna Cordova of Water Block in New Orleans, traveled to each other’s countries in 2018 to explore local arts projects and network with local artists.

Palesa and Atianna both attended the fourth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators in 2017. Siphiwe, meanwhile, attended the inaugural program in 2014.

The exchange took place through a travel scholarship awarded by Salzburg Global and funded by The Kresge Foundation to enable YCI alumni to continue collaborating across borders.

The first leg of the trip, taken by Atianna, brought together 10 women from across the African Diaspora to come together and share their stories.

Palesa and Siphiwe then traveled to the US to fulfill their leg of the trip, where they strengthened tourism relationships between South Africa and New Orleans. They also saw Africa Umoja, a stage show bringing the spirit of South Africa to US audiences. In a joint statement, Palesa and Siphiwe said, “It was a delight to be in New Orleans watching US audiences get introduced to South Africa through the arts.”

They also visited Gentilly Fest while in New Orleans, a community festival started after Hurricane Katrina, designed to celebrate the rich culture of New Orleans

Palesa and Siphiwe included a trip to Detroit in their travels, to participate in the Bank Suey's Civic Arts Series organized by YCI Alissa Shelton. In a joint statement, they said, “Being able to participate in this Civic Arts Series meant that the MTAE team could meet, share with and learn from the nearby YCIs and resilient citizens of Detroit.”

They additionally spent time in Detroit with Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert who founded Power House Productions (PHP), an artist-run neighborhood-based nonprofit organization.

Palesa and Siphiwe said, “This series of gatherings explored creative practice as community building, along with the art of formal planning. We were part of creatives whose practice is used to shape neighborhood futures, employing unconventional and innovative strategies in their work.”

The Fellows’ experiences at their respective YCI programs has inspired collaboration. Siphiwe said, “Palesa and Atianna were in various working groups during their time in Salzburg, providing time to be inspired to create a similar platform to Salzburg Global Seminar.

“This has led to the decision to collaborate to compile a framework that can be used by future YCI of color engaging in high community impact travel experiences that develop young leaders.”

The MTAE turns homes in townships across South Africa into galleries, to promote local artists and encourage local people to invest in their art.

Speaking about the impact this travel scholarship has had on their organization, Palesa and Siphiwe said, “Upon our return to South Africa, our organization poured energy into launching our latest Cinema Home Attractions in Langa, Cape Town as well as Alexandra, Johannesburg with the aim of exposing local communities to South African films, sharing these cinematic creations in people’s homes.

“Our cultural exchange with young New Orleans and Detroit leaders imprinted the importance of consciously dreaming up a future we want as citizens and use emergent strategy to positively transform the South African communities within which we work.”


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected change-makers in “Hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Young Cultural Innovator Participates in Leadership Exchange in Cape Town
From left to right - Salzburg Global Fellows Palesa Ngwenya, Atianna Cordova, and Linda KaomaFrom left to right - Salzburg Global Fellows Palesa Ngwenya, Atianna Cordova, and Linda Kaoma
Young Cultural Innovator Participates in Leadership Exchange in Cape Town
By: Lucy Browett 

Salzburg Global Fellow Atianna Cordova reflects on 2018 trip to South Africa

Salzburg Global Fellow Atianna Cordova, founder of WATER BLOCK, embarked on a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, as part of a cultural leadership exchange.

The exchange took place in 2018 through a travel scholarship awarded by Salzburg Global Seminar and funded by The Kresge Foundation to enable YCI alumni to continue collaborating across borders.

Cordova, who attended the fourth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators, collaborated with other YCI alumni, including Palesa Ngwenya and Siphiwe Ngwenya, who run the Maboneng Township Arts Experience (MTAE). Palesa and Siphiwe also took part in this leadership exchange through the travel scholarship, making a trip to New Orleans and Detroit to collaborate with YCI fellows.

During the trip, Cordova took part in a variety of activities to immerse herself in the culture of South Africa. She said, “This travel included small group discussions involving oral history exchanges with elder residents, tours by local community leaders, parades and street festivals to commemorate South African Heritage Month, historic site visits, skill-building sessions on communication and organizational development with local artists.”

Cordova’s experiences were moderated by organizations such as the Robben Island Museum, District Six Museum, and MTAE.

Additionally, Cordova met with 10 women from different parts of Africa for dinner at Timbuktu Café organized by YCIs Linda Kaoma and Palesa Ngwenya. She said, “The communal dinner was a moment for us, as black women creators, to affirm, connect and reflect on our experiences, while sharing best practices and ideas that promote social change.”

The fourth program of the YCI Forum provided Cordova with the initial concept behind the cultural leadership exchange. Cordova commented that the program reinforced the need for those that identify as part of the African Diaspora to intentionally gather outside of program hours to “share challenges and commonalities as art and design practitioners and black people.”

She added, “Our laughter and tears highlighted the need for even more opportunities to connect, collaborate and simply celebrate us.”

Cordova says her experiences in this exchange have benefitted not only her community back home, but also the communities she visited in Cape Town.

“By engaging in this inter-hub exchange, dialogues around cultural identity, self-preservation, post-disaster recovery, traumatic healing, and relationship building allowed us to further develop skills needed to use art and design as transformative tools in communities around the globe.”

“From the group discussions to the historic site visits, this trip broadened my communication and entrepreneurial skill sets, which increased my ability to address challenges in my own community in New Orleans. Although no words can truly describe the magic that happened during this travel, I'm excited about future opportunities to highlight the narratives of black innovators and continue creating access and justice for black people through our respective works.”


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected change-makers in “Hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Zoe Chun: Art Community - A Salon of This Generation
Zoe Chun: Art Community - A Salon of This Generation
By: Zoe Chun 

Salzburg Global Fellow Zoe Chun reflects on her experience at the sixth program of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum

This article was originally published in the Seoul Art Guide.

Last month, I attended the 6th YCI Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria. Leaders, artists, and activists from nonprofit cultural and arts organizations from 50 countries around the world spent a week together to discuss their visions and values for creation. In hindsight, I would say the purpose of this international seminar was not so much to network as to pursue a series of coalitions. Commenting on these expressions, a 'coalition' aims at building and promoting a community, whereas to 'network' implies some kind of exchange—that is, connection. Perhaps the biggest difference in nuance would be that the concept of 'coalition' abstractly implies an ultimate continuity. In what ways, then, could such community ultimately impact the present cultural and artistic world, especially in the exhibition area of contemporary art?

About 50 participants covered various topics including humanitarianism, gender, and human rights based on multinational languages, cultures, and religious backgrounds. Through lectures, discussions, and workshops, we shared approaches to 'sustainability' (which are discussed at major nonprofit organizations), creative social movements for the underprivileged and minorities, and other unique artistic perspectives about local communities from extremely personal stories and experiences.

This community of young cultural workers that formed during a short period of time reminded me of the salon culture that prevailed in the 18th century. In fact, Schloss Leopoldskron, which was where the seminar was held and has been one of the major sites of the Rococo style, was founded in the 18th century. Later, in the early 20th century, an innovative playwright and director named Max Reinhardt founded the Salzburg Festival with leading intellectuals and artists of the time, such as a romantic composer Richard Strauss and a lyrist poet Hugo von Hoffmanstall, and the place became a prominent local cultural attraction.

From the Victorian era since the Reform Act of 1832 to the Nazi regime era in the 1930s to the present, the historical periods of wounds, oppression, and recovery had left their legacies in this space that are now giving young cultural innovators new inspirations and a will to challenge the contemporary perspectives. Perhaps because of this, the participants did not constrain themselves in method and format of their presentations as they played their music, showed short films they directed, and read poems of various sentiments inspired during this period. Coexisting alongside the romantic and emotional elements mentioned earlier were physical dynamics such as live music performances, b-boy dances, and yoga. It is no exaggeration to say that this week-long salon as a loose but united relationship, a free but inclusive environment, gave us all a sense of camaraderie at the level of a mere friendship.

Sadly, the past glory of the salon culture has deteriorated and disappeared as it faced, unlike its origin, limitations in transcending political flows and classes. Whether the attempt and purpose were experimental or aesthetic, the root of the arduous pursuit for aesthetics and philosophy at that time was a 'dialogue.'

Rather than simply telling stories, it repeats a cycle of life interaction, comfort for emotional and spiritual solidarities, courage, recovery, and challenge.

Furthermore, the 'dialogue' is a kind of phenomenal history that forms a memory with the space that was born itself, and a present that anticipates its future influence.

In 1961, at the Theater of Odéon in Paris, when a sculptor Alberto Giacometti was working on a skinny tree, preparing a stage for Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot,' Giacometti later recalled:

“It was considered as a tree. or a tree and a moon.
We worked all night experimenting with the tree. making bigger. and then smaller.
or sometimes making the branches thinner.
And then we would say to each other. 'well..'
(Dialogue into the VoId: Beckett & Giacometti. Matti Megged, 1985)

In this short three-part series, I would like to take the contemporary art that has sunk into the established order beyond an institutional exhibition and question the concept of an exhibition from a historic, cultural point of view. I hope that in contemporary art the concept of exhibitions can be redefined into ones where it can break from the extant isolated systems and structures to cultivate a healthy and sustainable community, where it can break from the distinctions between experts and non-experts to foster a real coalition of emotions and sensibilities. At the same time, I lay my hopes on my colleagues and artists who are already striving in where a real attention and interest is needed—the field outside the established order. 

Zoe Chun / Independent Curator & Director of The Great Commission
Translated by Minji Chun, Edited by Eugene Park


The Salzburg Global Seminar Program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum annual program. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council KoreaArts Council Maltathe Bush FoundationCanada Council for the ArtsJapan Foundationthe Korea Foundationthe Kresge FoundationLloyd A. Fry Foundationthe McKnight Foundationthe Nippon FoundationSalama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan FoundationShalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform
Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Latest report from the Young Cultural Innovators Forum now online to download, read and share

Many cities and regions around the world are facing radical environmental, social, political, and economic transformation, confronting challenges such as climate change, social injustice, the need for educational reform, and growing economic disparities. Addressing these challenges takes action at all levels and in collaboration across multiple different sectors.

Recognizing that some of the most imaginative solutions at the local and community levels are found in the arts and culture sector, where young cultural innovators are helping to drive change, Salzburg Global Seminar launched the Young Cultural Innovators Forum (YCI Forum) in 2014 to connect and empower a critical mass of talented change-makers across the world to shape a more creative, just and sustainable world.

In October 2019, 50 new members joined this growing global network of cultural changemakers and creative practitioners, by taking part in the sixth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators – Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform.

Supported by local partner organizations and individual philanthropists, the newest members of the YCI Forum came to Salzburg from 17 countries including Austria, Canada, India, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malta, Philippines, South Africa, the UK, and the USA, and represented diverse artistic disciplines from the visual and performing arts, literature, and cultural heritage, to foods, fashion, architecture, and design. As ever, all participants were aged between 25-35 with at least two years of professional experience in the arts or cultural sector and a demonstrable passion for creating social change within their community.

