Rickerby Hinds brings award-winning play to Schloss Leopoldskron for SSASA 15
Ahead of the 15th symposium of the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA), participants were warned to expect a “highly participatory” four-day program. Daily thematic presentations, plenary discussions, and panels on topical issues were all designed for participants to debate life and justice in the US. at a theoretical and analytical level. A special performance of Rickerby Hinds’Dreamscape in Schloss Leopoldskron’s Great Hall midway through the program helped bring these issues further to life.
The play depicts the final moments of a young African-American woman shot by the police while sleeping in her car. Mixing the elements of beat-boxing, hip hop, dance and poetry, the award-winning performance tells the life story of Myiesha Mills, who dreams through the impact of the 12 bullets that kill her. The play is a meditation and reimagining of the shooting of Tyisha Miller in 1998 in Riverside, California.
Hinds, the writer and director behind Dreamscape, revealed the incident inspired him to tell a wider story. “In 2004, I decided to write a play that would address that issue of the relationship between the African-American community and the police,” Hinds said.
“I went back to the Tyisha Miller incident and decided that this will be a good vehicle for exploring this issue, for a couple of reasons. One, because she was a young woman, and two, because there was enough information for there to be a dramatic exploration of the relationship, so it wasn’t so black and white. There were gray areas to allow the conversation to be a little more nuanced.”
Prior to the performance, participants at this year’s SSASA symposium had already begun to reflect on legal rights, justice, and racial issues in the US. The fact Dreamscape was performed at a symposium discussing the very issues his play was addressing made Hinds a “little bit more nervous than usual.”
Hinds said, “As the director, you’re always thinking about how the play would land on your audience who have studied these issues, who are scholars and experts on the field. Plus, we had met our audience, so we knew them! It’s very unusual!”
Dreamscape’s current cast includes Natali Micciche and John “Faahz” Merchant. Both have been performing the show for about five years, both in the US and abroad.
Discussing her performance as Myiesha, Micciche said: “It was absolutely beautiful. It was a great interlude, sitting in the presentations, talking about this subject and the topics, and then [to] go and perform, because the energy is heightened around the subject and everybody is fully invested.
“The reception was great. It’s more than I could ask for. It’s always moving. In a space where I can see the audience it’s super effective because you watch people and their emotions. Afterwards it was just great to hear feedback on my movement and my artistry.”
Merchant, who played the role of a police officer and a dispassionate coroner, incorporated his beat-boxing talents to help create the play’s unique soundscape. “It was probably one of the most exciting and exhilarating feelings,” Merchant said. He added it was great to see their work transcend across different audiences – even 6,000 miles away from home.
“It’s a great feeling because it means that our work over the past years has been doing what it’s supposed to do.”
The Salzburg Global program Life and Justice in America: Implications of the New Administration is part of Salzburg Global’s multi-year series Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA). More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all of the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SSASA.
15th symposium focusing on life and justice in U.S. reaches a conclusion
Academics, legal profession representatives, and others working to protect and improve life in the U.S. have considered the implications and global reactions to the new U.S. administration.
The conversations took place on the final day of the 15th symposium of the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA), which took place at Schloss Leopoldskron.
This year's program - Life and Justice in America: Implications of the New Administration - included presentations and conversations on racial issues, immigration, populism, wealth, media, legal rights, civil rights, and criminal law.
These issues, which will be covered further by Salzburg Global in the coming days, were considered alongside a broader topic of what "the American Dream" means in today's world, whether it still exists, and what this dream represents.
The program was split into three themes: 70 years of trends and events; quality of life and opportunity; and fairness and justice.
In the last presentation of the session, three speakers provided comments on President Donald Trump’s administration before taking questions from the audience.
Participants heard from one speaker that U.S. prosperity was partially dependent on the Asia-Pacific region and political relations had improved under President Barack Obama, particularly in Myanmar and Vietnam.
The same speaker said President Trump’s win had come as a shock to many in Southeast Asia and countries in the region were now looking forward to see how the U.S. maintains its commitment to the region.
Anne Mørk, an assistant professor of American history at the University of Southern Denmark, said when one looks at the rhetorical presidency theory, it is no surprise President Trump won the election.
Trump has used social media to communicate with the public. When he makes statements on Twitter, he is speaking to his followers without a filter. Mørk described the role of the president in the 19th century as that of a manager - a role she believes President Trump appears to have little interest playing.
Mørk suggested President Trump’s “angry” and “macho” rhetoric almost became a form of entertainment similar to wrestling. She concluded by suggesting the rhetoric had become a policy in itself.
Alex Seago, dean of communications, arts and social sciences at Richmond, The American International University in London, said he pursued American studies because he was enamored by the country and culture. Seago, who’s also a professor of cultural studies, suggested President Trump was making a deliberate attempt to undermine America’s soft power.
While “the American Dream” may still exist, Seago believes the U.S. has become less attractive to people. He later said the U.S. had a global image of a nation acting as a leading light for people to follow. This image showed the U.S as democratic and a country which gave people opportunities. However, the sense of “you can do anything if you work hard” is a lot less apparent now.
In his concluding remarks, Ron Clifton, chair of the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA), said two things had really struck him during this year’s program – one being how fairness and justice can depend on factors such as social status and race. The other thing which he felt was left to consider were the implications of the changes underway in the U.S., especially under the new administration.
He said, “I like the phrase that [a participant] just came up with which is, “At this moment it would seem to me that America is looking less good.” The question is what does that imply for the future and when and where will the turn occur? Of course, being an American, we are optimistic and hopeful, we have a burden to carry and that burden we carry is to make things better and to invite people to join in with us and progress.”
The Salzburg Global program Life and Justice in America: Implications of the New Administration is part of Salzburg Global’s multi-year series Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA). More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all of the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SSASA.
Fellows take part in series of talks and Q&As during three-day event
Salzburg Global Seminar has continued its growing relationship with the Pune International Literary Festival by acting as a partner for a second consecutive year.
This year’s festival, which took place between September 8 and September 10, saw several Salzburg Global Fellows feature in a series of events as visitors explored all forms and genres of the written word.
On the first day of the festival, several Salzburg Global Fellows took part in an event where they shared details of their experiences at Schloss Leopoldskron.
This event included: Roman Gerodimos, a political scientist, writer and Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change faculty member; Daniel Hahn, a writer and translator who attended Session 461; and Thomas Biebl, director of marketing and communications at Salzburg Global. Their discussion was moderated by documentary filmmaker and author Neil Hollander, who previously attended Session 403.
Speaking afterward, Gerodimos said; “We agreed that diversity is fundamental to a society – diversity in any form enriches our life. We learn through difference; through meaningful encounters with people, opinions and cultural texts that are different to what we’re used to.
“However, there is a pressing need to find common ground. This is key to peaceful coexistence within urban communities as well as in the world at large.”
Gerodimos said there were highly complex and interdependent global challenges which national governments and individual communities could not address by themselves. This is why it is important to create opportunities for people to meet, acknowledge the other side’s point of view, and identify shared values and experiences.
He said, “All panelists agreed that the things that unite us are more – and more significant – than the things that divide us. Physical co-presence, inspiration, a safe space for dialogue, the opportunity to speak openly and without fear, the sense that one ought to work toward goals and achievements that transcend the individual or their own community – these are the essential ingredients of finding common ground, and they are precisely what Salzburg Global Seminar does and is about.”
On the final day of the festival, Gerodimos took to the stage again with Biebl as part of a discussion titled “The Human Library: Urbanization, Multiculturalism and the Art of Listening.” This talk covered the challenges of urbanization, segregation, technological echo chambers, and fear of the other. It also gave Gerodimos the chance to screen his film At the Edge of the Present.
Gerodimos said, “Screening At the Edge of the Present was a unique experience as the session hall was packed with a very diverse audience of authors, artists, journalists, students, activists and local residents of all ages. It is the most rewarding and fulfilling experience for a filmmaker to share a screening with an engaged audience - it is a sacred moment of connection and meaning-making.
“The discussion afterwards was highly sophisticated and it touched upon important issues regarding urbanization, multiculturalism, the need and methods of encouraging people to listen and engage, and the role of digital/social media and the culture of constant connectivity and distraction. The feedback for the film was amazing and it was great to hear people who watched the film say that they intend to screen it in their communities.”
Biebl, who represented Salzburg Global at the festival, said, “It was really impressive to see the scale at which the Pune International Literary Festival has grown in India. We are delighted Salzburg Global could once again play the role of an international partner at an important event.
“We are grateful to our Fellows who were able to appear at this year’s festival and take part in the event. It was an engaging discussion featuring Fellows from creative backgrounds who all had unique perspectives to offer."
PILF was founded by Salzburg Global Fellow and award-winning author Manjiri Prabhu. She credits her experience as a Fellow at Session 403 – From Page to Screen - in inspiring her to launch the festival.
Prabhu said, “We are extremely privileged to have Salzburg Global Seminar partner with the Pune International Literary Festival. Not only are we united in our goal to transform the world step by step, but I believe that our common synergies will open up new avenues and collaborations.”
To find out more about the Pune International Literary Festival, please click here.
YCI alumna brings together different Minnesota communities at pop-up cafe event
A YCI Hub project designed to give residents in Minneapolis an authentic cross cultural experience has been hailed a success.
Warm Welcome, a one-night pop-up cafe in a Minneapolis park ice skating warming house, recently brought together new and established Minnesota cultures in a friendly exchange.
The project was co-directed by YCI alumna Amanda Lovelee, a member of the Minnesota YCI Hub. She worked alongside Emily Stover as part of their collaborative group Plus/And.
The group worked with the Somali Museum of Minnesota and the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board to host the event.
Visitors were given a cup of Somali milky tea after they contributed to a tapestry combining maps of Somalia and Minnesota - an interwoven representation of the shared community.
Outside the warming house, four Somali grandmothers sang, laughed, and shared stories around a campfire much like the nomadic traditions of their childhood.
The grant for the project was administered by Salzburg Global Seminar as part of funding received from The McKnight Foundation. Lovelee was one of several beneficiaries to receive a regional grant to undertake follow-on activities after attending Session 569 - Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators III.
Discussing the project, Lovelee said, "As artists, we hoped that Warm Welcome would be an experience where new and old Minnesota communities could meet, listen, learn, and recognize how much we all have to offer if we can all be open to receiving.
"Our intention was to deepen a sense of empathy for our immigrant neighbors through their food and their stories, while assuring those who might feel afraid that their presence is not merely tolerated, but desired. This traditional Minnesotan space, the ice skating warming house, was temporarily transformed into a place for mutual welcoming to the community we share."
Lovelee admitted organizers were unsure how many people would turn up for the event, which took place in February, but developments in the news cycle helped generate further interest.
She said, "Our invitation was released on social media the day of the travel ban, affecting Somali nationals and even Americans of Somali descent, was first instated, and the overwhelming response indicated many people felt the need to show up.
"We were offering an opportunity to neither hide nor protest, but to gather and celebrate the diverse culture that we’ve built together. Overall our team hosted around 150 people of different ages and ethnicities, including many passers-by who happened upon Warm Welcome as they enjoyed the unseasonably warm night.
"We had tea and mulawah left at the end of the night, and felt like our first Warm Welcome event accomplished what we’d set out to do, and was a small moment of hopeful exchange for many who attended."
The tapestry weaved throughout the evening by visitors represented a symbolic map of Minnesota and Somalia. At the end of the event, guests could see the blended borders of two distant and distinct places, so far apart in distance and in culture, becoming one. The final map was framed and given for display at the Somali Museum of Minnesota.
Moving forward, Plus/And is approaching Minneapolis Parks to consider alternative ways of making use of their warming houses. They also hope to design a series of mobile structures which can serve different functions all year round.
Lovelee said, "We hope that Warm Welcome can be an example of how these structures could be used to further the board’s mission. We are pursuing an opportunity to create a similar space for two weeks in January 2018, and intend to work with other immigrant community partners to share their cultural hot drinks, stories, and understanding.
"Overall we believe that Warm Welcome is an inviting space, bringing people together to share what makes us each unique in our state’s coldest season, and to bring some warmth to a cold time in our country’s history."
Students from around the world take part in the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change to reflect on the media’s coverage of global populism and create new tools to combat misinformation
More than 80 students have come together as part of a three-week program to create a series of interactive exercises to educate others about global populism and extremism.
Participants at this year’s Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change – entitled Voices Against Extremism: Media Responses to Global Populism– included students from Argentina, Austria, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Egypt, Finland, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, the Netherlands, Palestine, Singapore, Slovakia, Syria, the UK, the United States, and Venezuela. Together they produced projects for an online DIY playbook: reaction.community.
The online publication aims to identify how populism and extremism operates and affects people of different ages, backgrounds and ethnicities around the world. Students were organized into groups where they brainstormed, conducted research, and identified case studies related to populism and extremism. The ideas were then transformed into “playable problems.”
Some of the themes explored in this year’s publication are children’s rights, climate change, reporting on extremism, the protection of journalists, the power of photo manipulation, the history and future of populism, violence against women, and freedom of information. The projects aim to facilitate dialogue and promote engagement through a product-based approach. They also invite the audience to develop a sense of solidarity and harness the right tools to stand in the face of oppression in all of its forms. Multimedia elements including videos, infographics, music playlists, interactive maps, text-based games, e-zines, comics, and data visualizations make up a number of the projects.
Paul Mihailidis, program director of the Salzburg Academy and associate professor at Emerson College, Boston, USA, said: “The 83 students, 13 faculty and 15 visiting experts came together to create a meaningful civic media intervention that provides creative media solutions for responding to harmful populist rhetoric. Their work emerged out of a commitment to themselves, and each other, to be open, honest, and creative, and open to new ideas. Only then can they create creative media that is by them, for their peers, and focused on social impact at local and global levels.”
Students’ ideas were inspired by conversations which took place throughout the Academy. Throughout the three weeks, students explored how media are framed by design choices, algorithmic bias, data manipulation, and commoditized content. To expand their international outlook on media and politics, they took part in plenary sessions, workshops, reading groups and hands-on exercises that challenged their creativity and transformed their thoughts into action. Topics covered included critical media making, the intersection of civic imagination and civic media, bridging cultural divides, challenging social gaps, journalism ethics and media literacy. Guest speakers at this year’s Academy included US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and acclaimed journalist Robin Wright, a contributing writer for The New Yorker.
This year’s students, who hailed from five different continents, put their differences aside to discuss one of the world’s most pressing problems. Not only did the Salzburg Academy serve as a safe space for healthy debate and dialogue, it also acted as a “brave space” – where participants reaped the benefits of challenging their perspectives and beliefs.
In among the discussions and work, students were taken on cultural and poignant trips into the Alps and to the Mauthausen Memorial Site. Students also took part in a “Seeing Media” image contest, which provided a mosaic of visual art which shows how the Academy visualized global issues today.
Connor Bean from Bournemouth University, UK, said: “Seeing how people from different parts of the world can come together and allow their perceptions to collide rather than clash has been the highlight of my time at the Salzburg Academy. The motivation and drive in certain people inspired me to make a change in my community and allowed me to have a whole new view on the world.”
Rachel Hanebutt, a graduate student at Emerson College, Boston, USA, said: “Making connections on multiple continents, I left the Salzburg Academy feeling re-energized and ready to use my media and communication skills to make positive change in not only my community, but in the world. Before Salzburg, I didn’t realize how truly powerful media can be in shaping societies and changing perspectives; whether it is populism or climate change, I now know that I want to be a part in creating more just and equitable political systems, through media. More than anything, this Academy allowed me the time and space to focus in on what is truly important to me, which inadvertently helped me to more deeply understand I want to accomplish in the short term, as well as in my long term goals.”
The Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change was launched by the international non-profit organization, Salzburg Global Seminar in 2007 in partnership with leading universities on five continents. Over its 11 years, more than 700 alumni have taken part in the three-week program at its home, the palace Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria. The Academy has taken a pioneering lead in media education, tackling issues of global concern with a focus on media literacy and civic engagement. Academy alumni have been inspired to become change-makers and leaders, taking pro-active positions in education, media, technology and politics.
Voices Against Extremism: Media Responses to Global Populism is part of Salzburg Global Seminar’s long-running multi-year program, the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change. More information on the session can be found here: www.SalzburgGlobal.org/go/sac11.
Latest report of the series Education for Tomorrow's World now available
The report of the Salzburg Global session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills is now available to read, download and share.
The 2016 session of the multi-year series Education for Tomorrow’s World brought together forty education leaders and other stakeholders from around the world to explore the challenges and benefits of fostering SEL (Social and Emotional Learning), including how this will affect the development of academic skills and more general testing of learners’ abilities. The session was held in partnership with ETS.
Emerging evidence in education, psychology, neuroscience, and economics suggests that SEL skills can also be measured and developed to help improve academic achievement, reduce negative behaviors, and enrich interpersonal relationships. Cultivating SEL skills through a more systematic approach could therefore have long-term benefits for learners, schools and colleges, and workplaces.
Policymakers, educators, innovators and researchers benefited from structured exchanges to identify the state of the evidence, policy challenges and viable solutions for measuring and enhancing SEL skills. Participants approached this topic in session-wide discussions and smaller breakout groups to consider how best to strengthen social and emotional skills through education policy, curricular development, assessment, and whole school policies.
This report presents key points of discussion, debate and learning from the Salzburg session, as well as final recommendations summarized in the session Fellows' co-created Salzburg Statement on Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills.
The Salzburg Global session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills, which is part of the multi-year Education for Tomorrow's World. This session was held in partnership with ETS (Educational Testing Service). More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/566
Young Cultural Innovators feature in the inaugural issue of digital publication The ii 100
Salzburg Global Fellows Lauren Kennedy and Rachel Knox have been included in a new publication showcasing Memphis’ most interesting and influential people.
The ii 100 features Kennedy and Knox in its inaugural 2017 issue with 98 other people from the Memphis area.
Both Kennedy and Knox attended the third Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) in 2016.
Kennedy is the executive director for the Urban Art Commission, having previously worked for Ballet Memphis, and the Dallas Art Fair. Knox, meanwhile, is a program officer for Hyde Family Foundations and sits on the boards of: The Urban Arts Commission, Voices of the South Theatre Company, and Our Fallen Heroes Foundation.
Every year, the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) brings 50 of the world’s most talented young innovators from the culture and arts sector together at Schloss Leopoldskron. Salzburg Global supports participants to develop their vision, entrepreneurial skills, and networks, to enable them and their causes to continue to thrive.
Most participants are drawn from several YCI Hubs in various cities around the world. As members of the Memphis Hub, Knox and Kennedy attended the first major offsite meeting of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators in Detroit, MI earlier this year. They were joined by participants from hubs in Detroit, MI and New Orleans, LA. Participants worked on collaborative micro-innovation projects tied to the creative economy and social innovation.
Speaking ahead of this year’s Salzburg Global Day, Knox heaped praise on the YCI Forum. In a Facebook post she said, “My attendance to the Young Cultural Innovators Forum came at a time of transition in my career, so I felt a bit lost when I arrived. However, I quickly learned that although I was surrounded by creatives, my interest and passions about politics and policy were met with equal measure and enthusiasm from some of the most brilliant minds I've encountered.
“As a textbook know-it-all, I learned that you don’t have to know all of the answers and that “I don’t know” isn’t a cop-out but an extraordinary opportunity to explore the possibilities ahead of you. It renewed my love of learning and not just knowing.
“I got the chance to travel out of the country for the first time in my life and explore one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been with the sweetest air I’ve ever smelled. I won’t ever forget the experience or take it for granted. And I’m so excited and thankful for the new group of fellows attending the YCI forum in the Fall. I can’t wait for them to join our incredible and scrappy American team from Memphis, and Detroit, and New Orleans and see what new energy they bring.”
The seven secrets to Salzburg Global Seminar's seventy years of success
Salzburg Global Seminar is enjoying its 70th birthday this summer. Today we boast a Fellowship of more than 30,000 academics, public servants, cultural innovators and social change-makers from 170 countries on six continents and a mission to “challenge current and future leaders to solves issues of global concern.”
