TRANSATLANTIC NETWORK 2020 BUILDS LINKS BETWEEN AMERICAN AND NORTHERN IRELAND STUDENT-ATHLETES
In early July, two Northern Ireland secondary school students and sports standouts traveled to the United States for Sports Challenge, a summer camp in which they honed their basketball and soccer skills while practicing leadership skills necessary to become successful young adults both on and off the field or court. Ciaran Ashe, a basketball player, and Shane Jennings, who plays soccer, made new American friends and participated in a rigorous athletic and academic curriculum.
Their journey to the camp, held for nine days at a boarding school in Middletown, Delaware, was made possible through links created by Transatlantic Network 2020. One of the camp’s executive directors, Molly Hellerman, is a member of TN2020; at the network’s inaugural summit in Dublin and Belfast she first conceived the idea to make scholarships available to Northern Ireland student athletes.
“It is our hope that that this group of student-led athletes will return to their home communities with a similar charge as that of TN2020 members – to impact local change while using their new contacts to lead in increasingly wider circles,” said Molly.
POETRY BRINGS TOGETHER BRITISH AND HISPANIC CULTURES IN LOS ANGELES
In June, British poet John Siddique served as the UK Writer-in-Residence at California State University in Los Angeles. As part of his residency, he worked with Cal State LA’s Professor Roberto Cantu of the Chicano Studies Department to translate Mexican poetry into English.
La Opinión, a newspaper dedicated to LA’s Hispanic community, covered the British-Hispanic exchange in an article published on Saturday, July 18.
9/11 SCHOLARSHIPS
On July 7, the British Consul General for the New York region, Sir Alan Collins, hosted afternoon tea marking the establishment of a new UK/New York initiative: the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Families – UK Cultural Exchange Programme. The guests of honor at the tea were 13 young Americans en route to Oxford, England, for a 10-day stay to learn about the UK and British culture. Also joining the event were the students’ mothers, contacts from the Port Authority, representatives from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), and partners from America’s Camp.
After tea with the Consul General, the students set off for the UK. While in Oxford, they toured the Colleges where various Harry Potter movie scenes were filmed; they spent time in Stratford-on-Avon and interacted with the Royal Shakespeare Company who performed ‘As you Like it’; and they even played cricket with a local village team in Oxford.
"I never closed my eyes for anything in case I missed something," said scholarship recipient Rebecca Louise Asaro. "My favorite was the ‘As you like it’ play... I feel like a door has opened up for me as well, as a student starting a life in the real world."
The FDNY Families-UK Cultural Exchange Programme is part of the UK 9/11 Scholarship Fund, established jointly by the UK’s World Trade Center Disaster Fund and the British Council, and administered by the British Council. It awards scholarships to children who lost relatives in the September 11th attacks, for study at higher or further education institutions in the UK.
EDINBURGH SHOWCASE
From August 24 to 29, American arts presenters from across the country will join more than 200 of their peers from around 50 countries in Edinburgh, Scotland, to participate in the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase. Part of the Edinburgh Festival, the biennial Showcase is an opportunity for arts presenters worldwide to network with one another, and to sample some of the most innovative theatre and dance coming from the UK.
Some of the successful works that American presenters have brought back to the US after attending the Festival include Black Watch, a highly successful play about Scottish soldiers in the Iraq War that enjoyed sold-out runs in New York and Norfolk, VA; Hoipolloi’s Story of a Rabbit; Tim Crouch’s England; and Ray Lee’s Siren.
HARRY POTTER AND UK UNIVERSITIES
Visit our website’s new Harry Potter pages and learn about the many links shared by the famous JK Rowling series and UK universities.
CALIFORNIA CLIMATE CHAMPIONS CREATE CARPOOLING-ONLY LOT
When seniors return to Miramonte High School in Orinda, California in September, they won’t be able to park in the prime-location senior lot unless they’re accompanied by at least two other students. The new carpooling rule is a result of campaigning by recent graduates and California Climate Champions Devin Finzer and Patrick Ouziel.
Over the last school year, Devin and Patrick convinced peers to create a carpooling-only lot as part of their year-long project for the California Climate Champions program, which is sponsored by the British Council and the California Air Resources Board (ARB).
Devin and Patrick convinced other students at Miramonte to sign their carpool petition by producing videos that explained the importance of carpooling. They also created a website where students could be matched with drivers who live nearby. To learn more, read Devin’s blog for KQED, Northern California's Public Broadcasting radio station.
130 BRITISH TEACHERS VISIT US SCHOOLS THIS YEAR
Over the 2008-2009 school year, the Teachers International Professional Development (TIPD) program brought over 130 British teachers to US public school districts across the country to exchange best practices.
To learn more about this year’s exchanges, read the coverage in the Washington Post, the Cape Gazette (Delaware), and Education Week.
Funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and managed by the British Council, the TIPD program enables teachers from England to experience one week at schools in another country. Up to fifteen groups visit the US each year in October, February or April.
FIFTH CURATOR - INTERNATIONAL CURATORIAL COMPETITION
The British Council is launching an international competition for a curator to select its final exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.
The Fifth Curator competition is a unique new opportunity for an aspiring curator to select an exhibition of works from the British Council Collection. We are looking for someone who is based permanently outside the UK, who believes they have the passion and knowledge to be a leading curator. The winning curator will be given unlimited access to the Collection, which includes over 8,500 key works of British art assembled since 1934. The resulting exhibition will be shown at Whitechapel Gallery in London in April 2010.
The Fifth Curator exhibition will be the fifth and final exhibition in a series of exhibitions showcasing the British Council Collection in the Whitechapel Gallery as part of our 75th anniversary activities.
GLOBAL CHANGEMAKERS
Now through August 21, the British Council is accepting applications from active and engaged youth from around the world to become Global Changemakers.
Watch the Global Changemakers in action and apply online here.
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