YCI Program Director Susanna Seidl-Fox said, “By connecting this next generation of creative changemakers, Salzburg Global aims to support and strengthen the evolving cultural ecosystem, catalyze cross-sectoral connections, and expand the possibilities for civic innovation and social improvement through the power and creativity of the arts worldwide.”

Continuity and Co-creation

For the first time, the Forum also saw a large number of existing members of the YCI network from previous years’ programs return as facilitators, who helped co-create the program along with the long-serving faculty and Salzburg Global staff. 

Faye Hobson, YCI Program Manager, said, “The goals of the program in Salzburg are to welcome the new YCIs into the YCI Forum network, connect them with each other, and provide opportunities for them to reflect on their own practice, as well as on their role in their community, in their city or region, and as part of the YCI network worldwide. This year the YCI Forum is being co-created by Salzburg Global, the YCI facilitation team, and members of the YCI Forum network. We believe that co-creation taps into the collective insight and potential of groups, and is especially effective when bringing together YCIs from around the world who are facing common challenges in their work to generate breakthrough solutions that shape a better world.”

The annual week-long residential program at Schloss Leopoldskron, home of Salzburg Global Seminar, is designed to help participants develop the dynamic vision, practical skills, and global networks they need to bridge divides, expand collaboration, and transform systems at the local, regional, and global levels. The program combines theory and praxis, with capacity building sessions focusing on communicating value, principles of self-organization, cross-sectoral collaboration, and leadership and values. This 2019 program was also aligned with several Sustainable Development Goals. Participants examined how people within the arts and cultural sector can create sustainable cities and communities as well as positive innovation for the future.

Now entering its seventh year, the YCI Forum is growing and nurturing a dynamic international network that catalyzes an expanding range of local and cross-border collaborations. The Forum represents a major, ten-year commitment by Salzburg Global Seminar to fostering creative innovation and social entrepreneurship for more inclusive and sustainable development. 

This new report does give an overview of each of the programmatic elements in Salzburg, but the majority of the report includes interviews with and accounts directly from YCI Fellows about why they value the program. An account of the ongoing “Contested Histories” project, sparked by a protest at the 2018 YCI Forum, is also included.

Download the report as a PDF

The 2019 program of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum was held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Sheika Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.  
 

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Finding Common Ground through Cultural Innovation
Members of YCI Canada Hub gather in Haida Gwaii
Finding Common Ground through Cultural Innovation
By: Carla Zahra 

YCI Canada fellows explore their commonalities and differences during a Haida Gwaii research-residency

When one Young Cultural Innovator invited fellow delegates to gather on his home territory in Haida Gwaii, an archipelago of 150 islands off British Columbia’s West Coast in Canada, it opened up a new dimension of fostering relationships for cultural collaboration. Supported by Salzburg Global Seminar and the Canada Council for the Arts, the visit enabled members of the YCI Canada Hub to explore their shared and diverse experiences, focusing on understanding and supporting Indigenous sovereignty in their works as individuals and as a group. 

The research-residency took place between September 22 and September 28, 2019, in Skidegate, a Haida community in Haida Gwaii. The seven participants were all delegates from the Canada Hub of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI). These participants included Patrick Shannon (Nang K’uulas), Nikki Shaffeeullah, and J.S. Ryu, who took part in the 2017 program of the YCI Forum, and Alyssa Fearon, Brian McBay, Lindsey Mae Willie and Jenna Winter from the 2018 program of the YCI Forum. 

Through a series of in-depth conversations, the participants found common ground discussing the history of colonialism and their shared experience of anti-colonial work within the cultural sector. Together, they explored topics such as colonization, Indigenous sovereignty, and land title. Apart from seeking ways of supporting equal pay policies for arts workers in Canada, members of this YCI Hub also spoke about how each of their organizations could thrive in a complex environment by advocating for better policies that would serve historically underrepresented communities. This inspired fruitful conversations about what work can be achieved through collaboration as a Hub. 

Upon arriving in Skidegate, Patrick Shannon gave an overview of Haida Gwaii’s recent history, including its colonization and subsequent work towards decolonization. The role of the Haida Nation as a leading example in Indigenous self-governance, settler-Indigenous relationships, language preservation and repatriation of “objects” became evident to those that were not previously aware of it. On their second day, Lindsey Mae Willie presented a summary of the impacts of the imposition of the Indian Act on First Nations in Canada, in particular to her own people, the Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw. 

“We also learned that the immense geography in Canada can oversimplify the relationships between regions at times, thereby complicating our work as a national ‘Hub.’ Though we all live in ‘Canada’, we each represent very different regions and communities, from isolated landscapes to large urban centers and from isolated islands to spaces of extractive global capital,” reports the group, in their collaborative summary of the project. 

Through the research-residency program, the YCI delegates also collaborated with individuals and organizations based in Haida Gwaii, including the Haida Heritage Centre, the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program (SHIP), students in Haida Gwaii, the Haida Youth Assembly, the Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Secondary School and individuals who helped organize the film screening of “Yah’Guudang / Respect for All Living Beings” in Masset. 

The YCI Canada Hub is currently exploring several possible projects that stemmed from their meeting in Haida Gwaii and are planning their next meeting in 2020. 


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in “hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

READ MORE...
Cultivating History, Documenting Dreams
Jose Cotto at Salzburg Global Seminar
Cultivating History, Documenting Dreams
By: Oscar Tollast 

Photographer and designer Jose Cotto reflects on his return to Salzburg Global Seminar and helping YCI Fellows reach their destinations

Jose Cotto is neither here nor there, neither present nor missing. “I’m back, but I’m not back,” he says while reflecting on his participation at the sixth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI).

Cotto, who attended the fifth program in 2018, has returned to Salzburg Global Seminar as a facilitator. His attendance was made possible thanks to the Kresge Foundation. During the program, the New Orleans-based photographer and designer has been capturing candid images and one-on-one portraits with participants. 

“I’ve been trying to find moments – or letting moments find me – where Fellows are sitting with something,” Cotto says. “Where you can tell that something is just resonating just by the body language, the expression, the sort of feeling, and the energy in the room and space.”

Remaining visible while invisible isn’t an unusual skill for Cotto. It’s his mantra. With his photography and design practice, josecottoCREATIVE, Cotto has often explored the relationships between people, place, and time. 

While taking one-on-one portraits, Cotto has asked the newest YCI Fellows to meditate on their time in Salzburg before photographing the moment they transition from “there to here.” 

Cotto believes within all of us lie GPS coordinates for the destination we’re trying to reach. Some of us get off-track, but we don’t lose sight of what that end goal looks like. Cotto suggests the portraits should serve as a compass to help YCI Fellows reach their dreams. 

“The hope is that they’ll have this portrait as a reminder of the place that they went to so that they can revisit it whenever they feel like they’re… losing their course or straying in the wrong direction.”

While growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts, art was a means to escape, forget, and remember for Cotto. Reflecting on his journey this past year, Cotto reveals he has purposefully slowed down. He says, “I’ve still been making work, but it’s been at a very different rate. It’s been a lot more intentional.” 

He’s found time to teach university students and review his archive of work, which dates back more than 10 years and features more than 100,000 photos. Since starting a new job at the Small Center, a community design center at Tulane’s School of Architecture, Cotto has also found time to focus on his architectural and design work. 

“Consistently, throughout it all, it’s been a desire and understanding that slowing down at this point in my life is sort of where I’m at, and the experiences that I’ve been having… really trying to absorb those things as much as possible to try to extrapolate the sort of lessons and the findings that ultimately, I believe, will reveal sort of a… clearer blueprint, if you will, of what it is that I’m actually building and creating.” 

For Cotto, Schloss Leopoldskron is a place tied up with “beautiful moments and conversations.” He’s aware of how significant the experience was for him in 2018 and how much of that came from the shared space built among the Fellows. It’s affected how he’s interacted with Fellows at the 2019 program. 

He says, “I know how lively and enriching these conversations are, and I want to be part of them because those are the things that I love, right? But I’m also mindful that this is an important space for the Fellows to have.”

Memories ignite as Cotto walks through Schloss Leopoldskron’s grounds and corridors. “It feels like I belong in this space... This is a space that I will revisit again throughout my lifetime,” Cotto says. “So, in a lot of ways, it feels like home...”

In January 2020, Cotto’s photos were chosen to feature in a new exhibition housed in Schloss Leopoldskron’s Meierhof Café. His photos appear alongside fellow YCI Yasmine Omari, who also attended the sixth program of the YCI Forum. 


The Salzburg Global Seminar program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators Forum multi-year series. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.
 

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Fostering Creative Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Returning YCI Fellows provide information on life "after the Schloss"Returning YCI Fellows provide information on life "after the Schloss"
Fostering Creative Innovation and Entrepreneurship
By: Mira Merchant 

Fellows discuss events and notable changes in their life since attending the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators

The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators continues to build a network of Fellows in city and regional hubs all around the world. We spoke to seven YCI Fellows to learn about how their lives have changed personally and professionally since they first arrived in Salzburg.

“Since I’ve been here last year, I’ve still stayed in my same role. But I would say one of the things that really changed my perspective since being here last year is just being more deliberate about the things that I want to achieve and the connections that I want to make. I've taken out some things that aren't making an impact to the work that I want to do or [be] the mom that I want to be.”

Amber Henderson,South Dakota, USA

Assistant professor of marketing, Northern State University

"My time here encouraged me to be more thoughtful about what I want. We often get caught up in the work that we do that involves others. One of my core values is service, and in the organization that we run, I serve as the development coordinator, sorting out fundraising and proposals. And for me, that is a work of service. It involves one of my favorite things, which is writing. But I also had another job at the time writing professionally; I was doing two things. So my time here encouraged me to tap back into writing for myself.”

Palesa Ngwenya,Johannesburg, South Africa

Development coordinator, Maboeng Township Arts Experience, and author of Boldly Bloom, Sis'

"I think the most the most important thing that I've done is slow down. I left the program last year, like everybody else, very excited and anxious to dive back into work. Obviously, you spend the week here with a lot of brilliant minds, and the gears start turning very fast. I left with this excitement on a very, very high note and had to go back to a very different environment, which in a lot of ways was really a blessing because it forced me to slow down. I started a new job at a community design center in New Orleans. I've been able to sort of get back to my architectural practice and my design practice a little bit as well. I also teach a course at the university. [YCI helped] me to reflect a lot more and set sail with my thoughts and explore them as much as I can."

Jose Cotto, New Orleans, USA

Photographer and designer at josecottoCREATIVE

"My intent back then [in 2018] was to really elevate artistic practice into more engaging cultural work in the Philippines… and to create probably not just an influence, but to activate people more and activate spaces back in my country… So I think I was able to… elevate that into a wider scale. I’ve been working around in the entire country now, not just in Manila and [I have] also been building a lot of relationships with my fellow people. YCI helped me realize why relationships are more important than ever."