Launched in the summer of 1947, the then-called Salzburg Seminar in American Civilization brought 97 students and young graduates from 18 countries – many of which had recently been at war with each other – together for six weeks at the palace of Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria with leading academics from Harvard University, to examine America, its culture, politics and history – and heal war-time wounds.
Today Salzburg Global Seminar, as we are now known, convenes sessions on topics as diverse as cultural innovation and financial regulation, health care reform and environmental sustainability, LGBT rights and technological disruption, bringing in people from students to senior professionals from all over the world.
So how did a six-week summer academy for American and European students turn into a fully-fledged, international institution? We offer seven insights for our seven decades.
1. We had a plan
In the summer of 1947, for the second time in just thirty years, Europe was recovering from a devastating war. Economic rebuilding was desperately needed, but three young visionaries believed that intellectual renewal was also vital. Those three Harvard men – Austrian graduate student Clemens Heller and Americans, college senior Richard “Dick” Campbell and young English instructor Scott Elledge – had an audacious plan. In 1947, the US government had announced the European Recovery Program, a.k.a. the Marshall Plan, to rebuild Europe economically. Theirs was a plan to rebuild Europe intellectually – a “Marshall Plan for the Mind.”
Originally conceived as a one-off summer program, the founders designed the “Salzburg Seminar in American Civilization” to be an opportunity for a divided Europe “to see who one was, what one believed in, what others believed in and to create a basis for future collaboration.”
Those first 97 Fellows (as the organization’s alumni are known) were advanced students who were teaching, had entered public life, or were intending to do so, and selected “on the basis of past scholarly achievement, with no regard to political, religious or racial considerations.” They spent six weeks sleeping, eating and studying together at Schloss Leopoldskron, eventually overcoming their war-time divisions, forming life-long bonds, and returning to their home countries and institutions with new ideas.
Today’s Salzburg Global Fellows share that same commitment to serving the common good and bridging geographical, cultural and sectoral divides.
2. We started with one focus
The original focus of Salzburg Global Seminar was American studies – but why study this in the heart of Europe? In 1947, Europe was still very much baring the scars of war. America, conversely, was thriving in its post-war industrial boom and taking an increasingly prominent place in the world – politically, economically and culturally – as the former colonial powers of Europe faded. Wanting to bring together bright young minds who had been enemies a mere two years earlier, the founders built on this growing European fascination with America and offered American studies as a neutral topic for the former adversaries to debate and dissect.
Fellows examined a vast array of topics through the lens of American studies, including sociology, literature, the arts, politics, labor relations, economics, and law and legal institutions. In these early years, the Seminar’s home of Schloss Leopoldskron boasted the largest American studies library collection in Europe.
American studies still features on the annual program of sessions at Salzburg Global Seminar; this year 40 Fellows from more than 25 countries are expected to come to Salzburg for a four-day discussion on Life and Justice in America: Implications of the New Administration.
3. We broadened thematically
While originally focused on American studies, in the 1960s the Seminar instead adopted a “common problems” approach. Rather than only examining “the city upon the hill”, Fellows came together “to exchange experiences, to explore differences, to seek out consistent – though rarely identical – solutions for problems that plague and puzzle men on both sides of the Atlantic,” as Salzburg Seminar President Paul Herzog explained in 1966. Long-studied subjects such as literature, politics and education began to lose their American focus. More non-American experts were introduced to the faculty, bringing new perspectives. And innovative sessions such as “The Social Impact of the New Technology” and “Planning and Development of the Urban Community” were held.
In the following decades, Fellows and faculty also tackled new topics including international trade, health and health care, civil society and gender issues. Many of these issues continue to be examined by Salzburg Global Fellows in sessions at Schloss Leopoldskron, as well as topics such as human rights, financial regulation, climate change, and regional cooperation.
4. We diversified geographically
The early years’ Fellows and faculty almost exclusively came from Western Europe and America respectively, but with Austria seen as a crossroads between Eastern and Western Europe, the Salzburg Seminar provided a natural place to bridge Cold War divides. Before the age of online applications, session recruitment was done largely face-to-face through connections at leading universities, government ministries and embassies. Thanks to funding from large private foundations, in the 1960s the Seminar started to expand geographically with Fellows starting to come from “behind the Iron Curtain”.
The 1970s saw the first Fellows come from the Middle East as the organization believed that the region could benefit from the same neutral meeting place as former European enemies had in 1947, and thus launched an extensive outreach program, specifically to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine and Israel. By the mid-1980s, Palestinian and Israeli Fellows were attending sessions together. As a Jordanian Fellow wrote in 1979, “If the world recognized the extent of affection and understanding that can be generated by human interaction, it would denounce and abandon forever wars and hatred. The Salzburg Seminar is a forum whereby such a realization can be easily obtained.” Similar outreach efforts were made into Asia and Africa in later decades, recognizing that these regions’ emerging economies could learn from the similar experiences of Eastern European countries, post-Communism.
Salzburg Global Seminar’s sessions today include Fellows from every (inhabited) continent, with dedicated scholarships offered to ensure that participation is as diverse as possible.
5. We expanded our business model
The Salzburg Seminar in American Studies was incorporated as a non-profit in Massachusetts in 1950. In 1963, because of this non-profit status, the Seminar declined a $10,000 offer from Twentieth Century Fox to use Schloss Leopoldskron as a filming location. Little did they know that the film – The Sound of Music – would go on to win five Oscars and become a global sensation. The German publishing company, Bertelsmann, then-owners of the neighboring Meierhof building, took the offer instead, with set designers building replicas of Schloss Leopoldskron’s famous seahorse statues a little further along the lake.
Instead of Hollywood royalties, support from private individuals has long been of central importance to Salzburg Global Seminar, dating from the initial funding contributed by students at Harvard University. Later, private philanthropists and large foundations such as the Ford, McKnight, Mellon and Nippon Foundations also contributed greatly to help bring more Fellows from further afield. Financial support also has come from both the US and Austrian governments, as well as other government ministries and embassies across the world.
Many Salzburg Global Seminar multi-year series are run in partnership with leading international institutions, such as the Mayo Clinic, Educational Testing Services, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Funding for corporate-focused series such as the Forum on Finance in the Changing World comes from sponsorship consortia that include leading financial services companies, law firms, regulators, and consultancies.
Philanthropic support from organizations and individuals for Salzburg Global’s sessions is today boosted by the highly successful Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron – home to Salzburg Global’s core programs and major convocations, but also a destination venue and award-winning hotel sought out by individual guests, external clients and wedding parties alike.
6. We went truly global
Schloss Leopoldskron has been the home of Salzburg Global Seminar since the beginning. The organization received the keys to the Schloss following a serendipitous meeting between co-founder Clemens Heller and Helene Thimig on the New York subway. Thimig, the widow of the Schloss’s pre-war owner, Max Reinhardt, was so impressed by Heller’s passion she agreed to loan him the palace for the first session in 1947. After years of protracted negotiations, the Schloss was sold by Thimig to the City of Salzburg, which in turn sold it to the Seminar in 1959 for $92,350 (equivalent to $1m in 2017). The Seminar’s property was added to with the purchase of the neighboring Meierhof building in 1973.
To reflect its increasingly global role and the interconnectedness of the world’s challenges, the Salzburg Seminar changed its name in 2006 to Salzburg Global Seminar. While the majority of Salzburg Global’s programs continue to be held at its home of Schloss Leopoldskron, today its reach is felt across the world. What happens in Salzburg has always mattered because of the insights and ideas the experience kindles in our Fellows and for what they make happen later on the ground.
The going out of the gates of Schloss Leopoldskron is more important than the coming in. Alumni reunions and Fellowship events have long been held by the organization, but now programs such as the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) seek to engage creative change-makers and turbo-charge their vision, talent and energy at the community level. Beyond an annual session held at Schloss Leopoldskron, the YCI Fellows collaborate in their city “hubs,” of which there are now 19 on six continents. This community-based approach, wherein Fellows establish local networks and implement projects at city or regional level, is now being expanded into other Salzburg Global Seminar programs.
7. We continue to create lasting change
Famed anthropologist Margaret Mead was a co-chair of the first ever session of Salzburg Global Seminar in 1947. Her glowing review of the first summer’s program helped ensure the organization’s support from Harvard University and secure its future. She later coined the phrase: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” This sentiment was embedded in Salzburg Global Seminar’s ethos from its beginning. Our world now faces a multitude of challenges that both reach globally and impact locally: from climate change and disruptive technological innovations, to democratic disengagement, rising political extremism and financial crises. To effect positive transformation, the world needs responsible, proactive and innovative global leaders, but also “thoughtful, committed citizens” at all levels of public life and private institutions.
Today, Salzburg Global Seminar bridges divides between countries as well as among generations, social backgrounds, and sectors. It encourages leaders to accept personal responsibility for finding solutions and opens doors to collaborative thinking and action. In our volatile, interconnected world, what Salzburg Global Seminar offers is more important than ever. Its relevance to global problem-solving and development of tomorrow’s leaders, and its growing base of individual and institutional supporters, ensures its prominence as a place where “thoughtful, committed citizens” can continue to shape a better world.
To read more about our 70 years of history and see how we’re celebrating, click here: http://70.salzburgglobal.org
Salzburg Global Fellow creates live piece of music during #SoundHealth in Concert: Music and the Mind
Salzburg Global Fellow Ben Folds has created a buzz on social media after improvising a live piece of music while on stage with the National Symphony Orchestra.
Folds, an acclaimed singer-songwriter and record producer, performed the piece during #SoundHealth in Concert: Music and the Mind, held at The Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
At the time of writing, a clip of the performance has received more than eight million views on Facebook and has been shared more than 96,000 times.
Before attempting the challenge, Folds was introduced on stage by Dr. Charles Limb, another Salzburg Global Fellow.
In the segment, Dr. Limb, a renowned surgeon, neuroscientist, and musician, asks the audience for a key, tempo, and "interesting sentence" for Folds to work with.
Once these ingredients are noted down, Folds takes just 10 minutes to improvise a new piece of music with the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Edwin Outwater.
Both Folds and Dr. Limb attended Salzburg Global in 2015 for Session 547 - The Neuroscience of Art: What are the Sources of Creativity and Innovation? Folds was a participant while Dr. Limb co-chaired the session.
The session brought together an inspiring and unusual mix of 50 artists, scientists, physicians, psychologists, sociologists - and more - to explore the field of neurology of art and to create a collaborative international platform to identify and address emerging issues at the creative intersection of neuroscience and art.
Watch Folds' performance below.
Statement says children should benefit from nature - wherever they live, learn and play
Salzburg Global Fellows have called on leaders to ensure all children enjoy the right to safe, free play in a nature-rich space within a 10-minute walk from home.
The call to action was included in a Salzburg Statement published as a result of discussions at Session 574 - The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play.
It was the third session of the Parks for the Planet Forum, which was supported by Parks Canada and Korea National Park. The Forum is held in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It advances work to implement the Promise of Sydney and the Sustainable Development Goals.
During a five-day program held in March, 52 experts in urban planning, childhood development, conservation, environmental policy, and health considered how green spaces could better meet the needs, and be accessible for, children.
Participants asked themselves what the benefits of these spaces were and how they could be maximized. They considered the implications for urban planning, design and management if the needs of the child were placed at the center.
On the final day of the program, participants agreed a small working group would build on the ideas shared by producing a statement outlining a shared set of principles and recommendations.
The Salzburg Statement on The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play recommends several policies, practices and investments. It also contains eight actions which can transform cities for children.
These eight actions are:
View the Salzburg Statement on the Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play on Issuu
Download the Salzburg Statement in full by clicking here
The Salzburg Global program The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play is part of the multi-year Parks for the Planet Forum, a series held in partnership with the IUCN and Huffington Foundation. The session is being supported by Parks Canada and Korea National Park. It is being sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/574 - You can follow all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSparks
Vice President and Chief Program Officer Clare Shine moderates 'Women for Sustainable Energy' events
Salzburg Global Vice President and Chief Program Officer Clare Shine has been chosen to moderate two networking events at the Vienna Energy Forum 2017.
Clare was selected to take part in networking events on Thursday, May 11 and Friday, May 12 on ‘Women for Sustainable Energy.’ The purpose of these events is to connect people and provide a platform for knowledge sharing and exchange.
The Vienna Energy Forum 2017 is bringing together more than 1,600 participants, including heads of state, ministers, energy experts, and representatives from the private sector.
The forum, taking place for the fifth time, plans to contribute toward the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.
The networking events Clare is moderator for will raise awareness of the potential of sustainable energy for women’s empowerment. It will also cast a spotlight on women leaders in the energy sector, giving insights into the range of career paths and initiatives available which identify women’s empowerment in the clean energy sector.
During Thursday's event, speakers included H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma, CEO of Abze Solar and Ambassador for Renewable Energy in Burkina Faso. Clare was also joined by Irene Giner-Reichl, President of Global Forum for Sustainable Energy (GFSE) and Austrian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China and Mongolia.
The events will also promote sustainable energy approaches which have a substantial impact on gender equality and highlight the influence of women who are making the energy sector more sustainable.
Both networking events are being hosted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). They are also supported by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition (GWNET) and the International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy (ENERGIA).
Clare is being joined at this year's forum by Salzburg Global's European Development Director Ian Brown.
The forum has been organized by UNIDO, the Government of Austria, IIASA, and SEforALL. It is taking place at the Hofburg Palace.
Speakers are expected to highlight the crucial links between energy, climate, and development, as well as the synergies among the SDGs.
For more information, please visit https://www.viennaenergyforum.org
Salzburg Global Fellow discusses her experience at the most recent Parks for the Planet Forum
This post was first published on Lynn Ross' LinkedIn profile. Ross attended Session 574 - The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play, which is part of the multi-year Parks for the Planet Forum.
I first fell in love with nature as a child playing for hours on end in the backyard of my family home where the grass, trees and flowers were animated participants in all my magical backyard adventures. Even as a dedicated city dweller my love affair with nature has continued into adulthood, so I was honored to become a fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar last month during Session 574, “The Child in the City: Health, Parks, and Play.
This session, hosted over 4 days at the amazing Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, included advocates, researchers and practitioners representing 20 countries. Each participant brought a unique perspective and a wealth of experience. Here are just a few of the interesting initiatives I learned about:
During the session, I also had the pleasure of leading a discussion on moving from incremental change to transformation. Through case studies from the United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore, the panel shared the following key takeaways which apply not only to kids and nature, but to any community building effort:
There were many more efforts, takeaways and resources shared throughout the session and I encourage you to check out the “Resources” section of the session page.
On the final day of the session, we started the process of transforming our collective learning into a set of principles that can be shared broadly. A smaller group of participants is continuing that work post-session. In addition, each participant shared personal commitments to continue the work of the session in their daily practice. It’s no surprise that my experience in Salzburg is already influencing my work on the Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative, but what has been a surprise is how much the experience has me thinking about the role of nature, parks and play as part of housing affordability and equitable community development.
So, I’ll leave you where I started but with an addition: when did you first fall in love with nature? And what can you do in your practice to ensure that all children will someday get to answer that same question?
Lynn Ross wasa participant in the Salzburg Global program The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play, which is part of the multi-year Parks for the Planet Forum, a series held in partnership with the IUCN. The session was supported by the Huffington Foundation, Parks Canada and Korea National Park and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/574
Session to explore new ways of facilitating more engagement activities in other YCI city hubs
The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators will host its first American offsite meeting later this week.
More than 20 YCI Fellows will convene at the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators - Regional Fellows Event: Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans.
The event, which takes place between April 27 and 29, will bring together several YCI Fellows from an expanding network of US city hubs. This network includes Memphis, TN, Detroit, MI, and New Orleans, LA. Those in attendance will include authors, cultural organizers, creative directors, strategists, and artists.
These participants, among others in the culture and arts sector, are a source of inspiration for new ideas to tackle social improvement and sustainable development around the planet. This event will be building on the participants’ creativity, talent, and energy to drive forward positive action.
The three-day event, supported by The Kresge Foundation, will challenge participants to think of ways to accelerate change in cities. They will work on micro-innovation projects linked to the creative economy and social innovation. Facilitators for the upcoming session include Amina Dickerson, president of Dickerson Global Advisors, Peter Jenkinson, an independent cultural broker, and Shelagh Wright, director of ThreeJohnsandShelagh and Mission Models Money. Dickerson has been a skills workshop leader at the YCI Forum in Salzburg for two years, with Jenkinson and Wright co-facilitating the YCI Forum sessions in Salzburg and Fellowship event in Athens since the Forum launched in 2013.
During the program, participants will take part in panel discussions, small workshop exercises, and will undertake several site visits. One of the first activities participants have already been tasked with is producing an overview of critical data and examples of good practice in the creative sector in Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans. These briefs are set to be shared in advance of the session and will serve as a basis for discussion.
A key outcome expected from the event is a practical toolkit to facilitate more regular convening and engagement activities by Young Cultural Innovators in other city hubs in the Salzburg Global YCI network around the world.
The YCI Forum has city hubs in six regions across the planet. City hubs include Adelaide, Athens, Baltimore, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Detroit, Manila, Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans, Phnom Penh/Mekong Delta, Plovdiv, Rotterdam, Salzburg, Seoul, Slovakia, Tirana, and Tokyo. The Forum also has a dedicated hub for Rhodes Scholars.
The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) launched in 2014 as a ten-year project designed to engage fifty of the world’s most dynamic young creative change-makers every year. The Forum is a significant commitment by Salzburg Global Seminar to foster creative innovation and entrepreneurship worldwide. The hope is to build a more vibrant and resilient arts sector while advancing sustainable economic development, positive social change agendas, and urban transformation worldwide.
The Regional Fellows Event: Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans is part of the multi-year Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. This session is being supported by The Kresge Foundation. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/577.
Co-founder of interactive design studio See Saw Do talks about empowering children to become contributors to society
Xanelé Purén, co-founder of interactive design studio See Saw Do, believes children have a unique and important outlook on society and the cities we live in. This belief has a direct impact on her company's mission. Although the Cape Town, South Africa-based See Saw Do works with a variety of people, the spatial design studio mainly focuses on young children and designing public environments that enhance their sense of being a child. Purén attended Salzburg Global Seminar's session The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play to share her view on place-making and how children's views can be incorporated into spatial design.
"Place-making is a really holistic way of looking at a space," Purén says, noting the people who operate within it are also a part of that space. In many circumstances, children are a large part of public spaces within our cities. When working with schools, for example, she says it's important to work with teachers to create a better understanding of what a child is, what children need and how much power they have.
See Saw Do was born out of Purén's fourth-year design project, while studying visual communication design at Stellenbosch University. Having always loved children, she spent time at a school in a nearby community to identify issues that could be addressed through design. Six years later, Purén says "we've grown our understanding of people, our understanding of children, and our understanding of place."
Two years ago, See Saw Do began focusing on creative education, spending more time with children and exploring how simple tools can empower their sense of self. Purén says she's felt a great sense of joy watching children create and including them in the design process.
But Cape Town faces a wide array of social problems, which presents unique challenges when trying to foster a child-friendly city, Purén says. She believes one of the biggest challenges residents face is understanding that children are active citizens.
"We often hear that we have to train children to become contributors to society, so I think they're greatly underestimated as whole people. We are underestimating the importance of being little," she says. "I think if we can create a mindset in the minds of Cape Town citizens, that will already be a big step to empower children to be more integrated into society."
Purén, who describes Cape Town as a dynamic and diverse city, says that on both a business and community level she sees more organizations focusing on children, providing a promising outlook for future generations. "I can envision Cape Town being a great city for children, hopefully, in the near future," she says, noting there is strength in diversity.
Purén says her participation in Salzburg Global's session has allowed her to create connections with people from several different fields and areas of expertise, paving the way for future collaborations. She adds, "There is already some exciting stuff brewing between participants."
