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Cultural Networking

The European Cultural Parliament (ECP): http://www.kulturparlament.com

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The University Network of European Capitals of Culture (UNeECC): http://www.uneecc.org

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The European Council for Student Affairs (ECStA ) : http://www.ecsta.org

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Follow up Transatlantic Dialogue 2011 "Living Culture in the University - Developing Citizens of the World”

Within the framework of the cooperation between Miami University Ohio, Northern Arizona University, Bowling Green State University, the University Network of European Capitals of Culture (UNeECC), the European Council of Student Affairs (ECStA), the European Cultural Parliament (ECP) and the Ministry of Culture and the American Embassy in Luxembourg, the University of Luxembourg organized an international conference in Luxembourg. The Conference titled as “Living Culture in the University – Developing Citizens of the World” was held from 25-27 May 2011 at Abbaye Neumünster at Luxemburg.

From 20-30 March 2012 François Carbon and Wim Coudenys travelled to Ohio to meet up with the US side of the transatlantic steering committee, Mike Coomes (Bowling Green State University, Ohio) and Judy Rogers (Miami University, Oxford/Ohio). They not only discussed the outlines of the next conference in 2014 , but also participated in the annual convention of ACPA (American College Personal Association) , one of the two major US organisations that deal with student services. The conference, which hosts over 3500 participants, was held in Louisville / Kentucky , named after the last king of France. The city’s nickname, ‘city of possibilities’, gave the conference its title: ‘create possibilities’ http://convention.myacpa.org . As ACPA and its members are mainly concerned with equity in higher education and providing counselling and support for university students, the notion that ‘culture’ (in its narrower sense, i.e. the arts) could contribute to a more holistic education, came as a sort of surprise. Therefore we were allowed to run 3 (three!) 1-hour sessions on the conference and its outcomes. We decided to recreate the conference.

During session 1 we explained the goals and setup of the conference and discussed the theoretical workshops: how culture on both sides of the Atlantic are not perceived in an identical way. Whereas in the US culture is often seen in terms of social/racial background and personal development, in the EU it is closely linked to the concept of nationality and the arts (high culture). The second session was devoted to the creative part of the transatlantic conference, a confronting experience as Europeans had to leave their traditional approach of culture behind and think in terms of ‘development’, whereas the Americans were to integrate artistic practices into their educational and didactic concerns. In both sessions the students who had participated in the Luxembourg conference were actively involved. However, given their central role in the whole transatlantic concept, they were allowed to fill the 3 ^rd session and share their European experience with the public.

The participation in the ACPA conference was embedded in a whole series of meetings and presentations both at Bowling Green and Miami universities .Wim Coudenys discussed international education, mainly in the field of languages and culture. François Carbon mainly focused on connecting with the fine arts faculties and served as a catalyst for collaboration between student services, faculty staff and arts.

The Ohio-Kentucky experience strengthened the steering committee of the Transatlantic Dialogue Conference in its conviction that culture - in all its meanings - has an important role to play in higher education.