Ralph Eya,Manila, Philippines

Independent Art Practitioner

"In the months that followed this program, I jumped into several new endeavors. I went from a highly local practice to a national practice, which has been amazing but at times, a steep learning curve. I have found myself using and building on the things that I learned and absorbed while at [the YCI Forum], and, now being back for a second time, also reflecting on being in this highly collaborative and creative space, the values that are embodied by the YCI cohort, and the opportunity it affords to think about and frame the impact we each want to make in the world."

Rebecca Chan, Baltimore, USA

Program officer at LISC National Creative Placemaking and Economic Development Program

"I met new people from my own country who were committed to very interesting and powerful causes. We got together after coming here, and we created a project together where we work with migrant communities. Most of [the other Fellows] brought in their amazing skills in filmmaking, photography, workshops, and art to combat gender stereotypes, and we work with migrant kids in Buenos Aires. We are all former YCI Fellows... I'm very happy about this project."

Luciana Chait,Buenos Aires, Argentina

Owner of Dijon – Media and Learning Experience

"Since leaving YCI, the one thing that probably got most of my energy was becoming a parent. One might wonder if it really influences anything professionally because it's private life, but I realized the moment I had this change that I became more sensitive towards certain issues. So all of a sudden, environmental and education and corruption and social issues, they became urgent and a high priority [for me], whereas when I was here the last time, I saw them as more distant."

Kleidi Eski,Tirana, Albania

Founder and creative director of Light and Moving


The Salzburg Global Seminar program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators Forum multi-year series. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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Making the World Better and Beautiful Through Collaboration
Jaimie (Joo Im) MoonJaimie (Joo Im) Moon
Making the World Better and Beautiful Through Collaboration
By: Oscar Tollast 

Salzburg Global Fellow Jaimie (Joo Im) Moon discusses the impact of attending the YCI Forum and arts and culture in the Republic of Korea

For Jaimie (Joo Im) Moon, her experience in Salzburg was “inspiring” for many reasons – none more so than her realizing “how so many great and creative people are out there making our world better and beautiful…” Her participation in the Young Cultural Innovators Forum (YCI) also helped her make connections that would have otherwise been difficult to make.

“It was also very meaningful for me to get to talk with global fellows from the regions that are comparatively rare to meet in East Asia, such as those from Eastern Europe and South America. The thoughtfully curated programs of YCI led us to become friends and to exchange thoughts and experiences in fun and mindful way[s].”

Moon, from the Republic of Korea, arrived in Salzburg in October 2016 as a senior researcher and cultural designer for the Bureau of Strategic Planning of the World Culture Open, a non-profit organization that promotes cultural diversity and unprejudiced cultural exchange around the globe. Now, she is the executive director of the Bureau that stands in its place: The Bureau of Research & Plan. Moon has since grown more confident about her life goal.

She said, “I think I was able to be clearer about my goal through YCI and recent years of work because I feel that there are more allies, the comrades, and friends to learn from and to exchange knowledge and experiences with for the common goal. Such [a] feeling of solidarity brings up confidence and willpower in me.”

Better Together

At World Culture Open, Moon is working on the organization’s Better Together Initiative, which tries to bring together social entrepreneurs from around the world who are working for the greater good. Moon said, “World Culture Open shares a very similar goal of what Salzburg Global Seminar has been achieving over 70 years - convening creative minds across sectors, fostering networks and partnership for social change, [and] connecting local innovators across the globe.”

One of the two pillars of this initiative is the Better Together Festival (Challenge), an annual three-day global gathering of change-makers where participants can share stories of their projects and win prizes through a contest-format program. They can also exchange knowledge, attend talks and concerts, have in-depth group discussions on social issues, and discuss potential partnerships.

Last year’s festival was held in Pyeongchang and featured hundreds of practitioners from around the world, including several YCI Fellows. Susanna Seidl-Fox, a program director at Salzburg Global responsible for culture and the arts, was also in attendance. Moon said, “Along with the Challenge, we were happy to be able to invite some YCI Fellows as advisory members to the Better Together initiative this year. Advisory members… are those recognized as proactive agents of change in their own communities who actively engage in shaping and implementing Better Together initiative with a collaborative network of practitioners and change-makers.”

Collaborative Partnerships

Moon said she had benefited personally and professionally from knowing Seidl-Fox. “She has been a great mentor for me in the aspect of leadership, management, and communication… I believe such professionalism that Susi shows throughout the process of work is also a very important learning element for young cultural innovators.”

The YCI Forum is building a global network of 500 change-makers in hub communities to design collaborative projects, build skills, provide mentorship, and connector innovators in different cities and countries. Moon has collaborated with Salzburg Global Fellows, including Phloen Prim, Siphiwe Mbinda, Rebecca Chan, Yu Nakamura, Sebastian Chuffer, Chunnoon Song-e Song, and more. Moon said, “The YCI network, a pool of hundreds of creative minds is an incredible source of greater-good practitioners [whom] I can invite, connect [with] and introduce [to] the field of work that I am involved in.

“For the projects that I curated in Korea, I could invite YCI Fellows as global speakers, facilitators and expert/advisory members, or connect the Fellows to other cultural projects and collaborative opportunities in Korea.”

Arts and Culture in the Republic of Korea

In the Republic of Korea, Moon said there are a “good amount” of grants and government-backed cultural foundations that support the arts. World Culture Open, for example, works closely with the public sector at various levels. Moon said, “We partner with the Presidential Committee for the National Balanced Development for a project to find and support the cultural innovators in local areas… They are the core element in terms of [the] sustainable development of the region. Such collaborative effort[s] [are] important, especially when the disparity between cosmopolitan urban [cities] like Seoul and the other regions is generating many social problems.

“The Better Together Global Festival has [also] been hosted and funded by the city-level regional governments each year. And we often get invited by the government bureaus for consultancy to various arts and culture-related matters in the regions.”

Despite this financial support, Moon believes the arts and culture sector in Korea is still considered a secondary subject when compared with technology, the economy, or politics. “We need to acknowledge cultural innovators – those who practice and promote arts and culture – are also the social innovators. Cultural innovators approach social issue[s] with [flexibility] and creative perspective[s] and find breakthroughs from unconventional approaches. Arts and culture brings advancement to technology, [the] economy, and even politics with creativity.”

If Moon could change one thing about the arts and culture sector in her country, it would be the arts education system. She believes arts and culture need to be taught as a natural means of expression and creativity. “Arts and culture should be appreciated and valued more importantly in terms of class time and resource allocation at schools, and it should be applied cross-sectoral throughout various subjects. Teachers need more learning resources and practical training. It is never enough. Governments and corporations need to invest more in arts education.”


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in “hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Confronting Resistance and Change Through Poetry
A front view of the zine Sanja Grozdanic created with contributions from Detriot writers on the theme "My Last Day on Earth."A front view of the zine Sanja Grozdanic created with contributions from Detriot writers on the theme "My Last Day on Earth."
Confronting Resistance and Change Through Poetry
By: Soila Kenya 

Salzburg Global Fellow Sanja Grozdanic engages with Detroit creative scene through travel scholarship

Would your last day on earth be ecstasy or grief? Sanja Grozdanic, a writer and editor from Adelaide, Australia, traveled to Detroit in the United States to explore the theme “My Last Day on Earth.”

Through a scholarship from the Kresge Foundation, she met up with Maia Asshaq, both of whom attended the third program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators in 2016.

Together, they organized a reading and poetry night on December 10, 2019, at the Room Project to provoke thoughts about the current socio-political anxieties in the world. “It encouraged writers to think about resistance as a daily practice – what we might take into the new decade, and what we must leave behind,” said Grozdanic.

During the evening, Detroit writers Scott Northrup and Cy Tulip performed original new works in response to the theme, along with performances from Grozdanic and Asshaq. Attendees were also invited to present their own contributions.

“It was a great turn out, ending with a beautiful durational performance by Cy Tulip,” said Grozdanic.

She added, “The Detroit artistic community was welcoming, open and receptive to the evening and theme.”

A zine that included several other responses on the theme was published by Grozdanic and made available for free during the event. On this accomplishment, she said, “I took the project much wider than I had originally planned, as I was very happy with the theme we chose. I am glad that a piece of the evening will continue to live on in this way.”

In the days following the event, the two Salzburg Global Fellows spent time exploring the creative scene in Detroit. “We went to a reading and screening at the Arab American Museum, where Maia also performed, to galleries, bookshops, and met with Leslie Perlman, who was one of the founders of the legendary Detroit Printing Co-op,” said Grozdanic.

Grozdanic is the co-founder of KRASS Journal, an independent arts and culture publication based in Adelaide but distributed internationally.

Based on the success of the event, she looks forward to bringing similar events to other cities. “When I return to my YCI Hub of Adelaide, I would be thrilled to host a poetry night on the same theme, with the zines available as well.”

She added, “I hope Maia and myself will continue to collaborate on projects large and small. I am aiming to re-print the publication I created for the event, for posterity, and because the work was of such a stellar standard.”

For Grozdanic, her participation in the YCI Travel Scheme provided the opportunity to connect with the Detroit creative community. “I was humbled and inspired by the ingenuity and experimentation I witnessed in Detroit. I have been reflecting on this since my return to Berlin.”


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in “hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Julién Godman: Detroit to Salzburg - Travel to Find Our Light Departing
Julién GodmanPhoto by Herman Siedl
Julién Godman: Detroit to Salzburg - Travel to Find Our Light Departing
By: Julién Godman 

Salzburg Global Fellow reflects on his experience at the sixth program of the YCI Forum

Julién Godman is a Salzburg Global Fellow. He recently attended the sixth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. This blog was originally published on The Metropolitan.

A seemingly at peace woman told me in 2010 that my necklace was charged. This was a passing thought today, here above the Atlantic, on my way to a palace in Salzburg, Austria.

I do like the idea of being charged. Feel it now. I made that necklace from Dabls' beads when I had no more than $20.00 to my name. I recall first meeting Dabls, our eyes both sparkled in our existence. A new friend. Nine years later, I remember this moment in the air, with an incremental life gain of .50 cents. I now have $20.50, to spend as I please. Perhaps, on an airplane sandwich.

Last year, I took a similar flight in the same amount of time, from JFK to Moscow. Around eight hours. I remember the orderly fashion of the steward-folks, tight dressed. The men and women both in states of seductive synchronous nature. Yes, it was entertaining.

Each steward-folk here on Lufthansa, today, is nice, also disheveled, but mostly nice. Tad more brunette than their blonde Aeroflot counterparts. I note such with steward-person A. Piper, whom I see a smile with hot towelettes and cheeks above her hot-tong holding manicured hands. Her glasses are thick-rimmed, black. And when she smiles, the rims of the glasses rise to touch her eyebrows. I saw A. Piper smile this day.

I sit in the middle of the plane, two seats to myself, shoes off, feet swollen. I ponder. Pondering my smile. "Am I smiling?" I MUST ask myself again and again. My feet are swollen, and I've tired in travel, my cheeks are low, and my pillow is just too soft.