Xanelé Purén was a participant in the Salzburg Global program The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play, which is part of the multi-year Parks for the Planet Forum, a series held in partnership with the IUCN. The session was supported by the Huffington Foundation, Parks Canada, Korea National Park and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/574
Salzburg Global Fellow and award-winning writer Manjiri Prabhu reads from her latest novel The Trail of Four at Schloss Leopoldskron for her European book launch
Schloss Leopoldskron has long been a place of "pure inspiration" - from its original owner, Prince-Archbishop Leopold von Firmian, to theater impresario Max Reinhardt and the Hollywood producers of The Sound of Music, and now for the award-winning Indian crime fiction writer, Manjiri Prabhu.
Described as the "Desi Agatha Christie" and now hailed as India's answer to Dan Brown, Prabhu first came to the Schloss to attend the session From Page to Screen: Adapting Literature to Film in 2002. She remained engaged with Salzburg Global over the years and returned to the Schloss for research purposes in 2014.
The subsequent thriller, The Trail of Four has now been published by Bloomsbury India. With much of the action taking place not only in Salzburg, but directly in Schloss Leopoldskron and featuring the Archbishop, Reinhardt and Salzburg Global Seminar, the Great Hall of the Schloss was a fitting location for the book's European launch.
At the event, held on April 5 in partnership with the local chapter of expat network InterNations, Prabhu gave a reading and signed copies of her book, speaking warmly of the support she has received for her novel from Salzburg Global Seminar, in particular from Director of Marketing and Communications, Thomas Biebl and Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron General Manager, Daniel Szelényi - who features as a character in the novel.
Inspired by her Salzburg Global experience, Prabhu also founded the Pune International Literary Festival (PILF). Since 2016 Salzburg Global Seminar has been an partner of the festival, bringing international Fellows to India. Read more about the 2017 festival here.
Copies of the novel can be bought online or directly from the Reception at Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron.
More about The Trail of Four:
In the thriller Prabhu asks her audience to investigate a secret left behind by one of Europe’s most famous theater directors, Max Reinhardt, the previous owner of Schloss Leopoldskron. The drama unfolds once a three-hundred-year-old heart of a prince-archbishop is taken from its sacred place of burial. In the following series of events, there are threats of the destruction of Salzburg’s ‘Pillars' and a French-Indian investigative journalist, a historian, a police chief, and a hotelier find themselves drawn together to get to the bottom of things, while Salzburg’s future remains in doubt. They have 48 hours to solve Reinhardt's “Trail.”
Spokesperson and Director of Communications and Outreach for the UNFCCC comments on the potential of arts to fight against climate change
The extent in which arts can help to tackle environmental issues was one of the topics discussed during Session 573 - The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal. Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson and Director of Communications and Outreach for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), explained to Salzburg Global how his organization is incorporating cultural solutions when tackling sustainability challenges.
AA: In a nutshell, what is the strategy followed by the United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCC) to raise awareness on climate change related issues?
NN: In the last few years, we have changed our narrative going from one of impossibility, fear, and hopelessness, to another that shows the amazing actions already happening around the world to assist in realizing smarter ways of managing our shared environment. Raising awareness, and more importantly catalyzing action on climate change, has perhaps unique complexities in part because of a perceived remoteness that people can feel about it. It can seem a very distant topic to citizens as its consequences, and the impact of our actions are often seem as long-term. However, we need to act quickly if we want to deal with it or we will not be able to avoid a highly risky future.
At the UNFCCC we aim to prove that everyone is responsible - albeit to different levels - and can do something about it at the same time. Even if it is a complex issue to solve, I am absolutely convinced that we can meet the challenges and unlock the opportunities toward a better world.
AA: What does the team composition for such complex projects look like? Do professionals from different sectors cooperate together on the UNFCC campaigns?
NN: Until recently, our focus was on national governments, but now our relations are increasingly multifaceted, and there are many more different people and sectors of society involved. Now and increasingly we count on not just governments but also mayors to business leaders, investors, architects, urban planners, scientists - many, many other actors. We also need to get the citizens on board, or we will be missing a big piece of the puzzle. If governments, no matter what their political views are, recognize the citizenship’s concern for environmental problems they will be empowered to ever higher ambition.
AA: What do you think about the way media generally covers climate change topics?
NN: The already mentioned long-implications of climate change do not always agree with media’s desire of immediacy. The coverage made by big media outlets of issues like climate change is often focused on high-profile conferences, and once they are finished the topic disappears from the front pages.
I find certain contradictions in the way media talks about the environment. For instance, it is possible to find an article in the newspaper warning about the melting of glaciers. Then, you can turn the page and read an airline’s advertisement selling cheap flights to go skiing to the same place. And it seems that nobody makes the link between the two and reflects on the effects that one can have on the other.
AA: When discussing climate change, some media outlets will have a pundit who believes in climate change, and another who doesn't, in the name of balance. Should the pundits who don't believe in climate change be able to share that platform to speak from?
NN: It is true that journalism should, in principle give voice to opposing views. However, if something has moved to the kind of level of scientific certainty we have today with climate change, I do not think that the two voices to boost debate are useful if it is about opinion rather than science. Indeed after 20 years, the vast majority of world scientists have concluded that there is clear evidence that human beings and their activities are changing the climate. I think we have gone beyond the debate about whether climate change is happening or not. The question should be: “How fast is it going to move and how do we build the resilience of the most vulnerable countries and communities?”
AA: You have worked on very innovative campaigns such as the 1Heart1Tree project. Through this project, you managed to recreate a virtual forest in the center of Paris. Could you summarize this project?
NN: The artist, Naziha Mestaoui, had the idea of beaming virtual trees on one of the most iconic buildings of the world, the Eiffel Tower. By using an app, she managed to synchronize users’ heartbeats to make each growing tree projected onto the tower, grow with the rhythm of that person’s heart. The initiative was also taken to the “real world” by offering the possibility to plant real trees in seven different locations around the globe. Mestaoui’s idea is a great example of what arts and culture can do to fight against climate change. We assisted by providing our logo, which opened the door for funding while helping to promote her work step by step to reality.
AA: What about the Save the World II - Climate Change program pursued at Theater Bonn?
NN: This program has been running now for three years. It is a very unique idea, as it brings together bureaucrats and artists. We promote dialogue on what different sectors can do for climate change and related issues like poverty eradication. The results of the final outcomes and performances have always been far different to what I imagined they could have been at the outset. Moreover, I believe that having people from many different backgrounds sharing their points of view can be highly stimulating for the audience. We need to bring together different voices, and use every single resource we have to cooperate and shift perspectives and understanding - it has proven invaluable into demystifying complex issues and make them relevant to ordinary people so they can see why and how to act in their daily lives.
AA: How would you summarize your experience as a fellow at The Art of Resilience; Creativity, Courage and Renewal session?
NN: It has been fascinating. I have attended similar events before, but I truly have enjoyed the tangible results we have achieved here. Together with my focus group, we have decided to establish a web page platform with the not-for-profit organization Julie’s Bicycle to showcase existing and upcoming art projects linked with climate change so we can give more visibility to the role of arts and culture in shaping public engagement. We have also decided to work with C40, a network of 90 megacities collaborating to cope with the effects of climate change. Eventually, I think we all have interconnected very well, and that is what it is all about.
UPDATE: After attending Salzburg Global, the UNFCCC has since launched the #Art4Climate campaign, which is taking place in the run up to this year's UN Climate Conference in Bonn. Each week, the UNFCCC will showcase one arts project which celebrates innovation, courage, and inspiration. For more information, click here.
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal was part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session was supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here: http://www.salzburgglobal.org/go/573
Salzburg Global Fellow features in The Washington Post after daughter’s letter to Gap goes viral
Salzburg Global Fellow and director of CityHealth, Beth Jacob has revealed how Gap responded to her daughter’s request for a better range of styles and choices for girls.
Jacob’s daughter Alice made headlines last month after her letter to the retailer went viral, featuring on the Huffington Post and Today online.
In her letter, Alice, aged five, explained she liked t-shirts which featured Superman, Batman, and race cars, but Gap’s shirts for girls were either pink or featured princesses on them.
Alice asked Gap to “make some cool girls’ shirts” or make a “no boys or girls” section - only a kids’ section.
In her role at CityHealth, Alice's mother, Jacob uses policy as a lever to improve people's health and wellbeing. She has spent more than 20 years advocating for smart policies on behalf of children and families.
Her work led to her taking part in The Child in the City: Health, Parks, and Play, which was held at Schloss Leopoldskron earlier this year.
As part of a new editorial for The Washington Post, Jacob revealed how Gap's chief executive and brand president Jeff Kirwan responded to her daughter's request.
Responding to Alice’s letter in an email, Kirwan agreed GapKids could do a “better job offering even more choices that appeal to everyone.”
Kirwan said GapKids always tried to provide a broad range of styles for girls and boys, including a selection of girls’ tees with dinosaurs and superheroes, but designers would now “work on even more fun stuff” he thought Alice would like.
In addition to this response, Kirwan provided Alice with a few of his favorite t-shirts from Gap’s latest collection, asking her for her thoughts.
Jacob wrote back to Kirwan along with her daughter. In her response, she said:
“Since Alice wrote you, we’ve seen word travel from Tucson to Beirut; more than I could count say they agree. We’re thrilled you, too, said she’s right and you want to do better. For kids like Alice everywhere, that means a lot.
So what next? Honestly, we’ve all got our work cut out for us. Because I haven’t told Alice the two other reactions to her letter. First, people ask what’s the big deal; why don’t we just buy ‘boys’ clothes? Or why don’t I learn to sew — and better yet teach Alice — so we can make whatever we want?
We grown-ups know what happens whenever someone small challenges the status quo. Even well-intentioned people at the top feel the pressure: Why take a risk if the majority isn’t speaking out?
Better not to rock the boat, right? Better to let the outliers change themselves to fit in. In 2017 girls can wear ‘boys’ clothes; you can even buy your son a polo shirt in pink. Why the fuss?
Why indeed? Because the fact is kids don’t have long before they learn the world’s limits — or their own. In the meantime, Mr. Kirwan, you and I have a chance to teach them a different lesson. Mine might come during a carpool conversation. Yours could come from clothes that say girls don’t have to be just one thing.
But we both have an opportunity on our hands: to help kids learn why being different is an act of bravery; why asking for something unfair to change is worthwhile.
Because sometimes people — even powerful ones — listen. Meanwhile, everyone sees they, too, have a fair shot at being heard.
It is not just about T-shirts, is it? You and I, we’ve got a chance to show kids everywhere that all big changes start small.
Sincerely yours,
Beth Jacob”
To read Jacob’s article in full and find out how Kirwan responded to Jacob’s latest message, click here.
Beth Jacob is the project director of CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation in the US that "provides leaders with a package of evidence-based policy solutions that will help millions of people live longer, better lives in vibrant, prosperous communities."
She was a participant in the Salzburg Global program The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play, which is part of the multi-year Parks for the Planet Forum, a series held in partnership with the IUCN. The session was supported by the Huffington Foundation, Parks Canada and Korea National Park and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/574
Salzburg Global Fellows and board members gather for evening panel discussion in Vienna reviewing state of play in the world
An inspiring, enjoyable, and challenging debate took place as part of Salzburg Global Seminar’s 70th-anniversary celebrations.
More than 100 people convened in Vienna on Thursday, March 23 for a discussion titled “Angry World: Great Unraveling… or Wake-up Call?”
The discussion, which took place as part of Salzburg Global’s March Board Meeting, was hosted by Raiffeisen Bank International.
Salzburg Global Fellows and Salzburg Global’s international Board of Directors attended the event. Salzburg Global Vice President and Chief Program Officer Clare Shine moderated a panel which featured Shalini Randeria, Oliver Rathkolb, and Florian Scholochow.
Opening the debate, each speaker was invited to offer their thoughts on how they saw the world. Rathkolb, chair of the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna, said the “angry world” was only part of the story, and an additional emphasis should be placed on apathy.
Randeria, the rector at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), said her Indian grandparents grew up in a world where the West was ambivalent toward them. There were also signs of hypocrisy. They had textbooks describing the virtues of democracy, but this was not evident in the society they were living in at the time.
She referred to an incident which happened as India gained independence from Britain. Her grandfather had a conversation where the question came up how they should think about Britain from that point onward. Someone suggested focusing on “the good things” India achieved under British rule and instead placing their focus on what was in front of them. Randeria said this type of attitude required a “different leadership.”
Scholochow, CEO and founder of mohemian ventures, and co-founder of World Data Lab said he was passionate about entrepreneurship because it allowed him to see opportunities where others saw trash. Scholochow expressed in an “angry world” people must see it as a privilege they can vote.
Rathkolb raised the point some politicians lacked a global outlook. He cited calls made a decade ago for a Marshall Plan for Africa, from which he claimed nothing materialized. On a separate note, Rathkolb suggested a digital revolution is taking place but a large section of society remains excluded when it comes to political control.
Randeria suggested we are at a point in time when the media can make people feel deprived in comparison to people living in other countries, which can lead to people exiting with their feet or using their voice. In some cases, some people can vote but choose only to use their voice and protest. Scholochow suggested the amount of information provided by different media outlets was too large for people to consume. This is in stark contrast to the amount of information available and the number of voices which existed a couple of decades ago.
During the discussion, guests had an opportunity to ask the panelists questions. These questions covered topics such as how to recalibrate democracies to avoid political entrepreneurs hijacking them. A guest also queried how multinational organizations were still able to avoid paying tax. This statement linked to another point about how the systems in place can promote cynicism and a lack of faith. Randeria suggested multinational corporations have had a history of not wanting to pay taxes at home and enjoying benefits abroad, and that governments have lost legitimacy when they've been unable to place citizens’ needs first.
The panel discussed the need to transmit positive experiences of liberal democracies to the next generation and provide a better digital education. Rathkolb said, “We need more historians to conserve history in a way so it isn’t manipulated by politicians.” Before the discussion came to an end, one guest asked whether any future outlook could be positive, citing human nature as “self-destructive.”
Guests considered who the demos were, the lack of accountability some institutions had, and the courage needed to make clean breaks with new ways of thinking. Shine said intergovernmental organizations, when moving forward, had to think of inclusiveness, having in mind “voice, power, and people.”
In his closing remarks, Salzburg Global President and CEO Stephen Salyer said the discussion had been inspiring and expressed his thanks to all those who made the evening possible, including Raiffeisen Bank International.
Salyer discussed Salzburg Global’s post-World War II origins and its progression to what it stands for today. He said Salzburg Global’s existence showed things could be done, and he was a believer in hope over experience. He said, “We can take responsibility. We can make a difference in the world. We need a lot more of that.”
The panel discussion Angry World: Great Unraveling... or Wake-up Call? was organized under the auspices of Salzburg Global Seminar, Austria and kindly hosted by Raiffeisen Bank International on Thursday, March 23, 2017. You can read tweets from the evening via the #SGSrbi hashtag. You can view photos from the event by clicking here.
UNFCCC to build on work achieved at Salzburg Global session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal
The UN is to shine a weekly spotlight on the role of arts and culture in climate action, building on work achieved at Salzburg Global Seminar.
The UNFCCC will highlight projects from Fiji to Freiburg and is keen to hear from new artists and organizations.
This initiative follows on from conversations which took place at Schloss Leopoldskron earlier this year. In February, artists, cultural workers, and creatives came together for The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal.
These participants were brought together by Julie's Bicycle, a UK-based charity that works with the creative community on climate change and sustainability.
Julie's Bicycle has been collaborating with Salzburg Global since taking part in Beyond Green: The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability, which took place in February last year.
UNFCCC spokesperson Nick Nuttall was among the participants involved at the latest session. As a result of this session, the UNFCCC has been inspired to showcase one arts initiative each week in the run-up to the UN Climate Conference in Bonn. The initiatives highlighted will celebrate innovation, courage, and inspiration.
The UNFCCC believes the creativity community, existing at the heart of culture, has a part to play in achieving positive change. In particular, it envisages artists setting the scene as nations work to implement their commitments under the Paris Climate Change Agreement and as the UN prepares for the annual climate conference in November.
Mr. Nuttall said, "Art and cultural works, from painting and sculpture to theater, music and poetry have the unique power to shift perceptions and provide emotional connections to complex issues that are facing communities and countries worldwide."
“There can be few subjects as complex and as challenging as the existential threat of climate change, but we need the arts to shape the discourse and provide new impulses for action. For it is the decisions taken today by governments but also individuals, cities, and companies that will echo down the centuries, defining the lives of billions of people alive today and many more who are yet to be born," he added.
The UNFCCC is looking for creative responses to climate change to be featured on the UNFCCC website in a weekly feature.
Please send 100 words briefly outlining the project, how it is addressing climate change, and what the impact has been, along with any images and web links to us. Chosen stories will be contacted and asked for a 200 to 500-word write-up to be shaped together with the UNFCCC communications team.
The UNFCCC is working with Julie’s Bicycle to spot and propose super recent and new works in this broad field, but we also want to hear from you too.
Please send any proposals for showcasing to newsroom@unfccc.int or Chiara@juliesbicycle.com
People are encouraged to share posts on Twitter using the hashtags #Art4Climate and #COP23.
Salzburg Global Fellows Stella Flores and Susana Maria Muñoz feature in Diverse magazine's Top 25 Women in Higher Education & Beyond
Two Salzburg Global Fellows have been acknowledged as two of the top 25 women in higher education and beyond.
Diverse Issues In Higher Education magazine has recognized both Dr. Stella Flores and Dr. Susana Maria Muñoz for their significant contributions.
The magazine is a biweekly trade publication which reports on diversity, access, and opportunity for all in higher education.
The Top 25 Women in Higher Education & Beyond features in the magazine’s March 9 edition.
It highlights Dr. Flores as an “expert” in higher education issues and describes her research as having a “wide and influential scope.” It refers to Dr. Munoz and her research on “issues of college access, persistence and identity among under-represented student populations.”
Dr. Flores, Professor of Education at New York University, and Dr. Muñoz, Associate Professor of Education at Colorado State University, both attended Session 537 Students at the Margins and the Institutions that Serve Them: A Global Perspective.
The goals of the session included developing a database for institutions serving marginalized populations worldwide. This database would act as a common reference point for facilitating interested parties and sharing knowledge and practices.
The session also aimed to create a global network of individuals and institutions interested in the practical implementation of issues, including student learning, gender parity, and affirmative action.
In addition to these aims, the session was designed to stimulate fresh thinking on how colleges and universities could most effectively provide educational opportunities to disadvantaged and marginalized people.
During the session, Dr. Flores spoke to Salzburg Global about how affirmative action was disappearing in U.S. states and the detrimental impact this was having. Meanwhile, Dr. Muñoz talked to Salzburg Global about the many challenges undocumented students faced in higher education, including the constant fear they or their family could be deported.
This program concluded with session partners Salzburg Global, Educational Testing Service (ETS), and the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions committing to help participants take their ideas forward. To read a report of this session, please click here.
Third year cohort of YCIs share their passions in video series at the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators
Who are you and what are you passionate about? This was the question put to the Young Cultural Innovators (YCIs) of the third annual Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators.
The video responses to this question were produced as part of a communication workshop hosted by Natasha Cica, Director of Kapacity.org. In the dialogue-based workshop, YCIs worked in larger and break out groups to co-create the conversation, share perspectives and ultimately built capacity to “own their own voices.” The workshop challenged and supported the group to experiment with different communication styles and methods, with the ultimate goal of delivering a powerful presentation in their videos.
You can watch the videos of the YCIs who have chosen to make their video public in the list below, on both Facebook and YouTube.
Dong-Hee Cho, founder of the Well Done Project and creator of an inexpensive educational math book for children in Africa, on her own work, how education can bring us closer together and the Salzburg Global Seminar.
Natasha Cica, director of Kapacity.org, talks about her experience of facilitating a communications work shop at Salzburg Global Seminar, and what she's most enjoyed about meeting this group of young innovators.
Sebastian Chuffer, filmmaker, director and CEO of Cineastas del Futuro (Future Filmmakers), discusses the importance of storytelling and its role in our personal and civil lives.
Yuki Uchida, co-representative of Re:public Inc, on why it's important for citizens to be involved with the design of their own spaces.
Shelley Danner, co-founder and program director of Challenge Detroit, discusses what she's enjoyed about attending a Salzburg Global Seminar session.
Netta Avineri, assistant professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and co-founder of the MIIS Intercultural Digital Storytelling Project, discusses her interests in storytelling, creative hubs, and moving forwards from the session.
Anouza Phothisane, co-founder of Loabangfai, the first Laos-based break dancing crew, discusses what he enjoyed about attending the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators and how he presents his work and country to many other creators.
Meryam Bouadjemi, filmmaker and storyteller, describes how her experience at Salzburg global Forum for Young Cultural innovators has helped her in an important time of her life.
Taulant Dibra, architect and founder of TD architecture Studio, on why he became an architect and his projects that he considers successful.
Joo Im Moon, senior researcher at the World Culture Open Arts & Culture Lab, shares her dream through quotes that inspire her.
Steven McMahon, choreographic and associate artistic director with Ballet Memphis, discusses how his experience at The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators has affected his personal growth.
Cadeatra Harvey, or C. Harvey, owner of Generation of Dreamers and Baltimore's Gifted, on empowering the youth in Baltimore through their own art and creativity.
Samuel Oliver, manager of executive affairs and capital projects for Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, on making his voice heard and his message understood.
Edwin Kemp Attrill, founder and artistic director of ActNow Theatre, discusses how artists, creatives and citizens are becoming a force for global change, and how cultural innovation is an integral part of the shift from hierarchies into networks.
Maria José Greloni, regional director of communication and online campaigns at Wingu, explains how her time at Salzburg Global Seminar has influenced her ideas for future projects, and made her realize the value of humor in creativity.
Chryssa Vlachopoulou, communication, press officer and events manager for BIOS, on her experience attending a Salzburg Global Seminar session and what she'll take away from it.
Rachel Knox, program associate for Innovate Memphis, discusses how Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural innovators has helped her realise she's not alone in her struggles and how she's enjoyed meeting such a diverse goroup of people through the program.
Carla Schleicher, artistic programs and project coordinator for West Broadway Business and Area Coalition, reads a message addressed to her from one of the people she has helped through her work.
Melvin Henley, creative industries strategist, implementer and advocate, discusses his own work in Detroit, and how things are looking up for the city.
Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran, writer and curator of Post Vidai, on her own work and how art can be used to build bridges between fractured parts of society.
Despina Gerasimidou, creator of Future Libraries, on how the traditional idea of libraries is fading out and being replaced by modern and exciting new centers of experience and learning.
Annelies Senfter, visual artist and photographer, on developing her projects in an abstract way and trusting in herself.
Alphonse Smith, talks about his own path to where he is now, and how he is working in New Orleans to build on the rich culture that already exists there, and making it more accessible to all residents.
Yuki Oka, explains his motivations for doing the work he does, and how this has driven him to try to help others.
Joana Stefanova, cultural manager and part of the One Foundation for Culture and Arts, on love.
Maia Asshaq, author, publisher and co-founder of the Detroit Art Book fair and DittoDitto Books, on creating an online companion piece to her already existing work.
Aaron Davis, Ph.D candidate and expert on cities and their changing role in the 21st centuries, discusses involving citizens in design processes and why this is important in the first place.
Amanda Lovelee, visual artist and city artist for City of St Paul, on how important art can be for cities.
Kreshnik Merxhani, freelance architect known for his writings and artistic restoration projects, on why he has always wanted to be an artist and the work he does to restore more than just physical objects, but memories, relations and knowledge
Brian Gerardo, entrepreneur, dancer and co-founder of the Baltimore Dance Crews Project, discusses how his personal experiences have influenced him to set up his own after-school dance activities.
Nicolas Aziz, project coordinator for Converge, on the importance of new cultural experiences, bringing them to youth for their benefit and helping them to exceed what is expected of them.
Imani Jacqueline Brown, co-founder of Blights Out and director of programs at Antenna, discusses the crisis of capitalism we're experiencing right now, and especially its effects on arts and culture.
Lomorpich Rithy, independent filmmaker and founder of Plerng Kob (meaning campfire), on coming together to share stories, hear other peoples' stories and exercize the right to have your voice heard.
Mark Salvatus, contemporary artist exhibited in multiple exhibitions, on defining his life and creating meaning through art.
Victor Yankov, festival director of the Open Arts Foundation, on the role of culture in cities and societies.
Lauren Kennedy, executive director of the Urban Art Commission, on how her early exposure to art was influenced by her interactions with her father, and how her understanding of public art continues to grow and evolve.
Miku Kano, member of ISHINOMAKI 2.0, discusses her work in the post-tsunami town of Ishinomaki, and how they're creating the "most interesting town in the world" by fostering creativity.
Nafsika Papadopoulou, External Collaborator and Project Coordinator for Neon Organization, on the transitional stage Athens is going through, and how urban art and creativity may aid in this transition.
Wandisile Nqekotho, founder of 18 Gangster Museum, on how he's helping young people to stay away from gangsterism in South Africa.
Rebecca 'Bucky' Willis, project manager for Detroit Collaborative Design Center, discusses the concept of Design Superheroes and why they're important.
Sacramento Knoxx, multi-discipline performance artist, on the city that he's from.
Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, producer and creative director of Pineapple Lab, on empowering creators and artists by providing them with a platform to share their experiences and stories.
Chheangly Yeng, co-founder of the Magic Library and Slap Paka Khmer (Khmer Collaborative Writers), discusses Cambodia's troubled past and how his work in telling stories to children can benefit those children and their futures.
Yu Nakamura, who runs 40creations, a group which preserves the recipes of octogenarians, on why she likes wrinkles, meeting a grandma and finding the right way to solve problems or change your situation.
Seda Röder, "the piano hacker," on the value of creativity, the 21st century as the century of creative thinking, and concentrating on the core of what makes us humans - creativity.
Adam Wiltgen, arts administrator, presenter and technical communicator, on using creativity to overcome community challenges.
Cameron Shaw, writer, editor and executive director of Pelican Bomb, discusses her work in empowering artists and providing a platform through which creators can critically examine issues in everyday life.
Siviwe Mbinda, founder of the Happy Feet Youth Project, on using dance to attract children to his project, and then positively influencing them through education.
Shawn Burnett, co-founder and executive director of Walks of Art, has a message for anyone who doesn't wake up with hope in their hearts.
Mirela Kocollari, director of Cultural Heritage and Tourism for the Municipality of Tirana, on being cautious of our limits, knowledge, and abilities in order to bring out the best in ourselves.
Michele Anderson, rural program director for Springboard for the Arts, on the importance of rural communities and making sure they are a part of the conversation in the future of our societies and creative thinking.
Bora Baboci, architect and visual artist, presents an image introduced to her during her time at Salzburg Global Seminar.
Steven Fox, writer, poet and actor from Memphis, Tennessee, discusses being accepted as a creative.
The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators III is part of a ten-year multi-year series, which is generously supported by: Albanian-American Development Foundation; America For Bulgaria Foundation; American Express; Arts South Australia; Asia-Europe Foundation; Cambodian Living Arts; Edward T. Cone Foundation; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Korea Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; Red Bull Amaphiko; The Kresge Foundation; Japan Foundation; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; Adena and David Testa; and the Yeltsin Center.
More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/569
More information on the series can be found here: yci.salzburgglobal.org
Argentinian dancer and educator explains how the arts can enrich traditional education
The arts have a powerful role to play in enriching education, explained Argentinian dancer-cum-educator Inés Sanguinetti when attending the recent Salzburg Global Seminar program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal. Sanguinetti made the switch from dancer to educator through Crear Vale la Pena (“Creating is Worth It”), an association that aims to put arts at the core of the learning process.
Sanguinetti believes students today are all too often educated in the opposite of bonding, making them isolated and constrained by too many prejudices and too little empathy – and the arts can help change this. Through Art, Wellbeing and Creativity, one of the projects developed by Crear Vale la Pena, Sanguinetti and her team are trying to change this situation.
“We try to develop a kind of new laboratory of teaching and learning between schools and communities,” she explains.
Through the project, “social actors” and “creative agents” – typically community artists coming from a variety of different backgrounds including visual arts, dance, music, and even technology – are brought into schools where they help teachers design their classes. The methodology is based on involving arts in the curriculum and encouraging dialogue between artists, teachers, and the community.
Sanguinetti compares this project with what used to occur in Ancient Greece, when going to the gymnasium was routine for students looking to train their body and mind. At that time, exercising was not viewed that far away from other subjects, namely philosophy and poetry.
“Now we are taught that everything must be clearly differentiated,” she laments. “I do enjoy mixing different styles even in my choreography, ranging from martial arts to rugby or tango. I trust the power of moving together minds and bodies to explain any kind of topic and this can be very helpful to learn about new subjects,” she explains.
Sanguinetti is not a supporter of the education system still being followed in some areas. In her view, traditional teaching methods are not capable of satisfying the needs of the students anymore.
“I see traditional schools as a dying institution. We should redesign past models of learning and teach the students the skills they actually need to survive to the 21st Century.”
Research conducted by the University of San Andrés based in Buenos Aires together with the University of Aberdeen in Scotland has reinforced Sanguinetti’s program. The increase in the students’ motivation, the improvement in the coexistence inside the classroom, and the positive attitude of the community towards the arts as a suitable form of learning and not only as an entertainment were all highlighted as positive outcomes from her programs.
Sanguinetti is now exchanging experiences and collaborating with other associations. These are based in different countries, namely Colombia and Chile. Soon she will start cooperating with organizations outside of Latin America, such as in Germany, where similar programs are being carried out. In her home country of Argentina, Crear Vale la Pena will start receiving support from the government. Thanks to this, the number of schools and associations implementing the program will grow from 20 to more than 150.
Through her experience in Salzburg, Sanguinetti had the opportunity to learn about similar projects conducted in Morocco and Cambodia, presented by Salzburg Global Fellows Karima Kadaoui, co-founder of Tamkeen (“Empowerment”) Community Foundation for Human Development, and Bun Rith Suon, manager of the culture and arts education project at Cambodian Living Arts, respectively. Sanguinetti expects to be able to start working with them too in the near future.
“We are already planning our next meeting to keep working on what arts can do for resilience. We are looking forward to keep exchanging ideas and collaborating between us.”
Fellows encouraged to sign up to watch festival which aims to drive action on sustainable development goals
Salzburg Global is encouraging Fellows to sign up and take part in the inaugural Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development.
The three-day event, which began on Wednesday (March 1), is taking place at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany.
Leading thinkers, policy-makers, and business leaders are gathering at the event, which is being organized by the UN SDG Action Campaign and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
The festival is highlighting the latest innovations, tools, and approaches to SDG implementation while increasing awareness and understanding on how to drive action for sustainable development.
Salzburg Global is one of several organizing partners for the event. Others include the City of Bonn, Cepei, Data-Pop Alliance, Engagement Global, Plan International, the UNDP, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Resources Institute (WRI).
The event has also received backing from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The UN SDG Action Campaign is an Initiative of the Secretary-General, which celebrates people who are transforming lives and tackling the most complex, intractable development problems.
This campaign was launched at the festival on Wednesday and will aim to provide real-time cutting-edge advocacy support, big data expertise, and analytics to governments and multi-stakeholder partners to ensure the Sustainable Development Goals agenda is carried out.
The 193 Member States of the UN committed to achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
People due to speak at the festival included Global Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign Mitchell Toomey and Ingrid Gabriela-Hoven, the Director General of Global Issues, Sector Policies and Programmes for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Other speakers lined up were Alaa Murabit, leading international advocate for inclusive peace processes and UN SDG Advocate, Sarah Poole, Deputy Assistant Administrator, UNDP, Meng Zhaoli, Chief Economist at Tencent, one of the world’s biggest internet companies, David Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations and Kumi Naidoo, Launch Director, Africans Rising For Justice, Peace and Dignity.
Mitchell Toomey, Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, said, “We are here to connect the private sector, governments, and civil society to provide them with the latest innovations and approaches to realize the SDGs. We have to make sure they can bring real solutions to their regions and inspire billions of people everywhere to work together to take action for sustainable development.”
Alex Thier, Executive Director of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), said, “The inaugural Festival will chart new thinking on the world’s biggest development challenges and mobilize key partnerships and resources to drive action now and in the future.”
Ingolf Dietrich, Commissioner for Agenda 2030, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), said, “I am pleased to open the first Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development in Bonn. This Festival, supported by the German government, has brought together people from all over the world to advance the 2030 Agenda.
“The UN SDG Action Campaign, and its Global Campaign Center in Bonn is a testament to the universal nature of the SDGs that will be a core theme at this year’s Festival and those to come. The aim of the 2030 Agenda is to bring about fundamental lifestyle changes in all spheres of society, to help to protect and sustain life and the climate on our planet.”
This year's Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development is the first in the series of annual forums.
People can watch plenary sessions taking place at the festival via live-stream. To sign up, use this online form.
People can also keep up to date with the festival on social media. The Global Festival of Ideas has a Facebook and Twitter presence. The hashtag to use during the festival is #GFI4SD.
Latest session report of the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association now available
A report of the fourteenth symposium held by the Salzburg Seminar America Studies Association is now available to read, download, and share.
Images of America: Reality and Stereotypes took place at Salzburg Global Seminar between September 23 and September 27, 2016.
The session reviewed the ambivalent, conflicting and contradicting images of America worldwide.
This program included 58 participants from 25 countries. Among those invited were academics, post-doctoral students, journalists, and diplomats. The program was supported by eleven US embassies and consulates, as well as the Austrian Association for American Studies, the Emory Elliott Scholarship Fund and the United States Airforce Academy.
During the session, participants were treated to thematic presentations by distinguished speakers and panel discussions. Participants also split up into small theme-based focus groups, reviewing various topics related to the session's theme.
Participants described and discussed the nature and sources of conflicting images, while remembering the images of America are what they are seen to be in the eyes of the viewer, regardless of the actual reality.
America is portrayed through many different mediums, perhaps more so than ever before. The purpose of this session was to discuss the origins and implications of the various images of America. The major outcome was to enable critical thinking about how images and stereotypes contribute to or complicate relations with others.
Salzburg Global Seminar was founded in 1947 as the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies. The study of America has played a significant role in the organization's history. Minds from all sectors and backgrounds met in Salzburg over several decades to discuss American politics, foreign policy, economics, and much more.
From 1994 to 2003, the Center for Academic Studies focused sessions on research for new curriculum. A decade later, the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA) was established to continue this work. Images of America: Reality and Stereotypes was the fourteenth program since the Association began operating in 2014.
Download the SSASA Images of America: Reality and Stereotypes report (PDF)
The Salzburg Global session, Images of America: Reality and Stereotypes is part of the multi-year series Salzburg Global Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA). More information on previous sessions can be found here.
Native American Fellow speaks to Austrian radio station about Standing Rock movement and how art can encourage resilience
Salzburg Global Fellow Eileen Briggs has revealed how art and creativity is being used to express opposition to the controversial Dakota oil pipeline.
Briggs, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, spoke to Bethany Bell for FM4 while attending Salzburg Global's session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for the construction of the Dakota oil pipeline to be completed.
Protestors from the Standing Rock movement believe the construction of the pipeline will affect the quality of drinking water.
Briggs tells FM4 that she's "fiercely" part of the protection of her water and, "We are definitely in a reactionary mode."
Prayer and songs have been used to express opposition. While being interviewed, Briggs performs a song that talks about walking on Mother Earth in a gentle way.
You can listen to the full interview below.
Fellows explore ways to move forward and use arts and culture sector to enhance individual and societal resilience
There is an untapped potential for the arts and cultural sector to enhance resilience of individuals, communities and societies. Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from difficulties and unexpected challenges. While other industries have previously been the first port of call, the arts and the cultural sector continues to have an influence. It can inspire, catalyze, and sustain projects which bring about positive change.
During a five-day session, participants at Salzburg Global’s session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal discussed art and resilience and how it links across several thematic areas. These areas included: refugees, migration and integration; climate change; indigenous communities; post-conflict settings; urban upheaval and social injustice; and cultural heritage. Listed below are a few of the participants’ summarized thoughts from the final day’s wrap-up session.
Art can help build the resilience that...
...Is required in post-conflict settings
There can be at least three groups within a conflict: the victims, perpetrators, and the people left in between. Each group - indeed each person - will have a different experience. When looking at a post-conflict setting, it is advisable to analyze the situation in a more diverse way and identify the needs of everyone. With this in mind, “renewal” is a term which deserves as much attention as resilience. For renewal to occur, it is important to create spaces where people can meet. Spaces have to be open where people can “breathe again.” People on opposing sides cannot live together unless there is recognition of what has occurred. Survivors of massacres might not even know what has happened. The topic, however traumatic, has to be explored; these challenging stories can be told through the arts - enabling individuals and communities to heal.
...Surrounds refugees, migration, and integration
Freedom of creative expression is a fundamental right for all displaced people. One way to address the needs of refugees, forced migrants, and displaced people through arts and culture is to create and design an arts-based policy framework. This structure can enhance opportunities and respect for migrants and refugees. The fundamental principles to address are artistic aesthetics and praxis, narratives of integration and impact, and deepening public discourse on identity and perceptions of display. The arts can create opportunities for displaced artists to curate and be curated across regional and international platforms, reaching new diverse audiences. Displaced artists aren’t merely subjects, but are both creators and collaborators. Fellows proposed a research and mapping exercise which may be achieved in collaboration with a global network of arts councils, a dedicated Salzburg Global Seminar session, and pilot projects emanating from the work.
...Comes from reinventing and reclaiming cultural heritage
It’s the icon we often think of when cultural heritage comes to mind. Heritage proves existence, identity, indigenousness and our connection to history. It can prove you have the right to belong to the world. Preservation is a Western construct, as are museums. Art can help us to re-establish ourselves. The more we don’t know of our past, the more others can tell us who we are in the present - rightly and wrongly. Action should be taken to protect cultural artefacts before it is too late. Cultural heritage remains alive through art. Heritage is a layering of times, periods, events and our responses to them. Resilience is choosing how to live. It can be wearing a mask, adopting a persona, and acting “strong enough.” Something can become heritage when an old dance format is revived with new costumes and new themes. Out of it comes a strengthened old form and becomes an example of resilience.
...Is needed to face climate change
One of the biggest challenges we face on this planet is climate change, tackling its effects and preventing further damage from taking place. Culture-based solutions need to be scaled up and accelerated to respond to areas of concern. This action needs to take place at all levels of society. Salzburg Global Fellows suggested bringing greater visibility to the arts and cultural sector, while also creating a network of champions at a local level. The work of C40 Cities is a good example of an organization that is bringing cities to the forefront of positive change. Training programs could be constructed to relay and repeat the message. Later this year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will host a Climate Change Conference in Bonn. The UNFCCC will promote art and culture related to climate change ahead of the conference. Efforts should be made to alter the minds of people in management in cities. Good work by local residents has to be made more visible.
...Tackles urban upheaval
In times of urban upheaval, alienation can come from dislocation, natural disasters, climate change, etc. Alienation is a form of injury. Artists can help by making the invisible visible. Artists can create beauty in environments previously destroyed. Spaces for creative collaboration across sectors should be promoted, creating a language for global wealth with an art lens. Social cultural agents and interactive areas can be strengthened to become change facilitators. Artistic tools should be identified to build social architecture that will be the foundation of urban infrastructure. Salzburg Global Fellows recommended that there should be a global platform for best practices and organizations that work on social cultural change transformation through the arts. We should promote public spaces that set the framework for action.
...Shown by indigenous communities
During the focus group discussions at The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal, the discussion on climate change generated thoughts on indigenous people’s own narratives and traumas. The focus group reviewed how indigenous people fitted in these stories. “There is a better way to be human for all of us.” Change is coming, so how can we work together? Language can be used to find meaning. Indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage is found in community and self-determination. The cost of speed is panic and exclusion, and exclusion concerns the people affected first. Individuals who have been resilient through trauma can act as role models. Indigenous communities have stories which define values and help prepare them for the future - and these should be shared more widely.