When people who breathe, "There it is! Did you see that breath?" are murdered by men with all the guns, I consider this a pondering moment. When millions of children starve because their lives seemingly matter far less than the roof of Notre Dame de Paris, I consider this pondering. Here, above the Atlantic, I have these and other thoughts.

Are there friends way up here? Are there friends in places way down there?

At cafes, salons, while I smoke my many shishas, in dark dens and silent living rooms and mosquito riddled stoops, I speak on friendship. Sometimes, with friends. Mostly, with those who chance such thoughts and ponder.

I am on my way to Salzburg, Austria, to attend a forum on cultural innovation. Noted. What does cultural innovation even mean, really?

With no agenda and all the agency, I will be among 50 arts and cultural doers from around the world. I shall continue to sleep, walk along some paths where I find them, and not think on the meaning of cultural innovation. The pathways will always be waiting for feet.

"I took in fresh air full of rotten leaves …"

Sometimes when I walk, there may be horrors, and I am afraid. In unknown darkness, eyes await; other times, such paths are hard on my soles, but I will smile. I wonder while walking in the woods in Austria, will I smell fresh renewal in the air and give pause for some smiles?

I've smiled when a child has said 'Salam' to me by some fishermen boats. I've smiled when fall's wet golden leaves dust-up over wet Parisian cement. I've even smiled when "not-Halim" took all my money and told me once upon a JFK story. Perhaps, after this forum, I will smile in Istanbul, my next andanzas to be had. Such hope-filled future smiles with daily "günaydın" chats and the taking of kahve, again and again. Thoughts of "I am Armenian."

Life may suffer, but there is always joy in places to be found.

Last year, in downtown Tunis, I had friendship moments at a cafe full of young "we resist to be terrorized, we will sit and drink our espresso in public spaces" people. It was on the very same street where I had these moments that "not-Halim" shared with me the news of the Brothers of Islam and their hatred of me, and of the suicide bombings the week prior and of the police on Avenue Habib Bourguiba. But, he never told me of the sadness of the Tunisian youth, the suicides, the untold rapes, the fading bright stars. He never told me of the forgotten promises. He never told me of all the luck we most likely will share.

Such luck continues as we breathe.

I remember there was little joy in "not-Halim's" eyes. I only noticed small, thoughtful bits of "finally another American will pay me what he owes." But, with these thoughtful bits, considerations of loss and all, I still found joy.

Landing in what can only be described as a quaint airport in Salzburg, Austria, I was greeted by a woman in red. Piercing red high heels, red dress, red top, fully equipped with forever seasons of bright red. She stood in front of a bronze airport tower. My shoes move on the tarmac; I recall this moment to be of some significance.

"I have arrived to do some imaginary stuff."

These movements we all make, to attest, to live. We live in the places that we make way toward and then arrive. And these places, they are significant, when we breathe alone, or together. Let us recognize such momentary places we traverse if only to "find our light" – So says a dear friend Charly, "find your light."

Upon arrival, I was rushed inside. Rushed to the desk. Rushed to the room. Rushed to get that wifi code. Rushed to tour the grounds. Rushed in realization that Europeans love twin-sized beds. Rushed to hear Schloss Leopoldskron's complicated histories by persons who are rushed. History of Nazi command, history of The Sound of Music filming, histories of race, religion, and resounding power. And then I sleep.

When I woke, I met a man who waved at me at the airport in Detroit. His name is RD, and I now know him to be a friend. Then more persons with eyes that sparkle. Rushed again, I do recall. Memory of a woman and a goose in the wood. Distorted memories in rushed spaces.

The following week, we all gathered. Many times we took part in the Salzburg Global Seminar's cultural forum. Striking ideas of current and future cross-cultural collaboration, and what my dear friend Abhinit and I renamed "GLOBAL" gathering. Because, "Oh, this is global, the gathering of only the globals ya'know," Ha! But what a journey, our andanzas, we created together and felt, and cried through. There was power in our gathering. This, I see.

Day after day, with empty journals, I walked the ground. I stood, then came close to understanding past things. I watched the gray and green mountains to catch them in their movements. I took in that fresh air full of rotten leaves that I had hoped. I considered all those who have moved in these spaces and those who have always moved here for a very long time. Indigenous nature and its inhabitants. For now, with hope, and future imitations of such movements, I again take sleep.


The Salzburg Global Seminar Program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum annual program. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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Maria Galea: No Big Words Can Describe This Experience
Photo by Herman Siedl
Maria Galea: No Big Words Can Describe This Experience
By: Maria Galea 

Salzburg Global Fellow reflects on her experience at the sixth program of the YCI Forum

Maria Galea is a Salzburg Global Fellow. She recently attended the sixth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. This blog was originally published on Galea's website.

This is my very first blog. It has taken me a while to let myself go and make time to share my experiences with you all. The experience I am about to share has definitely triggered the need to do so. I have just returned home from the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators, a five-day stay in the incredible Schloss Leopoldskron, a magical place, to say the least.

However, what has really made this experience special were the other 49 young cultural innovators selected from all over the world. Their stories, their passion, their energy, and how we all became so connected by the end of our journey, has really given me a new perspective on how to perceive both myself and the world around me.

We came in different forms; poets, visual artists, dancers, singers, photographers, musicians, filmmakers, drivers behind institutions, entrepreneurs, activists, gallerists, curators, and the list goes on. However, really and truly, we are just humans using a different language leading to the same goal - that of creating positive change in our communities through arts and culture.

Justin Galea, Romina Delia, and I were this year's Maltese participants at the Forum. We met at the train station in Vienna and started to make our way to Salzburg. We had only met briefly before. Our three-hour train journey to Salzburg was a great time for us to get to know each other even better before embarking on this amazing experience together. We didn’t really know what to expect upon arrival. I mainly wanted to meet new people around the world who shared a common language of love for the arts and a passion for innovation that leads toward positive change.

During the first two days, I was still connecting the dots to why was I really here and what the main goal of this Forum really was. We were told that in the next few days we would be diving into a series of “workshops” and “sharing sessions” touching diverse topics that we come across in our work as well as focusing on ourselves as individuals and our core purpose. Big words, but no big word can really describe what we felt.

Every morning we would wake up to a postcard-like view of mountains, birds flying over a mirror-like lake, trees, and fresh air. We would first all meet in a big room where we performed Japanese exercises called “Rajio Taisou,” which left big energetic smiles on our faces before starting our long day of discussions.

The workshops were a useful combination of tools. Some answered questions, and others tackled challenges. We engaged in diverse topics from partnerships, fundraising, leadership, sustainability, to active discussions around global issues and narratives. However, one of the most powerful workshops was about “the power of listening” - a series of exercises focused around the importance of listening to one another, as well as to listen to ourselves in moments of silence. This is something which we usually take for granted in our day to day lives.

The so-called “sharing sessions” where the moment I realized why I was really here and why I needed to be here. We were divided into a group of people from all sorts of backgrounds. We met in the same room every day, and we all knew that what is shared in this room stays only within us.

The first day our facilitator asked us to try and describe our balance between our career, family, friends, and values, or beliefs. We were basically asked to face reality of our present life. On the second day we were asked to think deeply about our purpose. What drives us? This took us back to the past and what really sparked us to lead us through this path. On our third day, we were asked to select three words that describe our future.

We faced the changes we want to make in our lives, what our deeper goal is and now we had a clear reason for why we want to do it. We laughed, we cried, we stayed silent, we thanked each other for sharing, gave long hugs of comfort and - at the end - we would stay in a circle, hold hands and just shout as loud as we could. Little did I know that this group of strangers in a room in this amazing palace would change my perspective of life.

We sometimes underestimate the value of listening to others, sharing, taking a moment just to stay still, appreciating people around us, and why we are actually doing what we are doing. We sometimes get so lost in the middle of all of it that we lose the connection to our existential purpose. Listening to others, sharing common values, passions and struggles, created a deep bond between us. No matter where we are, and no matter what we are doing, we will now always know that we are never alone and that we can always count on each other.

As “young cultural innovators,” we find ourselves immersed in passion, continuously finding new ways to break the walls of cultural resistance to change, engaging our communities, and inspiring others to take charge. Saying that what we do is challenging and tiring is perhaps an understatement, but really and truly we wouldn’t want it any another way because we know that every tiny step we make on the way leads to a greater purpose, which will live beyond us.

This is just a very small insight into how we have lived together in these five days. However, one thing I will always hold on very tight to is understanding how we can find happiness in each other no matter what background we share.

Salzburg Global Seminar will always be that happy place in my heart, which I will never let go of. Special thanks go to all organizers, facilitators, and staff at Salzburg Global Seminar who have made us feel just like home. I would also like to thank Arts Council Malta for making this experience possible.


The Salzburg Global Seminar Program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum annual program. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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Carl Atiya Swanson: Damn Good Advice for Being At Home in the World
Photo of George Lois's cover for Esquire magazine of Muhammad Ali (Photo: Carl Atiya Swanson)Photo: Carl Atiya Swanson
Carl Atiya Swanson: Damn Good Advice for Being At Home in the World
By: Carl Atiya Swanson 

Salzburg Global Fellow reflects on his experience at the sixth program of the YCI Forum

Carl Atiya Swanson is a Salzburg Global Fellow. He recently attended the sixth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. This blog was originally published on Swanson's LinkedIn profile

I brought two books with me to read on the plane to Austria to participate in the Salzburg Global Seminar's Young Cultural Innovators Forum, and they couldn’t have seemed more different. One was Damn Good Advice (for people with talent), the collected wisdom of maverick ad man George Lois. Even the title tells you what you need to know about Lois – brash confidence, a sense of some disdain for mere mortals, and a laser focus on talent and creativity. This is, after all, the man who created iconic covers for Esquire magazine in the 60s, drowning Andy Warhol in a can of tomato soup, and setting up Muhammad Ali as the martyred St. Sebastian.

The other book was Thich Nhat Hanh's collection of remembrances, At Home in the World. Hanh, the exiled Vietnamese Buddhist monk who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian efforts, who was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was a champion for mindfulness, humility, collaboration, and calm, Hahn could not seem to be more temperamentally distant from Lois.

And yet, in the context of this global gathering of young artists, creators, and leaders from around the world, these two books and minds convened in a surprising and powerful way. And it started with Muhammad Ali.

Ali is credited with one of the shortest poems in the English language, delivered as part of his commencement remarks at Harvard University. Cultural organizers and lead session facilitators (a.k.a. cool mom & dad) Shelagh Wright and Peter Jenkinson introduced the poem as an organizing principle for the gathering. Two words, with power: "ME, WE."

The "me" speaks directly to Lois' ethos of driven creativity – a creativity that can be used for good. As he put it in Damn Good Advice, "No matter what stage you are in your career, use your creativity to stand up for our heroes, and protect your culture against the villains." That phrasing, that framing, that opening of understanding held a space for connection, immediacy, and urgency – start something was a theme of the gathering. Fifty creatives from around the world put into a space together to spark each other’s creativity and networks carry that energy forward.