Moving forward
Conversations during the session repeatedly came back to what is personal. There is a need for broad-based coalitions to tackle some of the issues. Fellows will now consider what they will do when they go back to work, what knowledge they will take from the five-day program and how art can be at the center of what they do. It’s important to venture out and speak to different groups, they were reminded. It’s also significant to connect with other sectors and form cross-sector partnerships. For these partnerships to exist, participants need to look at how the arts can speak to donors and organizations unassociated with the arts. Can this cohort of 60 Fellows help people reconnect with their creativity? Good things take time. It is important to persist even if progress isn't achieved in a week. Success will be measured by how the Fellows continue to work together and secure their future.
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal is part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session is being supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here. You can read all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSculture.
Cambodian-American artist explains how her use of movement, humor and brightly-colored structures in public spaces can open wider conversations
Anida Yoeu Ali likes to refer to herself as a “global agitator” It is the best way for her to define the social provocation her art is constantly seeking. The poem she shared with the audience at the opening of the recent Salzburg Global Seminar session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal, set the tone for the following five days, creating a special and inspiring atmosphere:
I will return to a country I have never known
That burns a hole inside my heart the size of home
The piece, titled Visiting Loss, describes how she felt before returning to Cambodia, her country of origin, after 25 years living in the United States. Her path to self-discovery and reflections about her own identity play a fundamental role in her work.
Ali combines her work as an Art and Global Studies teacher at the University of Washington Bothell with the development of her own projects through Studio Revolt, a media-lab she manages with the Japanese filmmaker Masahiro Sugano. Together they develop “unconventional narratives” that range from short videos and films to live performances. These projects largely differ to what audiences are used to finding in traditional media, both in terms of content and form. Although she points out that they are not always fully understood by the audience, Ali keeps believing in that “sort of chemistry” that emerges when connecting her creative performances with Masahiro’s special visual aesthetics.
The Buddhist Bug, one of her most recognized projects, is one such example. It consists of a bright, huge, saffron-colored creature that Ali has taken to a number of open spaces. The main goal of this project is to raise awareness about identity and displacement issues. Ali’s body is a fundamental part of the performance as it makes the bug be alive and able to move so it can get closer to people.
“The work I do would not mean anything without the use of my body,” she explains. “I truly think that arts, and specifically performance, can engage the audience through the energy that our body emits. Of course I want people to ask themselves questions while observing my work, but I also want them be aware of those different emotions that are surfacing. You can have very powerful conversations without speaking a single word.”
Another important feature that characterizes the Buddhist Bug is the use of humor to talk about challenging and compelling topics. “It leads the audience to reflect on different subject such as the challenges of religious hybridity, or what the sense of belonging and tolerance means. However, people always have to look twice to understand what is really happening. Then they smile, or laugh because in the end they are just looking at a bug,” Ali states.
Her work is usually placed in public spaces; location a key part of her performances. Ali’s goal is to take contemporary arts out of galleries, the “boxes” where artistic representations are frequently trapped. Her hope is to open conversations with bigger populations. The “surprise element” is another of her priorities when building a project. The original – and not discreet – clothes she wears together with her unexpected actions enable her to catch audience’s attention when they less expect it. The artist likes playing with the surprise factor as a form of engagement.
Even though she recognizes that she could not imagine herself doing anything else rather than arts and teaching, she is very clear when talking about the difficulties that being an artist involves. “You must have a lot of faith and courage to do what you do. As artists we often lack resources and proper support. Also, we are constantly judged, especially in my case as my work is always placed in the street. I get a lot of criticism and judgement by the press and through social media. I guess you need a very thick skin to do this” she declares.
Despite the many difficulties her work involves, she still has many ideas to keep the audience surprised. For instance, she is planning to focus her next project in the United States on the so called “Trumplands,” those areas where the current president was voted for the most. “I am very interested in opening up discussion there. These are mostly rural areas where people do not see difference so they can only imagine what difference means and that often relies just on stereotypes and misinformation,” Ali explains.
When asked about the outcomes she was expecting to achieve through her participation it the session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal, she didn’t hesitate for a second. “I believe we have to create and reinforce these international connections as we have already started to do. We need to break up our bubbles and try to put ourselves on the radar. As artists we should work together for our communities and the world.”
To conclude, Ali insists on “the need to produce new and innovative projects, instead of keep trying to make old models work – which did not help in the past.”
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal is part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session is being supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSculture.
Indian graphic artist and designer on how comics can tell difficult, complex and compelling stories
Comics have traditionally been used to tell fictional stories, but the medium can also be an interesting format to portray reality. In fact, in recent years well-established media outlets have increasingly used this storytelling method, publishing cartoons to inform about current affairs. Indian graphic artist and designer Orijit Sen, a participant of the Salzburg Global Seminar session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal, shares his thoughts on the medium and how he has used illustrations to tell difficult and compelling stories.
AA: You say that Art Spiegelmann’s graphic novel Maus had a strong influence on you. In this work the artist talks about his own challenges of being in a Jewish family during the holocaust. Do you also find motivation from your own experiences to create your drawings?
OS: I am a visual artist and my main goal is to tell stories through my drawings. It is the reason why I prefer to define myself as a “storyteller”. I grew up in India during the 70s – in that time TV was not as common as it is nowadays. I have been drawing since I was a child as comics were the easiest way we had to create our own visual culture. Every time I build a story I fully immerse myself in it first. My work is all about my personal experience so I would never make a piece of a place where I have never been or someone I have never met.
I came across Art Spiegelmann’s Maus while I was at college studying graphic design and as soon as I found this piece I realized that serious comics were the thing I wanted to do for my whole life.
AA: Your piece, River of Stories, considered to be India’s first graphic novel, talks about environmental, social and political issues surrounding the construction of the controversial dam on the Narmada River. Why do you think comics are suitable medium to raise public awareness?
OS: Comics as a medium of storytelling allow the audience to identify with the characters – it lets them enter their world. In my illustrations, I try to be very detailed. I like painting people’s faces, their eyes and gestures, trying to be as accurate as possible.
When I finished university, I got involved in an environmental group. We travelled together to Jhabua area, in central India. We met a lot of people there fighting against the dam project. However, the story of all these protests did not make it to the city. People would only see one side of the story: how great it was to have electricity and other facilities thanks to the dam construction. They did not reflect on how much did that the electricity cost and how many people had been displaced to pay for it.
Stories like this one are usually told by figures and numbers so it is hard for individuals to relate to them. You can of course understand what it means when 1,000 people have lost their homes if you read about it, but it is not the same as when you can see it. Comics help us to engage with a topic and become immersed in it.
You are one of the founders of the Pao Collective, which seeks to supports comics as a medium in India. How would you describe the state of comics industry in the country?
The status of comics has evolved a lot since I first published River of Stories in 1994. Mainstream publishers are relying on Indian cartoonists more and more. But even today, comic artists in India cannot make of it a full-time job and still must dedicate their time to something else for their living. We have many good, young, talented artists with amazing ideas but we unfortunately are still lacking funding.
From 2009 to 2011 you collaborated in the creation of A Place in Punjab, one of the world’s largest hand-painted mural installed at Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum. What message did you want to convey with it?
The government asked me to make a mural for the museum to represent the cultural heritage and landscape of Punjab area. Again, my main goal was to tell the real stories of the people living there and properly describe their hopes and tragedies. I realized how many different perspectives Punjab’s inhabitants have about the same place.
People used to talk a lot about how different the area was before the green business arrived. For instance, they repeatedly mentioned the ponds, where they used to spend lot of their time swimming with the buffalos and mingling with other people. However, when I was there I found all these ponds to be very dirty and only full of trash. I decided to create the Landscape of Memories where I portrayed both perspectives, past and present, so it was easy for visitors to compare them. The mural acts as a “storytelling mirror”.
In your presentation at the Salzburg Global Seminar session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal, you have showed some pieces of your project Mapping Mapusa Market. What inspired you to start it?
In the past I used to live in Goa and go to Mapusa market with my family quite frequently. It was always fascinating as it was full of amazing products and people. Later, when I was invited as a visiting professor at Goa University, I thought it would be a good idea to involve students from very different fields such as arts or history to work together. What we are doing at the moment is tracking and mapping different aspects of the market. This work is resulting in a visual map where people, products, and techniques are depicted.
What are you expecting from this session?
This is a very special opportunity. Here we are, 50 people from all over the world sharing so many different perspectives. It is a unique situation. More than specific expectations I am looking forward to be “surprised”. And so far, I think this is what will happen.
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal is part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session is being supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSculture.
Fellows discuss how art and cultural sector can reinforce resilience of indigenous communities
When we talk about refugees and migrants, we think of people who have been compelled to leave their homelands. In the case of indigenous communities, we see people trying to keep close and connected to their land and roots - yet they are often also marginalized. In the world today, there are at least 370 million people who are indigenous. Despite colonization, marginalization and discrimination, indigenous peoples across the planet have continued to show resilience in the face of adversity, maintaining and reaffirming their cultures, languages, and social institutions.
Indigenous communities have had to withstand shocks in the face of difficult conditions. Even today, battles continue. In North America, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe is fighting against the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline. In February, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) was given formal permission to continue laying the pipeline under a North Dakota reservoir. The project previously stalled following protests from Native American communities. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe says the pipeline endangers its drinking water. A legal challenge has again been filed to stall the project’s completion. In January, Indigenous Australians marked "Invasion Day" - more commonly known as "Australia Day" - marking the British colonization of the country.
The creative sector provides a source of unconventional thinking and innovation, opening up opportunities to capture civic imagination for greater cohesion and resilience. As part of a panel discussion at The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal, Salzburg Global Fellows considered the ways in which artists, cultural workers, and creatives could inspire and strengthen the capacities of indigenous communities. Listed below are a few of their summarized thoughts.
Art can provide education and stimulate social development
Charities such as Amantani work to improve the lives of children, providing greater access to education in rural areas. Since 2008, it has helped marginalized Quechua families in Peru. It has attempted to bridge the gap between home and school for people living in Ccorca. Its Educational Boarding Houses enable the most disadvantaged children in Ccorca to have a place to stay near school, allowing time for extra support and community outreach projects.
Amantani works in a small district comprised of eight communities. The young people are growing up in a different world to what their parents experienced. Amantani helps these young people to take on the narrative of their own communities, change it, and retell their stories from a positive point of view through their video project "Meet My World". Young people went into their communities and looked for things they wanted to teach others. Short films were made by young people about the production of food and how to have fun without technology. One film showed a child teaching his audience how to catch a fish with their bare hands. Films like this are now shown all over the world. This has led to a large emotional response, including many thank you cards. Through this method of art, children gain skills to negotiate Peru’s modern society, while reinforcing indigenous autonomy.
Art allows people to remember who they are and where they come from
The root of resilience is relationships - respecting, renewing and remember our relationships to all things. Organizations like First Peoples Fund in the US support the “collective spirit” of First Peoples artists and culture bearers. It provides tools, resources and a voice to Indigenous artists. The organization was founded in 1995. It describes “collective spirit” as the feeling which encourages people to stand up and make a difference and to ensure ancestral knowledge is passed on. It believes in the power of art and culture to bring about positive change in Native communities. It works alongside community-based partners across Indian Country to strengthen their capacity. Since its establishment, First Peoples Fund has supported thousands of artists. It has awarded $1.5 million in direct grants to individual artists and $1 million to community-based organizations. The story of resilience can be rooted in songs, stories, and the ways in which people have kept to their way of life.
The cultural sector has a responsibility to accurately tell histories
Despite the mainstreaming of Indigenous art, such as dot paintings, which decorate walls of contemporary offices across Australia, there still lacks a widespread understanding for the stories and the complexity of culture behind such artworks. Many Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians consider the nation to be in the midst of a history and culture war, determining what version of the country's history is told and valued. Controversies include the opening of the National Museum of Australia in 2001, which led to accusations that the exhibitions had politicized the country's history.
First Nations people have been able to regain their identity as as the original inhabitants of Australia, following the Racial Discrimination Act (1975), but social marginalization persists. There is a view that the First Nations people in Australia “should know their place,” representing a significant barrier to achieving meaningful recognition within its constitution.
The arts and cultural sector has a significant role to play to ensure that indigenous peoples' histories and cultures are represented accurately and respectfully. As one Fellow remarked, “I strongly believe in the power of museums and the creative sector. More broadly, I believe they have a responsibility in building social capital. I believe they have a civic role and can be agents for social and political change if carried out in a non-polemical way.”
Art can give a voice to those who need it
Art can move us, but not always to action. Some of us can feel changed and inspired to continue creating art as if it does matter. It can give us new pictures of the world, influencing patterns of behavior. Art is not essential to our survival, but it is integral to our humanity. Art can be a way for the marginalized, refused and repressed to return. In the making and adoration of art, there is a space of difference - even resistance - where people can find refuge from ideas that otherwise rule them.
Cultural decolonization covers two areas. It is about unsettling settlers while also helping them to adapt as non-colonial persons with Indigenous spaces. It is also about First Nations, Inuit and Métis people being themselves by struggling to make new ways of being Indigenous within the complex of the contemporary negotiations of Aboriginal/settler/international Indigenous identities. Beautiful works of art display world views but sometimes fail to explain them. To design effective decolonizing tools from art, “artists should look beyond visual allure alone.”
Aboriginal culture before contact was neither de-colonial or activist. Art as a form of de-colonial activism is the result of contact. It emerges from cultures in collision. De-colonial pieces of art are neither wholly Indigenous nor western. Native contemporary artists create work in the space of cultural overlap.
As a society, we should consider centering the Aboriginal and Indigenous, “not out of guilt, deference, or an expression of multicultural inclusion… but because we recognize it as a better way of knowing and being in these territories…”
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal is part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session is being supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSculture.
Experts explore ways to open up climate change conversation
People, places, and communities are increasingly forced to come to terms with the consequences of climate change. No longer is it an issue which we can ignore. Climate change is generating physical, virtual, and cultural challenges now, the likes of which the world has not had to deal with before. We are increasingly reminded that we all share this one planet.
The Earth's climate has been changing throughout history and much humankind and nature has proven capacity for resilience in facing the shocks it has experienced so far. In the past 650,000 years, there have been seven cycles of glacial retreat and advance. The beginning of the modern climate era and human civilization was about 7,000 years ago. But in our brief time on this planet, humans have had a marked impact. The current warming trend is continuing at an unprecedented rate, and 97 percent of climate scientists agree trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities.
Scientific, technological, socio-political, and economic sectors have sought to address climate change in recent years. In December 2015, 195 countries agreed to the first-ever universal, legally binding climate deal at the Paris climate conference (COP21). That in itself is a tremendous achievement, but there is plenty left to do. The arts and cultural sector also took a prominent place during the Paris negotiations, with the ArtCOP21 initiative hosting 550 events and engaging 250 artists from 54 countries. The arts and cultural sector should now continue to work alongside the technological, scientific, physical and socio-political areas to ensure the post-Paris agreement message is clear, coherent and well received.
Fellows at the Salzburg Global session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal recently met to discuss issues surrounding climate resilience and ways the arts could assist. The event has been highlighted by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here are a few of their summarized thoughts:
Climate change is more than just rising temperatures
When people think about climate change, their minds may initially steer toward rising temperatures, but that's not the whole picture. There are "many related tributaries." These areas can generate enough of a discussion by themselves, but by tackling climate change, we can at least find pathways to solutions for these complex challenges. People have to rise to these challenges at speed and scale. During this process, people, places, and communities may have to think about remaking who they are. There are at least seven trends which can feature around a cultural movement to do this. These trends include the arts, creative activists, cultural and business leadership, creative collaboration, transitional organizations, design and innovation, and policy accountability governance.
It's important to reflect on what progress there has been
Previously, the idea governments from around the world would come together and deal with climate change was an "impossible dream." Nevertheless, it happened. In 2015, as part of the Paris Agreement, governments agreed to a long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Governments also agreed to a further aim of limiting the increase to 1.5°C, reducing the risks and impacts of climate change. Politicians are beginning to understand the science and economics behind climate change. What will it cost the world if we don't act on climate change?
The Paris agreement was "extraordinary" for another reason. Not only did governments agree to take action, but they also gave themselves a time-frame, ending in the the second half of the century. The Agreement aims to restore the planet's balance to what it was before the Industrial Revolution. Governments were empowered and given confidence by some of their cities that have already taken action. We are in a different place to where we were 40 years ago.
Cities show it can be easy being green
More than half of the world's population live in cities. They are engines of growth and innovation. Their main drawback is they are also major carbon emitters and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. One only has to look at the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in New York's poorest areas in 2012. C40 Cities involves 90 of the world's most important cities tackling climate change. It helps to convene workshops and study tours between city members, allowing mayors and city staff to share challenges and solutions. Mayor of Paris and C40 Chair, Anne Hidalgo: "As mayors, we all face similar challenges and have to innovate to solve them."
C40 Cities is planning to ensure every C40 member commits to a development strategy for their city in line to meet the Paris Agreement. C40 Cities believes the difference between 1.5°C and 2°C is the difference between manageable and disaster. A holistic approach is needed, with cross-sector collaboration. Culture brings communities together, speaks in many tones and voices, stimulates and inspires and allows people to experience the world differently. "We need to do more than telling stories. We need a movement.... We need to create shocks."
Art is leading the way
Projects like reinventer.paris in France have enabled professionals from all fields to offer their thoughts and expertise on how to utilize 23 sites. This project was presented to Fellows at The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal. Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo backed the project. She said, "Paris has to reinvent itself every moment." The project called for innovative environmentally-friendly urban designs. Winners would be able to purchase or rent the terrains to carry out their plans. Deputy Mayor of Paris Jean-Louis Missika previously said Paris was facing "massive environmental challenges" which called for original solutions, such as integrating ecological materials and using innovative planting. One of the winning designs was the concept of transforming an abandoned train station into a wood-clad and plant-covered tower several floors high.
Communicating the right message using multiple platforms
There are different opportunities to get the message behind climate change out to the general public. It is important to recognize not everyone reads a newspaper, not everyone watches TV, and some people switch off from the news entirely. Time should be taken to consider what short, direct, and shareable messages can be used that encourage people to take positive action with regards to climate change. A number of suggestions were put forward by Fellows, which could be used on social media.
To have a greater impact, there is suggestion that a topic of this scale should be brought down to the local level for people to better understand its consequences. If climate change is to be discussed or promoted through the arts and cultural sector, the artists have to check the facts beforehand to retain the public's trust.
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal is part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session is being supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSculture.
Creative minds discuss art’s role in post-conflict settings and times of upheaval
According to the UN Refugee Agency, the world is experiencing the highest levels of displacement on record. Around the planet, 65.3 million people have been forced to leave their home. Of this number, 21.3 million people are refugees.
It is an ongoing complex challenge which requires cross-sector support and knowledge. Each day, nearly 34,000 people are reportedly forcibly displaced. Each sector can provide a skillset to meet this challenge, including the arts and cultural sector.
The role of the arts and cultural sector and resilience is being discussed by Salzburg Global Seminar at the session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal. Fellows at this session have a vast amount of experience in their fields. Here are a few of their thoughts:
Art can give people a safe platform to “kill” others and express anger
In times of upheaval and chaos, people should have the freedom to express their inner feelings and opinions on the challenges they face. The conflict in Syria, which has left a mark on people for “six horrifying years,” has let their desires and feelings rise to the surface, whether right or wrong. It is important those suffering in times like this have an artistic platform to express these feelings in a safe space and have scenarios acted out on stage, rather than in real life.
“All this violence is initiating vengeance and initiating more killings and revenge. I think the arts is a solution in this case because it gives a safe platform for the whole desires and feelings, no matter how extreme they are through the medium of fantasy. On stage, you can kill who you want, and in a film, you can do this, but you can’t do it in real life. I think if we provide art as an alternative platform for violence, we can release all of these sentiments that [otherwise] result in such an extreme cases of violence.”
Art can be used to respond to urban upheaval in cities
The world is becoming more urban by the minute. By 2030, six out of 10 people will be urban dwellers. Mexico City is a young, dynamic metropolis but it also has the oldest urban agglomeration on the continent. Organizations such as Laboratorio Para La Ciudad, made up of architects, designers, editors, urban planners and more, are looking for creative ways to connect governments and citizens. Laboratorio Para La Ciudad has attempted to map Mexico City’s transit system. Unofficial routes have sprung up over the years in response to demand. The Lab helped create Mapaton, a government-civil society collaborative initiative that provides a database of the formal and informal public transportation system. Riders can share GPS data with a database, mapping their routes as they ride. Users are incentivized as the more points they attain, the increased chance they have of winning a prize.
It’s an example of how civil society, private enterprise, and government can have a successful partnership. It's working in Mexico City - and could work elsewhere. Creating access to information can create more opportunities.
Art can play a part for those seeking justice
Art can teach those in times of war how to cope during and after the conflict is officially over. As part of the self-healing process, we have to ask ourselves where acceptance of past atrocities features. Does it come before forgiveness or can it only feature afterward? Acceptance does not necessarily lead to reconciliation, which can be a "dirty word" in some circles. In the hope of stopping atrocities happening again, art therapy can help people to accept and admit what happened, regret their actions, and ask for forgiveness - which may or may not be given. The difficulty lies in understanding that justice can differ from person to person. In some cases, one generation has had a process of reconciliation and yet the next generation felt that that experience been taken away from them. "Justice is not simply justice. It could be any number of things. Justice for one person is very different to justice for someone else."
Art can help later generations understand traumatic experiences
The devastation which occurs after war can be hugely disorienting. It can cut across generations affecting parents, children, and grandchildren. There’s a “massive disruption” to the fabric of inter-generational relationships. Art is a tool to reconnect with people’s pasts and tackle uncomfortable areas. Art and performance can begin to fill some of those gaps and play an integral part in explaining points of history otherwise incomprehensible to those not present. Inspiring examples can be taken from projects and work in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Uganda. If there are a lack of trained professionals to deal with a mental health crises, arts organizations can step in. In Uganda, for example, spaces have been created where people can talk and make art together, helping people feel human and have something to offer the world. As Pablo Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal is part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session is being supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSculture.
Global experts consider what do we mean by resilience, resistance and renewal - and what can the arts do to foster this?
Today's world is disrupted by manifold sources of shock, violence and conflict. The complexity and sheer speed of change are testing the limits of people, places and communities. Increasing social inequality, accelerating urbanization, unprecedented migration flows, rapidly evolving technologies and climate-related changes are generating physical, virtual, and cultural challenges that have no precedent in recent history. To add to the complexity, these trends are playing out against a backdrop of exceptionally low trust and widening polarization in societies worldwide.
In times of crisis, there is a tendency to look for means of resilience from the technological, scientific, and economic sectors. The role of arts and culture, however, has become a new source of inquiry, as is being discussed this February by Salzburg Global Seminar at the session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal.
As defined by Merriam-Webster, resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from stress. It's the notion of springing back into shape after being knocked down. In today's world of economic and political turmoil, being able to withstand the related shocks and stresses - for both individuals and societies-at-large - is more important than ever.
Resilience can show itself in many forms - and the arts can help build it. To explore this topic, Salzburg Global Seminar has convened an international group of sixty practitioners and thinkers to explore the dynamic relationship between the arts, culture, and resilience. Coming from an wide array of backgrounds - from artists, cultural leaders, designers, architects and creative entrepreneurs to policymakers, environmentalists, urban planners, educators, anthropologists, sociologists, media experts, philanthropists, and community leaders - the participants in Salzburg have a wealth of experience in using the arts to tackle issues such as refugees and migration, urban upheaval and social injustice, post-conflict trauma, climate change, and loss of cultural heritage and threats to indigenous communities.
We share a few of their opening thoughts:
Artists are caught in the middle of conflict
There are several ways to respond to conflict and times of upheaval, including non-violent means, and "the arts have occupied a huge space in this area." The arts give people a voice and face to resolve problems without having to resort to violence, be that as a means of reuniting communities or expressing dissent against a political leader. Artists are often working in areas which remain contested: "It's the artists who have the ability to propel themselves beyond the situation and imagine how it can be different."
Resilience can be stronger than resistance
When considering non-violent action in the face of conflict, we often talk about "resistance" - but perhaps we should also consider the power of "resilience." As one Salzburg participant who had lived in conflict zones in the Middle East remarked: “Performance and art-making are sacred spaces... For me, the thing that has kept me sane is the resilience of art.” Artists can take control and “activate” spaces, displaying art among the very people who have inspired them. “I feel artists are cultural innovators. It takes a lot of courage and fortitude, and those are all the things that make up this idea of resilience.”
But how can we ensure that resistance and resilience are pro-active instead of reactive? As one participant said, “If we’re always looking at resilience as bouncing back from something bad, we’re already starting from a negative point.”
A new, shared vocabulary is needed
A dictionary definition of "resilience" is all well and good, but what does societal and individual resilience mean to different people in different contexts? How can the arts continue to thrive - and foster resilience - in situations such as living under dictatorships? As well as "resistance" and "resilience," the term "renewal" has been adopted, especially in post-conflict settings, but still this means different things to different communities in different settings. As they launched their week-long discussions, the participants considered what steps could be taken to reconcile differing world views and create a shared vocabulary.
The time is now
Many participants in Salzburg agree now is the perfect time to have a discussion about the relationship between the arts and resilience. As one participant said: “The fact this [session] is taking place is an act of resilience.” Engaging with matters concerning courage, creativity, and renewal is important. Another participant added, “I don’t think this session could have been more timely. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to take time to reflect.” Resilience concerns the ability to recover in the face of adversity and the ability to secure a future, something which requires creativity and courage. Questions facing these art makers and advocates now include: Can we make resilience an asset for artists? Do artists want to use resilience as an asset? How can we make the relationship between art and resilience better understood?
The Salzburg Global program The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage, and Renewal is part of the multi-year Culture, Arts and Society series. The session is being supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. More information on the session can be found here. You can follow all the discussions on Twitter by following the hashtag #SGSculture.
Academic and writer Martha Bayles speaks to Salzburg Global about the perpetuation of myths through American television exports
The ubiquity of young Americans living independently in affluent urban areas seems to be a common thread among many popular American sitcoms from the nineties through to the present.
“As I discovered through talking with over 200 informed observers of pop-culture in many different countries, the urban singles sitcom, from Friends to Sex and the City to The Big Bang Theory, now offer the world a new version of the American dream,” said Martha Bayles.
Bayles, a writer as well as a professor in the Arts and Sciences Honors Program at Boston College in the US, spoke about the impact of American cultural exports, namely, television shows and movies, on other countries perceptions of Americans, during the session, Images of America: Reality and Stereotypes, held by the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA) at Schloss Leopoldskron in 2016.
Speaking at the session, Bayles noted: “The original American dream was about ordinary people working hard to give their children a better future. That dream is now global needless to say, but so is the new American dream portrayed in these urban singles sitcoms. In the new one, there are no ordinary people, very little hard work and certainly no families. There is a fantasy of young, unattached men and women living in affluent urban settings, with little or no contact with their families or communities of origin and enjoying personal freedom, including sexual freedom, that is unheard of in most societies.”
Bayles has long studied and written about American popular culture. Her most recent book, Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America’s Image Abroad, considers the spread of American culture spread to most corners of the globe and how what is viewed on the screen creates images of America that are often juxtaposed with many Americans’ realities.
In discussing American sitcoms, she references the highly popular nineties sitcom, Friends, saying, “According to its producers at Warner Brothers, this sitcom about young, single Americans living in New York has been telecast in 135 different countries, reaching an average of 14 million viewers per telecast.
“What I learned through my travels is that this [image] is rather alluring to many young Nigerians, Egyptians and Indians, but that allure also has a downside. I spoke with a young woman from a Bedouin village about her impending visit to America, and as she put it, ‘Americans don’t have families, in the media they are always alone.’”
Bayles remarked that people who had never been to America were likely to believe that the sitcoms and entertainment they watched from the US were largely reflective of America as a whole: “Some of the people I spoke to were big fans of US popular culture and some were not, but even the biggest fans – if they had not been to the United States or did not know many Americans – tended to assume that the values portrayed in popular culture are shared by most Americans.”
While the divergence between reality and perceptions of America exists in regards to American cultural ideals of youth, freedom and connectedness to families, its largest, most potent gap appears in reference to images of Americans with deadly weapons as well as a perpetuation of violence.
“More poignant than this image of Americans without families, was this image of Americans with deadly weapons. To Europeans, there is probably no aspect of our popular culture more unsettling than this ever vivid blood and gore. Yet while America is more violent than most modern democracies, it is nowhere near as violent as the images portrayed on the screen,” Bayles explains.
Bayles highlighted a concern raised frequently during the session: how does popular culture and the multitude of images portrayed in American media perpetuate misconceptions as well as form opinions about America and American society?
“In my mind, screen violence, is only a symptom of a deeper problem, namely the entertainment industry’s present obsession with the most lurid aspects of American life – drugs, crime, family breakdown, and dysfunctional government.”
Bayles believes that the over-exaggeration of these parts of America, making them seem more prevalent than they in fact are, creates great friction in how other nations may view a modern America – often analyzing these facets in cultural exports as a depiction of US modernity – as they question what modernity means in their own societies.
Martha Bayles was the keynote speaker at the session Images of America: Reality and Stereotypes, held by the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA) at Schloss Leopoldskron in 2016.
Report from the third annual Young Cultural Innovators Forum now available
The report from the third annual Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators is now available online to read, download and share.
The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators(YCI Forum), is an annual series that supports emerging young artists and cultural actors who are using innovative practices to catalyze urban transformation in their communities.
Our biggest and most diverse cohort of sixty-four young cultural leaders from sixteen different cities, including six new hubs, gathered in the Schloss Leopoldskron in mid-October. Salzburg Global was fortunate enough to host future innovators this past Fall from Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Japan, the Mekong Delta Region, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Russia, and the United States.
This group of young leaders spent a week in each other’s company, exploring concepts on how to foster strong culture in order to transform communities. The YCI Fellows, passionate about the growth in their local hubs, connected with like-minded individuals to spread their innovative thinking with a global network. With a revitalized energy towards their work, the YCI Fellows returned to their communities with new perspectives and ideas on their role as leading innovators.
Download the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators II report (PDF) (low-res)
The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators III is part of a ten-year multi-year series, which is generously supported by: Albanian-American Development Foundation; America For Bulgaria Foundation; American Express; Arts South Australia; Asia-Europe Foundation; Cambodian Living Arts; Edward T. Cone Foundation; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Korea Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; Red Bull Amaphiko; The Kresge Foundation; Japan Foundation; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; Adena and David Testa; and the Yeltsin Center.
More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/569.
More information on the series can be found here: yci.salzburgglobal.org
You can follow all the discussions and interactions on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by following the hashtag #SGSyci.
Korean students and experts explain why SEL education is gaining greater importance
South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the OECD, and the second highest globally. The importance of image in Korea, media coverage of celebrity suicides, and poor mental health care are among the reasons cited as reasons why so many Koreans choose to take their own lives. These factors play a role, but many also cite the education system, and the competitive culture surrounding it, as another critical factor.
The theory holds weight; in Korea, the youth suicide rate is abnormally high. Suicide is the biggest killer of Korean teenagers, those in their twenties, and those in their thirties.
The Korean education system is highly competitive; there is a huge emphasis on performing well in school and going to good universities. Korean high school students average sixteen hours a day of school-related activities, in school, or in hagwons – after-school programs for additional education. Many researchers believe this complete devotion to education undoubtedly contributes to the high rate of suicide.
The influence education has on wellbeing has been an important issue at the Salzburg Global session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills. Participants have looked in-depth at how education systems can be improved by better developing students’ Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Salzburg Global spoke with Korean participants and staff about the effects that their education system has on students, and to look at how SEL might be able to improve this.
Bina Jeon, a student in Korea and Yoojin Hong, a graduate, can attest to the need to utilize and teach more SEL skills. Both now interns with Salzburg Global Seminar, they found high school very stressful and competitive, and neither was happy. “When I had problems or felt stressed, the school didn’t provide me support – I found my support at home or with friends,” says Jeon. Hong’s experience was worse – she found that the competitive system affected her friendships, leaving her isolated from her friends if she or they achieved a higher grade. She “grew apart from her best friend from the moment she got a significantly higher grade then her.” It is not difficult to see how a culture of education like this may, in extreme cases, lead to children making rash and irreversible decisions.
Eun-su Cho, a philosophy professor in the top Korean university, Seoul National University, attended the session not to further her own academic research but to “find ways to improve her undergraduate and graduate students’ lives.” She says many of her brilliant students, with the top grades, are very quiet – they’re reserved and they don’t open up. The core of this is that they have “very little confidence.” This is not the attitude she wants her students to have.
Cho wants students to “have ideas about the future, society and their fellow citizens.” She argues that facilitating more SEL education would give students a chance to show who they are and to understand themselves better, which would build their confidence, and ultimately create better students and future leaders.
Heejin Park, a research fellow focusing on character education at the Korean Educational Development Institute, believes that things are changing in Korea, and they are starting to see the benefits of SEL skills. Park cites the 2014 MV Sewol tragedy as an important revelation for Koreans. The incident saw nearly 300 high school students drown when their ferry sank on a school trip and it made many in Korea realize that they may not be teaching students to think critically. Park asks if lives could have been saved had the students been taught to “think more autonomously.” She believes that the tragedy brought about public support for new legislation calling for more social and emotional learning, making sure that teachers are more engaged with their students and that they go further in teaching critical thinking and life skills.
Cho, Jeon and Hong all paint a dismal picture for the lives of students in the Korea, but it is worth considering the facts. In their latest PISA results, the OECD has just ranked Korea as the seventh best country in the world for both math and reading. Their education in cognitive subjects is exceptional, but the hard truth of Park’s point remains: sometimes it is not enough to just teach students to excel at math and literacy. SEL development is increasingly being recognized as important for students and into adulthood.
Korean education is opening up to the positive effects of SEL. For example, in light of attending this Salzburg Global session, Cho says she has “more of a sense of mission - it’s been a really valuable opportunity, and I’m looking forward to applying what I’ve learned with my own students, but also trying to help implement it more widely on campus.” However, with such deeply ingrained ideas, culture, and norms surrounding the education system, it remains to be seen whether the implementation of these ideas will spread beyond those who participate in Salzburg Global sessions.
The Salzburg Global Session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills part of the Salzburg Global series Education for Tomorrow's World, was hosted in partnership with ETS. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/566.
Report from faculty of Salzburg Academy for Media and Global Change now online
A report produced with input from this year's Salzburg Academy for Media and Global Change is now online to read, download and share.
Digital Crossroads: Civic Media and Migration has been published by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) in Germany and was written by Paul Mihailidis, Liat Racin and Eric Gordon. Mihailidis is the Faculty Chair and Program Director for the Salzburg Academy for Media and Global Change, with Racin and Gordon also serving as faculty. In addition to their roles at the Salzburg Academy, all three academics work at the Engagement Lab at Emerson College, Boston, USA.
The report follows the 2016 Salzburg Academy for Media and Global Change that brought together 70 students, over 15 faculty members and additional guest speakers from over 15 institutions around the world, representing around 25 nationalities, to consider the role of media and digital literacy under the theme: Migration, Media & Global Uncertainty.
Over the course of the three-week program, this international cohort of students and faculty examined the following two questions: How do we effectively utilize media and social technologies to tell the stories of migrants around the world? How do we change the narratives surrounding migration, from ones perpetuated by fear, to journalistic efforts built upon better frames, less bias and emphasis of universal human values? These questions are now reflected in the new report.
As explained by the Engagement Lab:
"The report examines the uses of digital media among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with migrants and refugees primarily in Europe. Based on interviews with leaders at over 20 NGOs, this report documents how organizations are thinking about digital and media literacies for combating xenophobia. NGOs are strategically leveraging various storytelling techniques to build effective communication campaigns that identify and respond to discriminatory messages and racist sentiments prevalent in public discourse.
This report highlights seven key strategies for digital storytelling that is current practice as well as a five-part framework of emergent practice. The report concludes with a series of recommendations for the management of digital media programs and projects."
ifa adds:
"In the face of rising xenophobia, humanizing the lives of refugees and migrants cannot be done by statistics and big data alone. There are stories behind numbers, and these stories are integral for forging deep, emotional ties between receiving communities, migrants, and citizens of all backgrounds. Empathy can cultivate a common sense of belonging and shared future. How can NGO’s and communities effectively engage in participatory and dialogic storytelling about complex and nuanced issues, where there is room to highlight positives and negatives, and bring communities together? The present report calls this civic media, and asks how organizations working with migrants and refugees in Europe are using these technologies and practices and provides a framework for digital storytelling."
The 60 page report (PDF) can be downloaded from the ifa and Engagement Lab websites for free.
In addition to the ifa publication, the 2016 Salzburg Academy also saw the publication of a multimedia report from the students, MOVE: Media, Migration and the Civic Imagination which can be accessed online: https://move.community
Israeli early childhood expert reflects on her own SEL development and her work in the field
Much of the discussions at the session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills has centered on the importance of the education system in delivering social and emotional learning, but for Ayelet Giladi, manager of Early Childhood programs at the Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, it is just as important to engage families.
Many participants in the session have diverse and dynamic backgrounds, but few can boast a story like Giladi’s. From joining the Israeli Army as a commander at eighteen, becoming a Hebrew teacher for soldiers who struggle with language, to now, where she uses Social and Emotional (SEL) skills to combat child abuse and to help families across the social, religious and cultural boundaries in Israel and beyond, Giladi has not had a conventional career path.
Her time in the army was formative; Giladi commanded a unit of soldiers with little writing or reading ability, and she taught them Hebrew. She says she found herself “using a lot of social and emotional skills that I didn’t know I had in the army.” Soldiers often did not want to be there, and they did not want to take part in lessons. Sometimes they threw chairs at her.
“It was their way of expressing themselves, but being an 18-year-old girl, trying to control 20-year-old, big and masculine men. It took a lot of skills,” Giladi recalls.
She believes experiences like this were important in her own personal development. They opened her eyes to how much influence she could have in other people’s lives by using SEL skills.
Giladi’s experience in the army, akin to a trial by fire in terms of teaching and using SEL, meant she transitioned well into her work using these same skills to work with parents of young children in Israel. She works with families “at risk” – those with children who may not have adequate early life upbringing – to give parents the tools to help their children, and give them the early-life SEL skills they need to reach the first grade.
Giladi works with a diverse group of families – Arabs, Jews, Druze and Bedouins, and many religious or Orthodox families. Helping such diverse groups bring challenges. For example, “Orthodox families could have ten or twelve children, which means they might not all get the attention they need,” and she works with some mothers from the Muslim community who were married very young.
“Mothers aged 14-16 don’t know themselves so well, let alone how to be a mother,” explains Giladi.
One way of helping is to guide “mothers and fathers.” by teaching them how important it is to “speak to babies as soon as they can – to play with them, take them out, be with them in the house, rather than just in front of the TV.” This fosters SEL development and it helps prepare the children for relationships with other people in their future.
While her work is primarily focused in Hebrew-speaking Israel, Giladi emphasizes how important it is that her programs are taught in Arabic. With so many Arabic-speaking refugees currently seeking safety in countries across Europe, she believes that the work she does is a gateway to helping them and their host countries. “When you give refugees, who are staying in an unknown country, tools in their own language, you can connect them with the country... If you help them like this, they will appreciate what the country is doing for them.” It approach will help the children, and make the families feel welcome, and want to contribute even more to their new communities and countries.