In this context, with these people there was also the opportunity for global connection and understanding, making possible what Hanh writes about his peace activism, which is rooted in the "we." He writes, "Taking action against injustice is not enough. We believed action must embody mindfulness. If there is no awareness, action will only cause more harm." It is incredibly easy to get caught up in our own context as the only way of being. This is especially true because powerful and changemaking organizing happens at a local level. But a global understanding and awareness, a shared perspective of our "we" is what we need for transformation – as Hanh's title says, we must be at home in the world, not just at home in our home.

As the Forum progressed, breakout groups brought deeper conversation and sharing. Every single person there, whether from Manila or Cape Town or New Orleans, was deep in the process of making creative work and making meaning. The processes pushed us to make the intuitive apparent. The process of self-discovery is asking why you do the things you do, why you feel the way you do. The act of organizational discovery is asking why we have the systems we have, what have we created because of the biases and heuristics of the people, and what can we pull out. Things that go unsaid go unexamined, and the work is to say the thing first, so it can be understood. "Creativity is not created, it is there for us to find – it is an act of discovery," writes Lois.

In our personal lives, like in strategic planning and facilitation, the process of discovery is about uncovering deeper resources for resiliency. "Each of us needs a reserve of memories and experiences that are beautiful, healthy and strong enough to help us during difficult moments," writes Hanh. "Sometimes, when the pain in us is so big, we cannot truly touch life's wonders. We need help. But if we have a strong storehouse of memories and experiences, we can bring them to the mind to help us embrace the block of pain inside." The process of being together, of being facilitated through questions and exploration grounded us in the help we all need to build for the future.

That work around surfacing connections and building relationships also underscored how the "me" and the "we" can be flipped. Even the individualist Lois writes, "No matter what field you’re in, identify the revolutionary leaders, and create for those who have the capacity to thrill to your Big Ideas." In Salzburg, those leaders were and are all of us. The sharing of ideas was a reminder that it is not enough to do the work, you have to let people know what you are doing, so that they can support and shape your work.

To be in nourishing conversation and community, however physically temporary, was also refreshing because of some of the lack of expectations. In our home environments, in our regular practices, it is easy to feel burdened by responsibilities, by an accumulated sense of being who you are because of the things you do and the people you know. It is important to be in those relationships, but it was enormously refreshing to be reminded that you are valuable because of who you are, not what you are connected to or might have access to. That the value we bring to our organizations and work is not just knowledge and network, but personality, internal creativity. Hanh reminds us that the “we” does not exist without the “me,” when he writes, “If we only rely on external conditions, we will get lost. We need a refuge we can always rely on, and that is the island of self. Firmly established on our inner island, we’re very safe. We can take time to recover and restore ourselves, and become stronger, until we’re ready to go out and engage.”

On the transatlantic flight home, trying to process the experience and be ready to engage, giddy on a few hours of sleep, I had a synthesizing moment. "Write things down, and say them aloud to make meaning," came to me in between getting weepy at Avengers: Endgame and turbulent naps. If someone were to grab me on the street and yell, "Why are you here?" that is my answer right now. It's why this essay exists, it's why every time I talk about the experience, I feel like a new facet or memory shines through.

Like any addict in recovery, I’m suspicious of high highs and low lows. But the passion and energy of the Salzburg cohort carries on, aided by Instagram, WhatsApp, and emails. In Damn Good Advice, Lois quotes Abraham Lincoln, saying "When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees." That’s the kind of energy we left the Schloss Leopoldskron with. In the two weeks since the end of the Forum, I count two announcements of quitting jobs, a restaurant concept opened, and a Masters' program accepted into. Hell, I made a zine, as a shared reminder of the experience. There is more to come, because there is more to do, and more we can do together.

I'm left with this passage from At Home in the World, as an extended offering of gratitude for the Fellows, facilitators, and the experience:

"One day when I was a child, I looked in a large clay water jar in the front yard that we used for collecting water and I saw a very beautiful leaf at the bottom. It had so many colors. I wanted to take it out and play with it, but my arm was too short to reach the bottom. So I used a stick to try and get it out. It was so difficult I became impatient. I stirred twenty times, thirty times, and yet the leaf didn’t come up to the surface. So I gave up and threw the stick away.

"When I came back a few minutes later, I was surprised to see the leaf floating on the surface of the water, and I picked it up. While I was away the water had continued to turn, and had brought the leaf up to the surface. This is how our unconscious mind works. When we have a problem to solve, or when we want more insight into a solution, we need to entrust the task of finding a solution to a deeper level of our consciousness."

Thank you to the "we" who stirred up each other’s waters. Now let’s look to the future to we want to build, to start acting how we want once we are all free.


The Salzburg Global Seminar Program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum annual program. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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The Art of Dialog in a Time of Rapid Change
From left: Ayehsa Hadhir, Safiya Al Maskari, Laila Binbrek. (Photos: Herman Seidl)
The Art of Dialog in a Time of Rapid Change
By: Claire Kidwell 

How artists and innovators from the UAE are using arts as a bridge to connect the Gulf region, the Middle East, and the world

“They might have certain stereotypes or preconceived ideas about [us], they might not even know the UAE per se, but just of the region as a whole… Arts and culture is a very non-threatening way to have dialog,” says Laila Binbrek, the director of the National Pavilion UAE. Binbrek oversees the organization’s operation and participation with the Venice Biennale. A resident of the UAE for 13 years, Binbrek has seen how its art sector continues to expand, flourish, and bridge divides.

She spoke while attending the sixth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. For the first time, thanks to support from the Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, the multi-year series welcomed participants from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to its program. Binbrek was joined by the manager of Lest We Forget Safiya Al Maskari and Warehouse421 program coordinator Ayesha Hadir.

Al Maskari’s work involves archiving oral history, art, and photography. She says, “We had a lot of people coming to our exhibitions and saying, ‘Oh, we used to do the same thing, or we had the same thing…’ We're different but very similar in some ways. And we did that through art.”

As part of a government initiative to create more arts within the gulf region, the UAE has made significant in-roads in the sector over the past decade. In 2007, Abu Dhabi agreed to pay $520 million to attach the Louvre’s name to a museum being built on Saadiyat Island, which opened in 2017.

Changes in the arts sector have come at a quick pace, according to Binbrek, and sometimes it’s hard for people’s mindsets to keep up with the times. She says, “People, in general, are not really good with change, but with such rapid change, it requires sometimes some difficult conversations to happen or introspection to happen a lot quicker than maybe anticipated and really through the arts… is one of those ways to bring up those topics that even internally within, let's say, families or communities or workspaces where you can have those discussions that are not necessarily so politically charged.”

Throughout this year’s program in Salzburg, the inaugural members of the YCI Abu Dhabi Hub networked with other innovators, discussed topics including mental health, and planned solutions for growing the arts sector internationally. Hadir says the experience showed her how much pressure she was putting on herself and her work. She says, “I feel like everything is just hectic back home and to be here and just to pause…that was very powerful for me.”

Al Maskari shares Hadir’s sentiments. She says, “It's just it's an eye-opener and it's nice to learn how people approach their project and thinking outside of the box. I think that's one thing that's I go back with.”

Binbrek says the program gave her validation. “What you realize is that we all have very similar struggles. And sometimes what that individual has used to overcome their problem is something that you can use in any environment, whether it's personal or a work environment.”

Stereotypes, forms of oppression, strict government controls, and racism are some of the challenges participants at this year’s YCI Forum have faced. Al Maskari says you can learn a lot by merely listening to someone else’s story.

“I feel like it really helps to sit with other individuals. Just listen to them, and then sometimes they make you think of things that you never thought of. So it was helpful sitting with everyone and listening to what everyone has to say and hear their background, their stories, and what they do.”

Despite the diversity of personalities, projects, and passions at this year’s YCI Forum, Binbrek, Al Maskari, and Hadhir suggested a common thread existed, which enabled fruitful discussions to take place. Hadhir says, “[YCI] really built like a whole different family that you never expected.”

Binbrek adds, “I mean, everybody here, even though we all come from different parts of the world, we come from different echelons of society and, you know, work, but we've all come here with a particular intention to be present in this moment in time and take the most that we can from all the workshops and the different individuals who are sharing their knowledge with us. So we're really lucky in this atmosphere. But the thing is, you can create that wherever you go. You just need to identify and don't be afraid to ask to meet somebody for a coffee and just talk.”


The Salzburg Global Seminar Program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum annual program. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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Fostering Connections Across a Vast Land
From left: Micheal Prosserman, Daniel Rumbolt, Katie Green, Frances Koncan, Alison Uttley. (Photo: Claire Kidwell)From left: Micheal Prosserman, Daniel Rumbolt, Katie Green, Frances Koncan, Alison Uttley. (Photo: Claire Kidwell)
Fostering Connections Across a Vast Land
By: Claire Kidwell 

Newest YCI Fellows from Canada explain how the arts are a way to bridge distances and cultures in their isolated communities

There’s more to Canada than maple syrup and “nice people.” That’s one of the messages Canadian participants wanted to put across at this year’s program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators.

“The diversity, the connection that can be made through the arts, I think gives relationship and understanding to the super diverse and super expansive cultural practices that now exist within Canada. And I don't know if that fully exists anywhere else,” says Katie Green, an artist and social entrepreneur from Montreal.

Green is one of five new recruits for the YCI Canada Hub, joining Frances Koncan, Michael Prosserman, Daniel Rumbolt, and Alison Uttley. All five were able to convene at Schloss Leopoldskron this year thanks to the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.  

Canada has a reputation for “niceness,” but it hasn’t escaped the trend of political polarization, according to Uttley, communications director at Business for Peace. Uttley, a Toronto native who now lives in Norway, believes art can be used as a bridge to forge connections.

“We have divides that are deep and part of this global trend. I really believe that art brings people together. It opens minds. It changes minds. I think it's essential in the current moment we're living in to do as much communication with each other as we can,” says Uttley.

The newest members of the YCI Canada Hub suggest division in the country exists both socially and geographically. “We’re diverse but dispersed,” agreed Daniel Rumbolt, a board member of Canadian Artists’ Representation from Newfoundland.

The whole group agree arts can bridge these communities spread across Canada by joint projects and initiatives. However, to spread these projects across all of Canada, they hope more Canadians can attend future iterations of the YCI Forum.

From the United States, there were 19 participants at this year’s program. Comparing the two countries, Rumbolt says, “If we're talking about scope and diversity in geography and place, Canada should have just as many representatives right now.”

Frances Koncan, from the Couchiching First Nation, often travels to Vancouver and Toronto working as an artistic director and playwright. She believes the focus is shifting towards celebrating indigenous arts. She says, “We're a really young country compared to a lot of countries in the world. And we're also a country that has a long history of oppression of certain groups of people that are only now being able to tell their stories and practice their traditional arts. So I think moving forward, Canada's going to be like a great hub for artistic expression because we have new generations of people reclaiming their history and pushing that forwards.”