Giladi’s inspirational experiences taught her that “empathy is very important in the teaching of SEL skills, and it’s an important SEL trait to have.” Having empathy for the most vulnerable people – refugees, young mothers and poor families who lack the privilege of a good education – and coming to their aid “helps the individual, helps the families, and it helps the communities.”
Ayelet Giladi was a participant in the Salzburg Global Session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills part of the Salzburg Global series Education for Tomorrow's World, hosted partnership with ETS. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/566.You can follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag: #SGSedu
Fellows give their answers on the "hot topic" of Day 3 of Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills
“‘What is measured is treasured.’ That’s a very fine saying. It is treasured by policymakers and key stakeholders, and you have to assume that it has to be measured. It’s possible to measure using a combination of approaches: self-report, forced choice, and situational judgment test. If you use these three and triangulate across them, then you will be able to get rid of all the problems that would occur when you only use one of these approaches.”
Richard D. Roberts
Vice President and Chief Scientist, Professional Examination Service’s Center for Innovative Assessments, Australia
“The purpose of assessment needs to be clearly defined first. If it is simply to evaluate social and emotional skills of students, I don’t think it’s very meaningful. If we try to bring out educational effects through transforming evaluation methods, it could impede the original goal of furthering SEL development as students tend to focus on achieving a better score in the new evaluation system. We could learn much more if we discuss how we can develop more efficient ways to improve social and emotional learning through the assessment process.”
Chanpil Jung
Secretary General and Founder, Future Class Network, Republic of Korea
“To find more practical, relevant and simple ways of measurement – that is part of the reason why I came to this seminar. For our project in Bangladesh, we try to encompass both qualitative and quantitative measurement. Along with qualitative research methods such as class observation, focus group discussion, and in-depth interview, we use Ages & Stages Questionnaires that have been specially adapted for the Bangladeshi context. Though the method might differ from countries, I think we still need a global standard for the assessment.”
Sakila Yesmin
Research Associate, BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Bangladesh
“I think social and emotional learning should be measured to make sure that students are not only learning traditional competencies, such as math or literacy, but that they are educated more broadly to become a productive member of society and good citizens. I’m not sure if we should measure them in the high-stake assessments like other areas, as they are different, but we should definitely monitor if some specific programs are having an impact on their mission of developing these competencies.”
Elana Arias Ortiz
Education Senior Associate, Inter-American Development Bank, Costa Rica
Have an opinion? Tweet @SalzburgGlobal using the hashtag #SGSedu
Third day of Getting Smart considers the instruments and frameworks for measuring SEL
If “what is measured is treasured” is true, then how should we measure social and emotional (SEL) skills? This was the main question for the third day of the Salzburg Global Seminar session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Learning
The “Big Five” personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) are often used as a framework for SEL assessments, with labels changed depending on for whom the tests are being conducted, e.g. “agreeableness” can be re-framed as “cooperativeness” in a workplace test. Another panelist labeled them as “self-management, relationship with others, agreeableness, emotional resilience and openness.” These different terms for similar traits can cause confusion. “We suffer from a ‘jingle jangle’ fallacy,” remarked on panelist, however, standardization of terminology remains unlikely given the differing priorities of the different stakeholders.
Many tools for assessing SEL skills, such as personality inventories, rely on self-reporting, asking the person tested to rate themselves and their skills. However this can lead to concerns of “fakeability,” especially if the tests become more high-stakes. The higher the stakes, the more likely the test-taker will alter their answers to fit what they perceive to be the “correct” answer desired by the test-givers.
Different assessment designs, such as “forced choice” assessments (asking the test-taker which of several traits is most or least like them) can lead to a more precise measurement and more comparable data.
Combining this self-reporting data with results from other tests, such as ratings completed by teachers and parents, can lead to even more precise measurements.
Testing children in isolation, however, can reduce the opportunity to evaluate the “social” side of SEL; combining teachers’ observations can provide further precision than ratings alone.
Data from ratings and observations can then be combined further with other datasets, enabling insights to be drawn on how students’ performance in SEL assessments correlates to their academic performance or potential for criminal behavior, for instance.
Successful, insightful and actionable measurements require buy-in from multiple stakeholders, from students and teachers to parents and policymakers. However, these different stakeholders buy-in at different speeds, and efforts to accept and adopt SEL – and the measurement thereof – needs to accommodate this.
Practical Proposals
If we are to scale-up the implementation of social and emotional learning programs, what practical tools do we need?
Following inputs from the expert-led panels and table discussions on Day 3 of Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills, Fellows made the following proposals:
Download the newsletter from Day 3
The Salzburg Global Session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills is part of the Salzburg Global series Education for Tomorrow's World, hosted partnership with ETS. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/566 You can follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag: #SGSedu
Fellows give their answers on the "hot topic" of Day 2 of Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills
“We have to move from a position where SEL development is seen as a responsibility of the individual teacher in teaching it, to the responsibility of the whole school, in partnership with the parents of the children at the school and also the community around the school – because children are social beings, and social learning takes place in all of those contexts, not just the school context.”
Graham Robb
Chair, Trustees of the Campus School, UK
“Society and state should be responsible for promoting and making it possible for SEL to be accessible in families, schools, communities, and also services – for example, in rehabilitation centers for substance users or in prisons. I think the state should take responsibility for making this accessible and available, but then, it should be done in partnership with all the stakeholders involved, especially with kids as well.”
Carmel Cefai
Director, Center for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health at the University of Malta, Malta
“The development of SEL starts pretty much from the time you were born. A lot of that happens intuitively – the conditions at home drive a lot of that development. But the key is how you nurture that once you go into formal education. That’s the challenge. And that’s where we need a really good and informed group of people to nurture the development, so that it becomes complete..”
Baldev Singh
Director of Education, Imagine Education, UK
“I don’t think any one person or group is responsible. I think there are a lot of people who need to take part in it. Parents, teachers, family members, people in the community, and we also need to make sure that our policy makers and government officials are thinking about it, even though they might not have a direct influence on children.”
Catherine Millett
Senior Research Scientist, Policy Evaluation and Research Center, ETS, USA
“If we take everything into account, there are a lot of partners that are connected to child development. SEL development can start with parents, educators or people in the community. We need to ask parents to understand the meaning of child development in their social and emotional skills, and give them tools to do it in at home and outside of the school. It’s also important to use a lot of professional bodies, such as NGOs, that will bring their knowledge into the school and help them achieve their goal.”
Ayelet Giladi
General and Academic Manager,
NCIW Research Institute for Innovation in Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
“It depends on the time and dimension of development. Before the children enter primary school, their family plays the main role in SEL development. However, once their formal education begins, school environments have a greater impact on it. It also depends on the aspects of development we are looking at. For example, children’s home environment affects the development of emotional stability, while their school environment has a greater impact on the development of morality.”
Meesook Kim
Senior Research Fellow, Korean Educational Development Institute, Republic of Korea
Have an opinion? Tweet @SalzburgGlobal using the hashtag #SGSedu
Second day of Getting Smart session sees Fellows consider the past, present and future of social and emotional learning, what evidence is needed to advance SEL, and what can be learned from music and neuroscience
Has social and emotional learning (SEL) been overlooked in the past? What place does it have on curricula at present? And what greater importance might SEL have in the future?
These were just some of the questions facing the opening panel on the first full day of the Salzburg Global session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills. Bringing perspectives from the UK, Costa Rica, Slovakia and Korea and from across sectors including the media, public policy and research, opinions varied greatly.
While the formal categorization of SEL might be recent, skills such as grit, resilience, communication, and empathy have long been present in schools’ curricula, argued one Fellow. These skills used to be developed through participation in the arts and music. However, these subjects are being squeezed out and sacrificed in place of greater emphasis on more “valued” subjects such as math, science and literary. “We’re removing the ‘joy of learning,’” warned one Fellow. “You can teach a child to recite a poem but that won’t give them empathy.”
The social aspect of SEL should also not be overlooked, pointed out another Fellow; the whole school environment is a vital component in nurturing SEL, with the principal especially important in establishing a school’s ethos.
The importance of the more cognitive skills-based subjects has partly been driven by the importance of their assessment and the subsequent rankings of schools and whole countries’ education systems in various national and international league tables. This has led to the proposal that perhaps SEL would be taken more seriously if it were quantified, tested and measured. Whether SEL can – and indeed should – be tested is still very much the subject of heated debate, as was seen in Salzburg.
While the assessment of SEL would likely help raise its profile and perceived value, it could also lead to a narrowing of skills or a universal understanding and expectation of students’ “soft skills” regardless of cultural or country context.
It must also be recognized that assessment is not the only motivation for teachers (or students). As one Fellow remarked, the ultimate goal is not to quantify and measure SEL but to nurture these skills. What other alternative incentives should be considered and adopted? “Do we teach it for the sake of teaching or teach because it can be measured?”
The day’s second panel considered “How do we ‘make the case’ for social and emotional learning (SEL)?”
Positive attitudes and behaviors towards self, school and society are developed through SEL. Research has shown that students who took part in controlled SEL programs saw improved classroom behavior, had better self-esteem and management of their of stress, and fewer instances of depression. Evidence increasingly shows the importance of social and emotional learning and its impact on other, cognitive skills – or as a discussant on the second panel put it: “If we invest in the heart, that will help the head.”
Researchers also expect that future employers will put greater emphasis on “human” skills such as communication, collaboration and creativity as we enter the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” making SEL vital for success in the workplace of tomorrow as well as the classroom of today.
Yet ambivalence towards SEL remains with some parents, educators, policymakers, and students questioning how much, if any, time it should be given in the curriculum. There is also a persistent ignorance about where SEL skills are most needed and valuable. SEL is not just necessary in schools – these skills must be practiced elsewhere also, and used throughout a person’s life, not just their education.
How can we produce better evidence to support stronger arguments for the promotion and nurture of SEL?
Hundreds of SEL programs are currently being studied, but it is not enough to know if SEL programs work, but how, why and for whom as different results can be found in different contexts. Why is it that students who took part in a music-led SEL program exhibited greater empathy than those in the control drama-led SEL program? SEL programs alone do not see positive effects – they need to be well-planned, well-taught, and well-implemented.Research has also shown that SEL programs are more effective when they are integrated in to the general curriculum and taught by classroom teachers rather than external experts. While they benefit hugely from such programs, adolescents often find it hard to engage in top-down SEL programs; educators need to engage them in both the program design and implementation.Evidence to support SEL can be found an built upon from many sectors beyond just education: much can be learned from studies focusing on neuroscience, psychology, health and economics, such as the impact of SEL on physical as well as mental health (mindfulness reduces heart pressure) and how cost effective this can be for society-at-large.Responsibility for building this evidence base lies not only with policymakers and researchers, but also NGOs, teachers and parents. These adults too need to have their SEL developed.
The arts can play a huge role in enhancing and nurturing SEL, none more so than music.
Neuroscience show that music activates all four parts of the brain: the frontal lobe that controls behavior and emotions; the parietal lobe that integrates sensory and visual information; the temporal lobe that processes language and stores long-term memories; and the occipital lobe, home to the visual cortex.It is partly for this reason that music has been used in helping war veterans with PTSD.
Working together with gold-selling and Grammy Award-winning songwriters, US veterans taking part in the “Songwriting with Soldiers” initiative draw on their experiences in war and the difficulties of returning home to produce not just music but songs with powerful lyrics. Every time a person remembers an incident it moves from long-term memory to working memory. The process of recalling troubling memories and traumatic experiences and turning them into songs enables the PTSD-suffering soldiers to change how they remember such experiences. “Songwriting is a unique way of encoding a memory,” explains neuroscientist, musician and law school dean Harry Ballan.
Music therapy has been shown to be beneficial in other areas. Research has shown some non-verbal autistic children can become verbal through musical exercises that help expand parts of the brain.
If music is to be adopted into SEL programs, it is important to recognize that creation holds more benefits than appreciation. Even just six weeks of piano lessons has greater cognitive benefits than attending weekly music concerts throughout a lifetime.
Download the newsletter from Day 2
The Salzburg Global Session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills is part of the Salzburg Global series Education for Tomorrow's World, hosted partnership with ETS. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/566 You can follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag: #SGSedu
Chair of Trustees of the Campus School and former Head Teacher of multiple schools discusses an alternative to traditional punishment.
In the UK, racism and extremism are on the rise. Hate crimes have increased 58% in 2016 compared to 2015. This trend is mirrored in other countries such as the US, where there is also a spike in hate crimes. Applying the traditional justice system to crimes of this nature is difficult to execute, and unlikely to yield significant results.
Graham Robb, Chair of Trustees at The Campus School, believes a new approach to administering justice and discipline is the answer. While attending the Salzburg Global session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skillshe shared his thoughts on how to better use Social and Emotional (SEL) skills in this area.
Robb advocates for “Restorative Justice,” (RJ) a process in which someone who does harm to another person, rather than being punished or treated as a criminal, is invited to take part in a conference involving them, the victim and other important figures, including parents and teachers. The conference follows a clear script with all participants fully briefed in advance; consideration is given to the time-frame after the incident in which the conference should take place, and even the order of participants’ arrivals is choreographed to minimize the possibility of further conflict. It is an opportunity for those involved to discuss their feelings, come to terms with the incident, and discuss how best to avoid it in the future. The process fosters empathy, and is designed to help people, particularly adolescents, understand other people’s perspectives of the incident and how it made them feel.
Robb, who has implemented the system in the high schools at which he served as head teacher, has seen “very high levels of satisfaction from the victims and perpetrators of incidents – they say it’s a fair process.” He continues, “Importantly, it’s proven to lead to a reduction in future behavior that causes harm.” Genuine feelings of remorse and freely offered apologies are common – an often-absent outcome of traditional disciplinary measures involving children and teenagers.
RJ promotes and amplifies the perpetrators’ SEL skills development. When used in schools, “the child realizes the impact they have on the people around them – that’s empathy straight away,” says Robb. It helps to give people, especially children and teenagers, a voice in ways they didn’t have before. As Robb explains: “You learn to name emotions; you’re giving a language to children to think about constructive ways to manage their conflicts or turmoil.” The SEL aspect of RJ is undeniable, and critical to its effectiveness: “It’s about communication skills, managing conflicts, managing emotions, empathy and problem solving.”
Robb believes RJ would be especially effective in countering the trend of hate crime – a crime that evidences a distinct lack of SEL skills.
However, he acknowledges some challenges in the wider implementation of the process; the media especially presents an obstacle. “They’re likely to attack [RJ], saying people get away with crimes with just a ‘slap on the wrist’ or an apology,” explains Robb. This creates political pressure, and politicians are forced to respond to it. “This isn’t what RJ is about.” RJ is not about retribution but rather preventing similar behavior and incidents from happening again, and promoting understanding. Unfortunately, viewing RJ as “soft” remains an obstacle for its wider implementation.
Despite difficulties in implementation, the advantages are clear: it is an alternative to the “adversarial system” of the courts, one that reduces re-offending, can be evaluated, and is seen favorably by victims and perpetrators alike. In contemporary times, when the world seems to be in great need of empathy and other SEL skills, the value of Restorative Justice is evident.
In addition to improving the SEL skills of the individuals involved in the process, RJ can also provide wider societal benefits, especially when it is pursued instead of escalating a matter to the police and courts. Keeping potential young offenders out of the judicial system and improving their behavior helps to reduce future costs in court proceedings and incarceration.
Robb presented RJ as a case study at the session in Salzburg. Following his interactive workshop, which involved Fellows “hot-seating” him on his experiences of implementing this process in schools, Robb in turn appealed to Fellows to give him curricular advice and guidance for the new school – The Campus in north London, UK – that he is helping to establish. The school will exclusively serve students who have been removed from the conventional education system for behavioral reasons and aims to provide students with a “holistic” and supportive learning environment where “Your past can be history, not a career plan.”
As session co-organizer Catherine Millett of ETS remarked: “This is exactly what a Salzburg Global Seminar program is all about.” Exchanging knowledge and best practice the world over.
The day’s second panel considered “How do we ‘make the case’ for social and emotional learning (SEL)?“
Positive attitudes and behaviors towards self, school and society are developed through SEL. Research has shown that students who took part in controlled SEL programs saw improved classroom behavior, had better self-esteem and management of their of stress, and fewer instances of depression. Evidence increasingly shows the importance of social and emotional learning and its impact on other, cognitive skills – or as a discussant on the second panel put it: “If we invest in the heart, that will help the head.”
Researchers also expect that future employers will put greater emphasis on “human” skills such as communication, collaboration and creativity as we enter the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” making SEL vital for success in the workplace of tomorrow as well as the classroom of today.
Yet ambivalence towards SEL remains with some parents, educators, policymakers, and students questioning how much, if any, time it should be given in the curriculum. There is also a persistent ignorance about where SEL skills are most needed and valuable. SEL is not just necessary in schools – these skills must be practiced elsewhere also, and used throughout a person’s life, not just their education. How can we produce better evidence to support stronger arguments for the promotion and nurture of SEL?
Hundreds of SEL programs are currently being studied, but it is not enough to know if SEL programs work, but how, why and for whom as different results can be found in different contexts. Why is it that students who took part in a music-led SEL program exhibited greater empathy than those in the control drama-led SEL program? SEL programs alone do not see positive effects – they need to be well-planned, well-taught, and well-implemented.
Research has also shown that SEL programs are more effective when they are integrated in to the general curriculum and taught by classroom teachers rather than external experts. While they benefit hugely from such programs, adolescents often find it hard to engage in top-down SEL programs; educators need to engage them in both the program design and implementation. Evidence to support SEL can be found an built upon from many sectors beyond just education: much can be learned from studies focusing on neuroscience, psychology, health and economics, such as the impact of SEL on physical as well as mental health (mindfulness reduces heart pressure) and how cost effective this can be for society-at-large.
Responsibility for building this evidence base lies not only with policymakers and researchers, but also NGOs, teachers and parents. These adults too need to have their SEL developed.
Graham Robb was a participant in the Salzburg Global session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills, which is part of the multi-year Education for Tomorrow's World. This session is being hosted in partnership with ETS (Educational Testing Service).
More information on the session can be found here: salzburgglobal.org/go/566.
You can follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag: #SGSedu
Opening conversation sets the tone for the session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills
“Investing in social and emotional learning is just as important as investing in cognitive skills,” declared Koji Miyamoto, senior economist at the World Bank’s Education Global Practice, at the opening of the session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills.
With emotional intelligence considered by the World Economic Forum to be one of the top ten most desirable skills for jobs in 2020, Miyamoto’s statement will likely be adopted by many more people.
Improving students’ SEL skills positively impacts not only the students’ development but also society-at-large. As Michael T. Nettles, senior vice president of ETS stated in his opening remarks [see overleaf for remarks in full], “Being a good, empathic, thoughtful, even-tempered person able to work with others will make you happier, healthier, and more productive.” (He followed up with the American expression “Duh!”)
Research shows that SEL contributes to better self-esteem, mental health and stress management; better classroom behavior; greater success throughout schooling, from pre-K to graduate school; and even reducing crime rates.
SEL might not be a topic that makes the headlines, but poor SEL influences many global issues from prejudice towards migrants and refugees to international conflicts.
Given the benefits of SEL, educators are now considering how best to assess and improve these skills, but as one Fellow put it: “There’s a reason why these skills are known as ‘hard to measure skills.’” As schools and students start to suffer from “assessment fatigue,” policymakers will have a tough job convincing them to carry out yet more testing.
In formulating these assessments, contextual differences, such as diversity in cultural or socioeconomic backgrounds, will need to be carefully considered and addressed. “The science has to be equitable,” added Nettles.
Improving SEL necessitates inter-sectoral, interdisciplinary, and even international collaboration, drawing on expertise from not only education, but also psychology and neuroscience, among others. Over the course of five days, an eclectic cohort of 40 Fellows from 19 countries will now consider the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL), the possibilities of how to measure and improve it, and how to move it up global policy agendas.