Uttley says there’s interesting perspectives Canadians can offer and cites artists living and working in the Arctic as an example. She says, “I think the future of the Arctic is such an important conversation, and the art happening there as well. I think it's great especially for Canada to be part of that conversation. I don't even know how to get to the Arctic in Canada from Toronto, frankly, and it would be amazing to make friends with people from there.”

During the five-day program, participants had the chance to talk to other young artists and innovators from all over the globe. Green especially appreciated getting the chance to share potential solutions with other artists, and discovering they all face similar challenges in their own cultural and regional hubs.

“I think another really beautiful thing just about being here is that everyone's doing such different work, but in a creative realm. And I think that's super inspiring to be able to learn from other people and connect with other people that are doing things totally differently. But even with the same kind of core values and with the same kind of love,” says Green.

The YCI Forum fosters creative innovation and social entrepreneurship to shape a better world. Positive social change and leadership development were key themes this year, and got the Canadians thinking about what they could do globally and within their own borders.

Michael “Piecez” Prosserman, CEO of EPIC Leadership xChange, says, “I think to me it's actually less about creating more things and more about going out of our circle in Canada because we are so far apart and it's a good excuse to sort of live in our city or in our community, which is hard to get out of…opportunities like this, I think, need to be more in places like Canada where you can't get on a train and go to another country like as you can in Europe.”

Rumbolt says, “We just spent 20 minutes talking about the isolation and the issues and transportation in Canada and the fact that the five of us are from five completely different places and we ended up in Austria together is pretty incredible, and something that needs to be commended and fostered. And it needs to be something that people are excited to talk about and excited to support.”


The Salzburg Global Seminar Program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum annual program. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Sheika Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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Shaping a Better World Through Cultural Innovation
Photo by Peder Cho on UnsplashPhoto by Peder Cho on Unsplash
Shaping a Better World Through Cultural Innovation
By: Claire Kidwell 

Salzburg Global Seminar prepares to welcome 49 new participants for latest program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators

Artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators from around the world will convene in Salzburg next week to discuss and strategize ways to drive change through the power of the arts and culture.

More than 50 leaders from around the world have been selected for the sixth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators - Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform.

This year’s program, which takes place between October 22 and October 27, brings together participants and faculty from 17 countries including Albania, Argentina, Austria, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malta, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

The YCI Forum fosters creative innovation and social entrepreneurship for global development. In this year’s program, participants will undergo leadership development and craft new ways to advance positive social change.

YCI Program Director Susanna Seidl-Fox said, "By connecting and supporting this next generation of creative changemakers, Salzburg Global aims to support and strengthen the evolving cultural ecosystem, catalyze cross-sectoral connections, and expand the possibilities for civic innovation and social improvement through the power and creativity of the arts worldwide.”

All participants are aged between 25-35 and have at least two years of professional experience in the arts or cultural sector. Each participant is passionate about creating social change within their community.

This year’s program is also aligned with several Sustainable Development Goals. Participants will look at how people within the arts and cultural sector can create sustainable cities and communities as well as positive innovation for the future.

Salzburg Global Seminar is delighted to welcome back YCI Fellows who have participated in previous programs as Facilitators. They will be on hand to assure continuity, communication, and exchange of best practices across the Forum.

Faye Hobson, YCI Program Manager, said, “The goals of the program in Salzburg are to welcome the new YCIs into the YCI Forum network, connect them with each other, and provide opportunities for them to reflect on their own practice, as well as on their role in their community, in their city, and as part of the YCI network worldwide. This year the YCI Forum is being co-created by Salzburg Global, the YCI facilitation team, and members of the YCI Forum network. We believe that co-creation taps into the collective insight and potential of groups, and is especially effective when bringing together YCIs from around the world who are facing common challenges in their work to generate breakthrough solutions that shape a better world.”

The expected outcomes of this program include:

  • Supporting next generation creative change-makers who are major, yet unrecognized or under-resourced, drivers of civic innovation and imaginative social change;
  • Creating a world-class network of Young Cultural Innovators to strengthen and encourage cross-sectoral collaboration between the arts sector and other sectors over the next five years;
  • Building the capacity of a critical mass (500+) of networked young creative change-makers committed to innovative leadership, social impact, entrepreneurial approaches, and exchange of best practices within and among “YCI hubs” worldwide;
  • Generating a multiplier effect through the “YCI hubs” by sharing the learning from the Salzburg sessions and inspire innovation, collaboration, and peer mentoring at the local and regional levels; and
  • Disseminating the Forum’s groundbreaking ideas around the intersection between the arts and social impact to a broad community of stakeholders and build a creative impact network for continuing dialogue, collaboration and advocacy, through social media and catalyzed by the “YCI hubs.”

The Salzburg Global Seminar Program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform, is part of the Young Cultural Innovators Forum annual program. The program is held in partnership with Adena and David Testa, Arts Council Korea, Arts Council Malta, the Bush Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Japan Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Nippon Foundation, Sheika Salama Bint Hamdan al Nahyan Foundation, Shalini Passi Art Foundation, and World Culture Open.

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YCI Forum Receives Support from Shalini Passi Art Foundation
Logos of Salzburg Global Seminar and Shalini Passi Art FoundationThe Shalini Passi Art Foundation will support Abhinit Khanna's attendance at this year's program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators
YCI Forum Receives Support from Shalini Passi Art Foundation
By: Oscar Tollast 

Foundation will support participation of Mumbai-based arts manager Abhinit Khanna

Salzburg Global Seminar is delighted to announce the Shalini Passi Art Foundation has agreed to support this year’s program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators.

The Foundation will enable Mumbai-based arts manager Abhinit Khanna to attend this year’s program, Cultural Innovation, Leadership and Collaboration: A Global Platform.

Khanna, who has more than nine years of experience working in visual arts, design, and creative business development, will be one of 50 young cultural innovators from around the world taking part.

Participants will convene at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, between October 22 and October 27.

The Shalini Passi Art Foundation endeavors to create a new paradigm for artistic expression in India, by supporting, educating, and encouraging experimental new practices in the field of arts that take inspiration from India’s rich cultural traditions to create a contemporary aesthetic for India.

Shalini Passi is the founder and director of the Foundation, as well as My Art Shalini (MASH) – an online arts platform that collapses the hierarchical distinctions between architecture, art, craft, design, and fashion, by eliciting a rich discourse around creativity in modernity.

Reflecting on his selection for this year’s program, Khanna said, “The prestigious Seminar empowers young leaders in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. It is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected change-makers in ‘hub’ communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

“This year the program is specifically looking at empowering cultural leaders from the Global South and I’m delighted to know more about networking opportunities, support, and programming.

“I will be able to bring these knowledges to facilitate the setting up of 'The Fort Arts Center' - a non-profit arts organization in the heart of South Bombay, which I am currently working towards launching in 2020. I’m also looking forward to learn and exchange ideas with other important cultural workers from around the world.”

The YCI Forum sees the ability to network and communicate as one of its founding principles. The YCI Forum has young change agents from around the world representing a broad spectrum of cultural expression and artistic endeavor –  including visual arts, performing arts, literature, cultural heritage, foods, fashion, architecture, and design.

In addition to India, the YCI Forum has welcomed Fellows from Adelaide, Athens, Baltimore, Buenos Aires, Canada, Cape Town, Detroit, Japan, Malta, Manila, Memphis, New Orleans, Mekong Delta, Nairobi, Plovdiv, Rotterdam, Salzburg, Seoul, Slovakia, Tirana, and the Upper Midwest in the U.S.

Other members attending this year’s Forum have now been selected and informed. Their biographies will be made available on salzburgglobal.org in the near future.

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Salzburg Global and Kresge Foundation Provide Seven Travel Awards to YCIs
Picture of plane on globePhoto by Frank Vex on Unsplash
Salzburg Global and Kresge Foundation Provide Seven Travel Awards to YCIs
By: Oscar Tollast 

Scholarship scheme will promote exchanges from or to Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans

Salzburg Global Seminar has awarded seven travel awards as part of a scheme to deepen connections within the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators.

The funds have been made possible by The Kresge Foundation and will promote exchanges from or to Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans.

Accepted proposals also involve Salzburg Global Fellows from Baltimore, Japan, Buenos Aires, and Adelaide.

Creating connections between the United States and Japan

Yu Nakamura, who attended the YCI Forum’s 2016 program, will travel with her film crew from Japan to Lafayette and New Orleans to document Cajun food, culture, and history. Nakamura is hoping this exchange will provide her with insights on how to preserve traditional food cultures in Japan and Thailand. She will connect with fellow YCIs Samuel Oliver and Alphonse Smith.

Smith, who attended the YCI Forum’s 2016 program, will also pursue a cross-cultural collaboration between the arts and culture communities in New Orleans and Japan. Traveling from New Orleans, Smith will begin his trip in Tokyo with the non-profit organization Ubdobe Japan, a health and welfare organization led by Salzburg Global Fellow Yuki Oka, who also attended the YCI Forum’s 2016 program. Smith is hoping to lay the groundwork for dialogue, cultural exchange, and collaboration between Japanese and New Orleans artists related to health, welfare, and cultural innovation.

Another YCI from New Orleans will also visit Japan. Nicolas Aziz, who also attended the YCI Forum’s 2016 program, will catch up with faculty member Hiroko Kikuchi and YCI Shuko Ebihara. Ebihara, who founded Kuriya, is working with young immigrants from the Philippines. Aziz will learn from Kuriya and apply his learnings working with immigrants in New Orleans. Aziz is also planning to visit the “Professionals in Schools” program in Tomioka to learn more about the impact of artists truly immersing themselves within communities.

Sharing stories from different cultures

Steven Fox, another 2016 YCI Forum Fellow, will work with Aziz for his project, “A Path to Memphis and New Orleans.” Fox will explore the historical and cultural connection of the French and Spanish cultures via Memphis and New Orleans. Fox has three goals: share research and analysis; write and share a book of poetry and photographs; and record and share a podcast with interviews.

Meanwhile, Jose Cotto, who attended the YCI Forum’s 2018 program, will travel to Baltimore to kick-start a project which focuses on the impacts of incarceration on families and communities. Cotto, from New Orleans, will create space for people connected to the prison system to share their stories. He will work with Salzburg Global Fellow Bilphena Yahwon, who also attended the YCI Forum’s 2018 program.

Film screenings and book fairs in Detroit

Mario Pozzi, from Argentina, will build on his previous experience and connections, curating and producing a selection of the 2019 Human Rights Film Festival of Buenos Aires Edition. Pozzi, who attended the YCI Forum’s 2017 program, will organize screenings both in Detroit and Memphis. Screenings will take place during the Freep Film Festival of Detroit (April 22-26, 2020) and under the Indie Memphis Nights format.

Before the first screening in Detroit, Sebastian Chuffer will organize a Future Filmmaker Workshop. Chuffer, who attended the YCI Forum’s 2016 program, will lead a workshop which teaches children about storytelling. Shots developed by workshop participants will premiere at the second Human Rights and Environmental Film Festival U.S. Tour and will be shown again in Memphis.