Download the newsletter from Day 1
The Salzburg Global Session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills is part of the Salzburg Global series Education for Tomorrow's World, hosted partnership with ETS. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/566 You can follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag: #SGSedu
Fellows give their answers on the "hot topic" of Day 1 of Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills
“It means developing the whole person: the cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of human development. I think we have to begin the learning process at birth. It begins when parents or guardians interact with young babies. It is the continuous quality of those interactions that develop people into human beings that are tolerant, that have a good work ethic and high-quality human interactions.”
Michael T. Nettles
Senior Vice President, ETS, USA
“It means learning things like resilience and grit. It’s massive in the UK at the moment. People are trying to think about how we can make our students more resilient [toward] things when they get upset by something and that they are able to deal with it in the right way and have the support behind them. I think it should start from primary school. Those things develop at a quite young age so you need to be dealing with it earlier rather than later at university when it’s too much of a problem by that point that they haven’t had that support.”
Eleanor Busby
Journalist, Times Educational Supplement, United Kingdom
“In my view, social and emotional skills have three core areas, or important dimensions, where social and emotional skills play an important role: the capacity to achieve goals; to work well with others; and to cope with emotional challenges. The sooner this development takes place the better, although some recent evidence suggests that sensitive periods are during early adolescence, not necessarily during early childhood – because this is a time when children’s social interactions change a lot.”
Koji Miyamoto
Senior Economist, World Bank’s Education Global Practice, USA
“Social and emotional learning, to me, refers to the emotional resilience of a learner, and their ability to absorb and respond to different experiences throughout the learning process. I think it’s important throughout the developmental cycle, but especially around adolescence, when people start to become more independent. It’s important when what they encounter in their environment has to be reconciled personally, rather than in a protected space.”
David Wilsey
Director of Masters Program in Sustainable Development Practice, University of Minnesota, USA
“For a long time in my country, teaching and learning has been focused on the academic, cognitive processes. At Twaweza, we have been assessing reading, writing and numeracy competencies, but I think in order to really assess and nurture a child – a whole person – we need to go on beyond those traditional subjects. We need to nurture skills like confidence, resilience, and communication, skills people will need in their real life, social and emotional skills. I think the earlier this takes place the better, these skills should start being nurtured before school.”
Mary Goretti Nakabugo
Senior Management Team, Twaweza East Africa, Uganda
“The child should be emotionally stable and socially sensitive to other human beings around him or her. He or she should also have these skills in order to contribute as a productive citizen in society. SEL development, in fact, starts even before the child goes to school in the family itself, from the values family instill in the child. I think it should start as early as possible.”
Sandeep Pandey
Vice-President, Socialist Party, India
Have an opinion? Tweet @SalzburgGlobal using the hashtag #SGSedu
ETS Senior Vice President and multi-time Salzburg Global Fellow on why measuring social and emotional learning is important
I am delighted to see so many familiar faces — and also so many unfamiliar faces! It is great to be with old friends, and it is great to make new friends, also known as Allies in the Cause.
And it is a good cause! I would characterize our goal over the next few days as coming up with new ways to make students better people — better friends, better sons and daughters, better co-workers, better citizens, and of course better students — by developing their social and emotional skills. Social and emotional learning, or SEL, involves going beyond development of students’ cognitive skills to develop what is sometimes referred to as “the whole child.”
I like how our friend and colleague Andreas Schleicher, the Director for Education and Skills at the OECD, put it in one of his excellent blog entries on the Huffington Post last year:
Common sense tells us that social and emotional skills — such as perseverance, self-control or agreeableness — help individuals have more fulfilling lives. People who persevere and work hard are more likely to succeed in a highly dynamic and skill-driven labor market. Those who work hard are more likely to follow healthier lifestyles and remain fit. Individuals who are capable of coping with their emotions and adapting to change are more likely to cope with job loss, family disintegration or crime. And of course, social and emotional skills matter because they help develop and enforce cognitive skills. Children with self-control, for example, are more likely to finish reading a book, to complete a difficult maths problem or to follow through a science project. [1]
That is as good an argument and as comprehensive a summary as I have seen as to why social and emotional learning matters. I am not surprised, given that the OECD is a leader in this research, which includes an international longitudinal study of skills development in major cities around the world [2]. It is sure to advance the cause of social and emotional learning.
I do not want to spend too much time persuading you of the importance of SEL research and interventions. Presumably, you are already persuaded and would not be here otherwise. But I do want to articulate what I presume is a shared belief — namely, that we are each here because we each believe that the success of our communities, our countries, and our infinitely diverse global society depends on one simple thing: our ability to get along with one another, whether in the playroom, the classroom, the workplace, the checkout line, the subway, and the public square. Perhaps most importantly, we have to get along with ourselves. As our friend and colleague from an earlier era, put it, “All of man’s misfortune comes from one thing, which is not knowing how to sit quietly in a room.” [3]
If that is true, then far too few of us know how to sit quietly in our rooms. The world is a very troubled place.
Are we patient? Are we respectful? Are we tolerant of our differences in appearance, values, belief, habits and behavior? Do we persevere through adversity, and even failure? Can we empathize with the suffering of others? Are we able to work collaboratively and creatively toward shared goals? Can we keep our tempers in check, more or less?
These are some of the questions SEL asks. When we can answer them in the affirmative, we will have made the world a less troubled place. So this is important work that we are doing here this week.
A question that you may ask is why any of this is of interest to my organization, ETS. We are known for our world-class educational assessments: the TOEIC and TOEFL tests of English proficiency; the GRE graduate-school admissions test; the National Assessment of Educational Progress for the United States Department of Education; the PISA and PIAAC assessments for the OECD among them.
ETS has a longstanding interest in understanding and measuring noncognitive traits for both the academic and workplace arenas, and in designing tools to develop those traits. Among our initial assessments in this area was the ETS Personal Potential Index, a large-scale test that institutions of higher education used for evaluating resilience, teamwork, and other personal attributes considered important for postsecondary success.
More recently, we developed the ETS SuccessNavigator assessment. It is a 30-minute, nonproctored, online test to help colleges identify, and provide support for, at-risk first-year students. It does so by measuring a student’s behaviors, beliefs and skills that directly affect academic success, such as their commitment to academic success; their ability to anticipate and respond to the pressures and stresses of college life; and their access to resources to support their academic success.
For the workplace, we recently developed what we call the WorkFORCE Assessment for Job Fit. It is a web-based, employment-recruiting tool that measures a job applicant on six behavioral competencies associated with workplace success: flexibility and resilience; initiative and perseverance; responsibility; teamwork and citizenship; customer-service orientation; and problem solving and ingenuity. A companion measure, the WorkFORCE Program for Career Development, is an assessment and training program to support employee and job-seeker success by identifying the same six traits.
We have discontinued the Personal Potential Index, but we are intensifying our research and development of noncognitive traits and measures because of the growing evidence of their importance in school, work, and life from multiple fields and sources, including neuroscience, health, employment, psychology, classroom management, learning theory, economics, and the prevention of youth problem behaviors. In our time together this week, we will learn about this expanding body of research, much of which is drawn from programs and interventions that have successfully integrated SEL with classroom practice and produced positive results.
In my own reading of the literature, I have found the evidence highly compelling. An organization that does excellent work in this area is the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL, which is based in Chicago. In 2011, CASEL conducted a meta-analysis of 213 studies involving more than 270,000 students. It showed an 11 percentile-point gain in academic achievement among students who participated in SEL programs compared to students who did not. Participating students also showed improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school. [4]
A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found statistically significant associations between measured social-emotional skills in kindergarten and key young-adult outcomes across multiple domains of education, employment, criminal activity, substance use, and mental health. The findings would seem to support use of an SEL test to measure whether kindergartners are at risk for deficits in noncognitive skills later in life so that they can receive early intervention. [5]
As for the cost of SEL interventions, CASEL points to a recent study by researchers at Columbia University showing that the measurable benefits of SEL exceed its costs, in some instances dramatically. [6]
Cost, then, should not be an impediment to broad use of SEL in schools.
Neither should politics. But that is always a wild card in public education. That is certainly the case in the United States, where public education is far less centralized than in many other countries. Very often, public education becomes a proxy for political and cultural combat between the Left and the Right.
It would seem that SEL could be just one more field of battle. I can see conservatives viewing social and emotional interventions as politically correct coddling of children who would benefit more from some old-fashioned discipline — what we call the “spare the rod, spoil the child” approach to pedagogy. And I can see progressives viewing SEL, with its emphasis on behavior, as a way for conservatives to infect the curriculum with conservative morality.
And yet …
And yet two Washington, D.C., public policy think tanks — the Brookings Institution on the left, and the American Enterprise Institute on the right — recently collaborated on a study on ways to improve the prospects of people born into poverty. If there is anything that provokes partisan conflict, it is poverty relief.
And yet these partisan scholars found common ground on SEL. Their recommendations include educating “the whole child to promote social-emotional and character development as well as academic skills.” [7] Even the authors seemed surprised by their agreement. But as they write in their report, “The only way forward, we believe, is to work together.” [8]
It must have taken enormous amounts of social and emotional skills for them to work together, let alone agree!
Finally, this topic is of interest to ETS in the context of our previous Salzburg Global Seminars, in particular last year’s. It was titled “Untapped Talent,” and it asked the question “Can better testing and data accelerate creativity in learning and societies?” We answered in the affirmative. Our view was that much of the data being generated in our Information Age can be captured, analyzed and put to use to improve educational and workplace outcomes through such tools as data mining and analytics.
It was an excellent and productive session. In fact, participants suggested that we broaden the discussion beyond academic, technical and vocational skills to include social and emotional skills and measures.
And so here we are.
This work is not without challenges. It is true that there is a foundation of excellent, groundbreaking, cross-discipline research in support of integrating SEL with cognitive classroom work. And as I noted a moment ago, there is even political common ground on which SEL interventions can move forward.
But social and emotional skills measurement is still in its nascent stage. And to state the obvious, it is quite unlike measuring cognitive skills. We are not measuring a student’s ability to solve a math — or “maths” — problem, dissect a frog or identify five causes of the Second World War. Measuring soft skills entails an element of subjectivity. Moreover, some of the successful programs that have been studied were customized for local conditions and are not easily replicable or scalable. Wide adoption of SEL interventions will require development of reliable, valid and scalable measures.
But I do believe that will happen, hopefully in part through our discussions here this week.
It seems like a blindingly obvious proposition: Being a good, empathic, thoughtful, even-tempered person able to work with others will make you happier, healthier, and more productive. We have an expression in the United States to indicate something that is so obvious: “Duh.”
But just because 15 scholars in Washington, D.C., can agree on an issue does not mean that the issue is settled. It may just mean that the battle is joined. It is certain that there will be resistance to the very idea that schools should teach emotional skills instead of just focusing on the basics: reading, writing and arithmetic. And as always, there is unlikely to be one approach that will work for all countries and cultures. There should not be. The approach needs to fit the place, not the other way around.
Still, we are not starting from scratch. And social and emotional learning does have something for all parties. Teachers support it, employers want it, economists value it, and researchers are excited by it.
I hope we all view the next few days as an opportunity to learn from one another and to inspire, encourage, and motivate one another to bring back to our home countries a simple message: the whole child matters.
[1] Andreas Schleicher. (2015). “Skills for Social Progress: The Power of Social and Emotional Skills,” HuffingtonPost.com.
[2] International Longitudinal Study of Skills Development in Cities, OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation.
[3] Blaise Pascal, The Pensées.
[4] J.A. Durlak, R.P. Weissberg, A.B. Dymnicki, R.D. Taylor and K.B. Schellinger. (2011). “The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions.” Child Development magazine, 82(1): 405–432. See also CASEL website Research page.
[5] Damon E. Jones, Mark Greenberg, and Max Crowley. (2015). "Early Social-Emotional Functioning and Public Health: The Relationship Between Kindergarten Social Competence and Future Wellness,” American Journal of Public Health: Vol. 105, No. 11, pp. 2283-2290. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302630.
[6] Clive Belfield, Brooks Bowden, Alli Klapp, Henry Levin, Robert Shand and Sabine Zander. (2015). "The Economic Value of Social and Emotional Learning," Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education Teachers College, Columbia University www.cbcse.org. See also CASEL website Research page.
[7] American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution. (2015). “Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream, p.5. See also CASEL website Research page.
[8] Ibid.
Report from the latest session in the Education For Tomorrow's World series now online
The report from the sessionUntapped Talent: Can Better Testing and Data Accelerate Creativity in Learning and Societies? is now available online to read, download and share.
The session was held last December in collaboration with ETS (Education Testing Service), the InterAmerican Development Bank and the US-based National Science Foundation, and in association with the UK’s RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), and formed part of Salzburg Global's multi-year series Education For Tomorrow's World.
The five-day program focused on the current gap between standardized assessments and the need to educate and measure for “21st century skills” of creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration, from early childhood through formal education and beyond. The gathered cohort of 41 Salzburg Global Fellows, including experts in education, policy, learning science, and neuroscience; education activists and advocates; and representatives from private enterprises and international organizations, from across 18 different education systems, explored the power of data of all sorts – data exhaust and predictive analytics as well as educational testing – to reveal new pathways for people to develop these skills, and access work in a transforming labor market, with particular attention paid to marginalized groups at risk of exclusion across generations.
Through a variety of panelled plenary discussions and in-depth group work, the session addressed the growing demand for interdisciplinary practice and education, which depends on a mix of divergent and convergent thinking at the heart of creativity, culminating in a collaborative Salzburg Statement on Realizing Human Potential through Better Use of Assessment and Data in Education.
Summaries of all the session's discussions and a full version of the Statement are now available in the session report. The report is published ahead of this December's session Getting Smart: Measuring and Evaluating Social and Emotional Skills, which is also being held in partnership with ETS. (Registration for the 2016 session is currently open.)
Download the report as a (lo-res) PDF
This Salzburg Global Seminar session was held in collaboration with the following organizations: ETS, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the National Science Foundation, and in association with the RSA. With additional support from: the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Capital Group Companies, HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust, the Korea Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, the Mexican Business Council Fellowship Program, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and The Nippon Foundation. Salzburg Global Seminar is grateful to all the organizations for their support. Salzburg Global would like to thank all participants for donating their time and expertise to this session.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and members of the Appalachian College Association further efforts at second annual Global Citizenship Summit
More than fifty faculty and administrators from select Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and members of the Appalachian College Association (ACA) convened at the second annual Global Citizenship Summit to share and receive feedback on deepening global citizenship education work, expand and enhance multi-campus partnerships, and plan for the formation of a new organization to support ongoing, and stimulate new, collaborative activities to institutionalize global citizenship education.
The Summit, led by Lindsey Wilson College and co-organized by Bennett College, Brevard College, Clark Atlanta University, and Ferrum College, was held in conjunction with the Appalachian College Association’s annual conference at the Meadowview Conference Resort & Convention Center in Kingsport, Tennessee, September 29-October 1, 2016.
“Global citizenship education is no longer a choice, it is an imperative,” Dr. Adil Najam, inaugural dean at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, told Summit participants. “There is an implied oppositeness between global and local, and part of our charge as educators is to take that implication, to confront it boldly, and to suggest it is not so. If there is a global, the global is everywhere. Too often we make global sound exotic and elsewhere, as opposed to something that is central to who we are and where we are….”
The Summit was a result of a competitive grant process organized as part of Salzburg Global Seminar's Mellon Global Citizenship Program (M-GCP) and made possible through the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. An outgrowth of the multi-year Mellon Fellow Community Initiative (MFCI), which ran from 2008 to 2013, the M-GCP was launched in 2014 to further the innovative work that moved thirty-six U.S. colleges and universities – all of which are either HBCUs or members of the ACA – toward becoming sites of global citizenship.
While ACA and HBCU institutions share many common attributes based on their long histories serving unique and diverse student bodies and the broader communities around them, their distinct communities and geographical distances have not encouraged collaboration among them. The M-GCP has helped the institutions to test and validate the multiple benefits that result from these cooperative efforts.
“It is essential that we make sure all students get to the point where they can engage with the world,” Dr. Dawn Michelle Whitehead, senior director for global learning and curricular change at the Association of American Colleges and Universities said. “If all students need global learning, we need to start looking at it from an integrated perspective across disciplines. Global learning cannot be achieved in a single course or a single experience, but is acquired cumulatively across students’ entire college career through an institution’s curricular and co-curricular planning.”
Focusing on the theme Strength Through Diversity: Partnering for Effective Global Citizenship Education, participants in the Summit heard from leading experts on global citizenship education and outlined concrete next steps for the creation of the Global Citizenship Consortium, an organization to be embedded within the Global Citizenship Alliance (GCA) that will support activities and partnerships developed through the M-GCP. The GCA was established in the Fall of 2015 to continue, strengthen and expand the work of Salzburg Global’s successful Global Citizenship Program, which in its 12 years had become one of the largest, most systematic, and most comprehensive programs on global citizenship education in the United States.
Dr. John Burkhardt, director of the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good and director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan, told Summit participants that higher education institutions must transform themselves if they are to provide leadership in a more interdependent world. “Higher education in our country is a system built on the assumption that differences are variations from the norm, to be explained and accommodated by exclusion, duplication, or exception,” Burkhardt said. “It is within your power to re-think this. We need to have a conversation about who we are and what we want with people we don’t even know and aren’t even sure we can trust. Without discourse, like that which is happening at this summit, we have no means for determining who we are and what we want in any reasonable, peaceful way.”
The Summit offered 2015 and 2016 M-GCP grantees the opportunity to discuss the process and results of recent multi-campus programmatic activities, including the partnership between Florida Memorial University and Berea College, the global education visiting specialist series Global Citizenship Revisited: New Approaches to Achieve Global Competencies between Ferrum College, Bennett College, and King University, and the study away incentive program Trading Spaces, a collaboration between Lindsey Wilson College and Clark Atlanta University, which faculty members from both institutions described as an opportunity for urban and rural students to not only gain new experiences and perspectives that may otherwise not be available to them, but to also find commonalities.
An undergraduate research conference focusing on the theme Global Citizenship: Exploring Problems, Finding Solutions was held concurrent to the Summit in Kingsport and was an opportunity for students to present their own innovations and ideas. In addition, student participants from Global African (Diaspora) Citizenship, a study away incentive program between Florida Memorial University and Berea College, made possible through a 2016 M-GCP grant, presented their findings from the recently completed program along with a musical performance for attendees.
Students benefiting from the activities of the M-GCP also had the opportunity to address the value and impact of global citizenship on their educational experiences. “Global citizenship is about trying to understand how other people live their lives,” said Kayla Brubaker, a senior English major and Russian minor at Ferrum College. “It is about interacting with people and cultures you are not familiar with. I would like to think I am a global citizen, but there is much more to be learned.”
“Global citizenship is no longer just an idealized rhetorical term used in textbooks,” said Betty Overton-Adkins, M-GCP Advisory Council member and director of the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good at the University of Michigan. “It is the reality that today's students will live as part of their future. Those of us who are college educators will fail to provide future-focused preparation if we overlook this aspect of our students' educational experience.”
More information about the M-GCP can be found at the M-GCP website (http://m-gcp.salzburgglobal.org). Please contact David Goldman at DGoldman@SalzburgGlobal.org for enquires related to the M-GCP.
About Salzburg Global Seminar
Since 1947, Salzburg Global Seminar has brought together more than 30,000 change-makers from across the world to fulfill its mission: to challenge present and future leaders to solve issues of global concern.
We focus on complex problems confronting the global community, covering topics as diverse as health care and education, culture and economics, geopolitics and human rights. Our sessions are designed to stimulate open dialogue and transformative thinking across national, cultural, generational and institutional boundaries. Working with the world’s leading public and private organizations and philanthropic investors, we engage our global network to accelerate positive global change. Salzburg Global’s programs are primarily convened at Schloss Leopoldskron, Austria, with additional offices in Washington, DC, USA and London, UK. This 300-year-old palace, now also an award-winning hotel, provides an inspiring retreat and intimate space for international convening.
A full program listing can be found online: www.salzburgglobal.org/calendar