Staying in Detroit, Sanja Grozdanic will curate and host a free literary event during the Detroit Art Book Fair, a fair founded by YCI Maia Asshaq. Grozdanic, who is a member of the Adelaide YCI Hub, attended the Forum’s 2016 program, will meet new artists and writers to commission for her international art publication KRASS. Asshaq has previously written for KRASS, and Grozdanic hopes to include other YCI’s in the future.

All travel awardees will report on their activities and accomplishments by fall 2020.


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected changemakers in “hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Moving from Me to We in Memphis, Tennessee
Beale Street, Memphis (Photo by Heidi Kaden Lopyreva on Unsplash)Beale Street, Memphis (Photo by Heidi Kaden Lopyreva on Unsplash)
Moving from Me to We in Memphis, Tennessee
By: Oscar Tollast 

Salzburg Global Forum for Young Culture Innovators travels to United States for third regional meeting

The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators will go stateside this week for a Regional Fellows Event in Memphis, Tennessee.

The three-day program, Moving from Me to We: US Regional Young Cultural Innovators Event, will convene 30 Salzburg Global Fellows from Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans from May 9 to May 12.

Fellows will be encouraged to “move from me to we” while reflecting on their roles within their respective hubs and cities and exploring what they want to achieve together in their local communities.

This is the third time the YCI Forum has held a regional meeting in the United States, having previously convened programs in New Orleans (2018) and Detroit (2017). This meeting is being supported by The Kresge Foundation.

Memphis, Detroit, and New Orleans are cities undergoing radical urban transformation and social renewal. During the program, Fellows are encouraged to share their experiences, coach each other, and strategize for the future.

There will also be panel discussions on creating safe spaces, shifting work, community building, and partnerships. YCI faculty members Amina J. Dickerson, Peter Jenkinson, and Shelagh Wright will return to facilitate the event.

Salzburg Global Seminar will be represented by Susanna Seidl-Fox, program director, culture and the arts; Benjamin Glahn, vice president, development and operations; Andy Ho, US development director; Faye Hobson, program manager, culture, arts, and education; and Clare Shine, vice president and chief program officer.

Activities will be hosted at the Memphis Music Initiative, the National Civil Rights Museum, and CMPLX. Fellows will have the opportunity to hear from the people behind these organizations and learn how their work is shifting the narrative in Memphis’ cultural sector and amplifying voices often overlooked.

Guest speakers at this year’s event include Amber Hamilton, chief operations and strategy officer at Memphis Music Initiative, Britney Thornton, executive director of Juice Orange Mound, and Noel Trent, director of interpretation, collections, and education at the National Civil Rights Museum.

The meeting will conclude with a closing night concert featuring performances from YCI artist IMAKEMADBEATS and other artists from Memphis label Unapologetic.


Moving from Me to We: US Regional Young Cultural Innovators Event is the third US regional meeting of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. This event is being supported by The Kresge Foundation. For more information on this program, please click here.

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How a New Partnership Led to Beautiful Insights
Helen Yung (center) and Nic Aziz (left) collaborate at a workshop with Nuestra Voz (Photo by Taylor Castillo of Nuestra Voz)Helen Yung (center) and Nic Aziz (left) collaborate at a workshop with Nuestra Voz (Photo by Taylor Castillo of Nuestra Voz)
How a New Partnership Led to Beautiful Insights
By: Lucy Browett 

Salzburg Global Fellow Helen Yung collaborates with fellow YCI alumnus Nic Aziz after receiving a travel scholarship

From one YCI Hub to another. Helen Yung is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher and cultural consultant working in Toronto, Canada. Using a travel scholarship, she was able to travel to New Orleans to collaborate with another YCI Fellow.

The trip took place through a travel scholarship awarded by Salzburg Global Seminar and funded by the Kresge Foundation to enable YCI alumni to continue collaborating across borders.

Yung, who attended the fourth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators in 2017, collaborated with Nic Aziz, who participated at the YCI Forum in 2016, having met at the Americas Cultural Summit hosted in 2018 by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Discussing how this collaboration came about, Yung said, “Nic and I were introduced in advance of the Summit via email by YCI Forum facilitator Shelagh Wright. There were many participants from around the world, so if Shelagh hadn’t made that effort to connect us, we might not have met at the Americas Cultural Summit. When we did meet, Nic and I found we had a lot in common, a kind of immediate affinity. We even gathered a small group to participate a bit differently in the Summit proceedings, so engaging as collaborators was intuitive, organic.”

She added, “The fact that there a travel grant was offered by Salzburg Global soon after the Summit made it immediately possible for me to follow up with Nic to ask if he wanted to think about working together. He replied saying he had thought the same thing, and so, again, the rest developed organically out of our practices, networks, and interests.”

The Fellows led a roundtable discussion with Arts Council New Orleans, a workshop with Nuestra Voz at their monthly punta del pueblo (community meeting) and assembled a photo exhibition that Nic had curated for the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA).

Commenting on the Nuestra Voz workshop, Yung said, “They had never offered any artistic workshops before, so this was both a bold move on their part. After the workshop, which was very successful, the staff were delighted with the impact and invited us to come back any time.

“After this positive first experience, I think they will be very receptive to future opportunities to work with artists.”

Commenting further, Yung said, “Workshop participants had a beautifully positive experience. Very quickly, everyone was laughing and inside of a special experience. I think it surprised some people how engaged everyone was… They genuinely seemed to melt and glow a bit more each time we went around the circle, and no one felt shy about visualizing their thoughts on paper when we went to table work.”

Following Yung’s travel scholarship, Aziz and Yung were invited by the Toronto Arts Council to speak at Emergence, a community arts symposium, to share their experiences as collaborators. 

Discussing her and Aziz’s talks at Emergence, Yung said, “Both our talks were enthusiastically received. Many people came up to both of us afterward, wanting to connect and offer words of appreciation. We also shared it more informally in our internal YCI Canada Hub meetings.”

Yung has also found other opportunities for collaboration as a result of this scholarship. She said, “While I was in New Orleans, Nic introduced me to Bryan C. Lee Jr, one of the co-founders of Paper Monuments, and the former executive director of Arts Council New Orleans. It was one of those tired afternoons. Bryan and I had both been traveling for work. Nic had a lot on his plate too, on top of having to host me. But once we started talking, there was again a happy affinity, a strong sense of common values and interests, as well as an opportunity to be challenged by another’s way of working in the world. So we all ended up going out for dinner to talk more, and the YCI Canada hub ended up hiring him to come to Toronto to present a Design As Protest workshop, which was a sold-out affair.

“I’ve since helped bring Bryan back to Toronto again as a speaker at the DemocracyXChange Summit. While he was in [Toronto] the second time, I took him out to see Black Lives Matter Toronto’s new multipurpose space, which I had just signed on to design with Foundation Creative Studio. Bryan offered his architectural services, so now we are collaborating on that space transformation project as well.”

Reflecting on her travel scholarship experience, Yung added, “There is no question that being able to travel and meet others in person, and particularly in their home communities, is important. I appreciated the opportunity to develop more insights into creative, international, multidisciplinary collaboration and community-based work. In many ways, this is a practice of care. Collaborating through artistic practice, through the embodied enactment of one’s beliefs and perspectives - as opposed to administratively or financially - allows us to better see and understand the socio-political dimensions that shape and inform each other’s work. Being more aware of the invisible enables us to activate, transform or augment what is latent, stuck or underpowered. There is so much more that can be done.”


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected change-makers in “Hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators V
Download our latest report from the fifth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural InnovatorsDownload our latest report from the fifth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators
Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators V
By: Lucy Browett 

Report from the fifth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI Forum) now online and available to download, read and share

Fifty cultural innovators and creative practitioners were brought to Schloss Leopoldskron last year when Salzburg Global Seminar launched the fifth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators.

A new report highlights the work which took place during the one-week program. Fellows took part in a series of workshops, discussions and practical capacity-building exercises centered on leadership and values, communicating the value of one’s work, and principles of self-organization.

The YCIs, aged between 25 and 35, are skilled in a variety of disciplines, from visual arts and design to performance and film. They also stem from a mix of geographical contexts.

Salzburg Global’s three-strand strategic framework served as an anchor to the discussions taking place. The framework asked participants what divides they could bridge in their cities or communities, how they might collaborate, both within and across their YCI Hubs, and ultimately what systems they might be seeking to transform and how.

One of the main takeaways participants had was a heightened focus on self-care and asking for help. Much of the damage we can inflict on ourselves is because of the expectations we set ourselves. One participant even argued, “Burnout is not a badge of honor.”

Susanna Seidl-Fox, program director for arts and culture at Salzburg Global Seminar, said, “Over 50 creative change-makers – from Tirana to Tokyo, from Buenos Aires to Baltimore, from New Orleans to Nairobi, and from Salzburg to Seoul and beyond – left this year’s YCI Forum inspired, energized and eager to engage with their 200 YCI colleagues around the world.

“Together they form the YCI Forum network, with its incredible potential for using creativity as an opportunity for societal transformation. Salzburg Global looks forward to supporting, expanding and empowering this dynamic network over the next five years.”

Click here to download and read the full report from this program.


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators V is part of a ten-year multi-year series. Last year's program was supported by the Albanian-American Development Foundation, American Express, Arts Council Malta, Arts Council Korea, Asia-Europe Foundation,  Bush Foundation, Cambodian Living Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Foundation Adelman pour l’Education, Fulbright Greece, Japan Foundation, Korea Foundation, the Llewellyn Thompson Memorial Fellowship, Robert Bosch Stiftung, The Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Nippon Foundation, World Culture Open, Adena and David Testa, and the U.S. Embassy Valetta, Malta. More information on the program can be found here. More information on the series can be found here.

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Salzburg Global Fellow Delighted by Success and Promise of US Film Tour
Mariano Pozzi (center) with YCI Fellows Dan Price (left) and Ian Nunley (right)Mariano Pozzi (center) with YCI Fellows Dan Price (left) and Ian Nunley (right)
Salzburg Global Fellow Delighted by Success and Promise of US Film Tour
By: Oscar Tollast 

YCI alumnus brings new perspectives to audiences at screenings in Memphis and New Orleans

A US film tour designed by a Salzburg Global Fellow to highlight underrepresented groups and communities has been hailed a success.

Mariano Pozzi, a member of the YCI Buenos Aires Hub, held screenings at venues in Memphis and New Orleans.

Films included Argentine and Latin American titles and focused on topics such as access to safe water, renewable energies, women and children’s rights, and indigenous people of the Americas.

Pozzi, an image and sound designer from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), was supported by a travel scholarship, which was awarded by Salzburg Global Seminar and funded by The Kresge Foundation.

He worked alongside organizations including Indie Memphis and New Orleans Film Society (NOFS).

Indie Memphis promotes the making and screening of independent films using a weekly film series called “Indie Memphis Nights,” where it collaborates with artists, locates venues, and aids promotion.

NOFS, meanwhile, provided Pozzi with an all-access pass at the 29th New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF) and managed the screening venue for Pozzi’s activity.

Pozzi said, “The successful tour consisted of four exhibits that were attended by about 150 people and established a foundation stone in a long-term collaboration with local organizations in each city.

“On the other hand, being a guest of the 29th NOFF allowed me to expand the search of film titles to invite their participation in the 18th International Human Rights Film Festival to be held in Buenos Aires in June 2019, including local productions from Memphis and New Orleans.

“From the Instituto Multimedia DerHumALC - IMD, the NGO where I work, we managed the screening copies, permits to screen them, fees, translations to English when needed, and the curatorship of the Tour selection.”

Pozzi is the technical coordinator and project developer of the International Human Rights Film Festival of Buenos Aires (FICDH) and the International Environmental Film Festival of Buenos Aires (FINCA). He attended the fourth program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators.

Discussing how his participation at the Forum had influenced him, Pozzi said, “Definitely the YCI Forum took a central piece as a motivation for this project. We’ve been trying for a while to do some concrete activity in the US like these... When thinking of this possibility, knowing that two Fellows of my cohort could help me build strong bridges with two important film organizations in Memphis and New Orleans, was for sure the thing that put the idea of this project going on.”

During his trip, Pozzi was also able to build contacts and recruit titles for FICDH and FINCA.

Commenting on the goals of the program, Pozzi said, “In general terms, the project was successful and the objectives where met. There were fewer screenings than the originally intended, but the amount of film titles and audience met were the originally proposed. Every screening was successful, and the audience were outstandingly pleased by the title selection of films, that showed diversity and encouraged debate and reflection.

“The selection of titles had a special focus in underrepresented groups and communities, and one common outcome after each screening was hearing the audience was shocked to get to know some of the situations portrayed and reflect about them.”

Pozzi believes the project could be easily replicated and that Indie Memphis and NOFS would be interested in collaborating again.

He added, “In terms of the Buenos Aires YCI Hub I think my travel has opened the door for possible collaborations with these other cities. None of my Buenos Aires Fellows has been in Memphis or New Orleans before, so me being there opens the possibility of helping them and putting any of them in contact with people whom I’ve worked with and also new professional contacts I’ve made on this trip.

“In terms of the local communities of Memphis and New Orleans, I think that both film festivals and organizations are somehow and overall, USA - based on their selection of films and curatorship, forgetting sometimes that they have very big Latin-American communities as well in those cities. So, having me there bringing titles with a different angle and approach than the one they usually have for sure is collaborating with their diversity and awareness.

“As for the local YCI [Fellows] in there, I also think that for instance having a Fellow from Buenos Aires over broadened their horizons. Every Fellow I met there was a little shocked and amused of having me there, which I think it’s important to remember, especially [for] the North American Hubs that there are lots of other Fellows in the world to work with and that these kind of partnerships and collaborations are possible.”

The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected change-makers in “Hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

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Salzburg Global and AADF Host Change-Making and Civic Innovation Workshop
Participants of Salzburg Global and the Albanian American Development Foundation's one-day workshop (Photo: Patrick Shannon)Participants of Salzburg Global and the Albanian-American Development Foundation's one-day workshop (Photo: Patrick Shannon)
Salzburg Global and AADF Host Change-Making and Civic Innovation Workshop
By: Oscar Tollast 

Salzburg Global Fellows take part in one-day workshop in Tirana, Albania

A follow-up activity to the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators has helped deepen connections among cultural leaders in Tirana, Albania.

In March 2018, Salzburg Global and the Albanian-American Development Foundation (AADF), the sponsor of the Tirana YCI Hub, hosted an intensive one-day workshop for Tirana YCIs and other cultural actors from the region.

Participants looked at community-based change-making and civic innovation, primarily within the context of cultural heritage work in Albania.

Peter Jenkinson and Shelagh Wright facilitated the workshop. Together they helped participants explore how to move from “Me to We,” a concept inspired by Muhammad Ali’s famous poem.  

In addition to this concept, participants reflected on mechanisms which promote innovative approaches for the development of contemporary cultural activities and creative forms of entrepreneurship.

Susanna Seidl-Fox, program director for culture and the arts at Salzburg Global, said, “This workshop in Tirana served as an opportunity for Salzburg Global and the YCIs supported by the Albanian-American Development Foundation to discuss community-based engagement in the arts and strategies for unlocking the potential of cultural heritage with cultural heritage specialists from across Albania.  

“The meeting was intensive and served to deepen connections among the Tirana YCIs who had attended the Salzburg YCI Forum in past years. In addition, cultural heritage professionals were introduced to the YCIs and their innovative ways of thinking, which will no doubt also spur innovation and new thinking in the cultural heritage sector in Albania.”

The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators empowers rising talents in the creative sector to drive social, economic and urban change. Launched in 2014, it is building a global network of 500 competitively-selected change-makers in “Hub” communities who design collaborative projects, build skills, gain mentors, and connect to upcoming innovators in their cities and countries.

The AADF is a not-for-profit organization which seeks to facilitate the development of a sustainable private sector economy and a democratic society in Albania and to contribute to stability in Southeastern Europe.

HIGHLIGHTS

Video recorded, produced and edited by Patrick Shannon, a member of the YCI Canada Hub

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Expanding Collaborations Within and Beyond Native Nations
From Left to right; Adrienne Benjamin, Amber Mathern, Alayna Eagle Shield, Lindsey Mae Willie, Christy Bieber (Giizhigad)From Left to right; Adrienne Benjamin, Amber Mathern, Alayna Eagle Shield, Lindsey Mae Willie, Christy Bieber (Giizhigad)
Expanding Collaborations Within and Beyond Native Nations
By: Anna Rawe 

Young Cultural Innovators from different Native Nations reflect on their heritage, inspiration, and challenges

In a letter introducing the Bush Foundation’s 2018 annual report on Native Nations Investments, Jenn Ford Reedy, the organization’s president, said, “We believe that the field of philanthropy can do better at acknowledging, celebrating and supporting Native nations and people.”

One way in which the Bush Foundation has already done so is by supporting the inclusion of young cultural innovators from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and 23 Native Nations at this year’s Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. This included Adrienne Benjamin, Alayna Eagle Shield, and Amber Mathern, who have become the latest members of the Upper Midwest USA YCI Hub.

With the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Salzburg Global also welcomed Lindsey Mae Willie, a filmmaker from the Dzawada’enuxw First Nation. Christy Bieber (Giizhigad), an Anishinaabe artist and cultural worker based in Southwest Detroit also attended the Forum with support from the Kresge Foundation, as Salzburg Global seeks to connect and empower a critical mass of creative change-makers across the world.

Alayna Eagle Shield is the health education director for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and is the chair of the Native American Development Center. Eagle Shield applied for the YCI Forum after hearing about it through the Bush Foundation, whose programs she had attended before. She felt it was an “amazing opportunity.”

Eagle Shield has recently focused much of her energy on a beading business which she runs with her mother. Her daughter has also started to get involved. She said, “[It gives] her this avenue that our people have used for centuries to be able to create and have a lifeway that way…  [and we] create beautiful works of art that our people can wear in resistance, that we’re still carrying on our traditions; we’re still able to wear our jewelry in modern days and meetings.”

Adrienne Benjamin (Amikogaabawiike) is a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) in central Minnesota. Her work is centered around taking pride in her heritage and encouraging others to do the same. Benjamin recently co-created a youth leadership program called Ge-niigaanizijig - The Ones Who Will Lead – where 25 young people received leadership and language mentoring.

Benjamin herself was mentored by a local elder and greatly values all she learned about the language, stories, and practices. She was brought up with a grandfather that still spoke the Ojibwe language and was exposed to some of her traditional Anishinaabe culture, something she is very aware that others did not.

She remains concerned about how “many youth grow up being unable to dream larger dreams outside of the reservation or even within because of a lack of access to arts, higher education, and information. There are very few if any arts and culture programs available that showcase Indigenous/Native American [culture] and celebrate our heritage in ways that make our community youth feel proud.”

As a participant at the YCI Forum, Benjamin said she valued the connections she made with other indigenous participants working in the cultural, education, and health sectors. She said, “It was nice to have that familiarity in such a foreign space, and because we all deal with similar issues with sovereignty, land-based issues, government recognition, and so on; it was a great place to have deeper discussions about those issues in a world lens.”

Throughout the program, participants learned how others had experienced similar challenges in their personal and professional lives. For Eagle Shield, the idea of treating herself as a “precious resource” particularly resonated as she struggles to balance her commitments.

How to best use your time was a concern shared by Amber Mathern, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa who currently teaches at Northern State University. Outside of her teaching work she does freelance consulting, working with reservations on marketing analytics and auditing casinos. She said, “I always think ‘Oh I could be doing more… [sometimes I have to remind myself] no, [what I do] does make a difference whether it’s something small or big.”

The importance of being yourself as being a way of making change is important to Mathern. Living in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Mathern knows many there have never been to a reservation, which she suggests can lead to outdated views of what a Native American community is like.

Mathern said, “I remind myself that ‘Hey, maybe that’s why I ended up in Aberdeen, South Dakota’ around people who don’t know the culture because maybe that’s my opportunity and [the] reason for me being there is to help share that.”

It is in her work at Northern State University that Mathern feels she has the biggest impact, encouraging her students to think differently. What’s her ethos? She said, “Every single interaction - as minute as it might seem - at that moment it has an impact… and I don’t want to say in the future [my students will] make an impact; they’re making an impact right now.”

When thinking specifically about Native American youth Mathern suggests there is a need to learn both about their cultural heritage and learn how to cultivate a global mindset. She said, “A lot of times our children don’t get the chance to travel out of the state, even to travel across the United States… [I think it’s] important [that] we tell them ‘Oh you can do this; you can connect with people internationally.’”

Benjamin also praised the value of hearing from different voices.  She said, “I think that it is so valuable to understand that not everyone thinks like you, nor do they understand the world in the same context that you might, and to have the opportunity for discussion and understanding around that is truly what the world needs.”

Eagle Shield also thought participants understood each other and stood on the same level. She said, “Coming here and getting to meet people from all over the world… it wasn’t like the Oppression Olympics… So many people here at Salzburg Global are still very connected to their culture; they still speak their languages, they’re still fighting oppressive forces. There was no comparing, it was like a deep level of understanding that is just beautiful to me, and I really hope to be involved and facilitate these types of learning at home, too. There’s so much we can learn from each other even though we aren’t necessarily the same.”


The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators V is part of a ten-year multi-year series. This year's program is supported by the Albanian-American Development Foundation, American Express, Arts Council Malta, Arts Council Korea, Asia-Europe Foundation,  Bush Foundation, Cambodian Living Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Foundation Adelman pour l’Education, Fulbright Greece, Japan Foundation, Korea Foundation, the Llewellyn Thompson Memorial Fellowship, Robert Bosch Stiftung, The Kresge Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Nippon Foundation, World Culture Open, Adena and David Testa, and the U.S. Embassy Valetta, Malta. More information on the program can be found here. More information on the series can be found here. You can follow all the discussions on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtag #SGSyci.

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