This is the powerpoint for my talk "Mediating Cultural Exchange", July 6, 7pm, at Florence Together Inn (Bagno a Ripoli, FI). The expanded text is available on arttrav.com (release at noon on Monday July 6 2009)

1. Mediating Cultural Exchange
(An Introduction… based on personal experience)
ALEXANDRA M. KOREY, PHD
INDEPENDENT SCHOLAR (ART HISTORY)
Follow along: the text of this talk is available in iphone format on
www.arttrav.com (it’s the top post)

2. First encounters
versus

3. A profound effect on young artists
AJ Weiss
www.myspace.com/arturoinletto Miriam Rowe, “Market in Metals”
(www.miriamrowe.com)

4. Visiting Professor Katarina Burin
Katarina Burin
Rivoire Napkin
40 x 100 cm

5. Things I miss about Italy (by Miriam)
•Being able to buy fresh fruit and vegetables…
•Saying “ciao” all the time – it’s so easy
•Being in places that were built before jesus was born
•Playing the “look like an Italian game”…

6. Mediating Cultural Exchange?
 Title incorporates both taking and giving aspects.
 Two cultures meeting permits us:
 to re-evaluate our cultural norms
 to choose what we wish to keep or alter
 Tonight: some examples of positive interaction between
Anglophone and Florentine culture, including:
 The working world
 Study Abroad
 Volunteerism
 Cultural/Sustainable Tourism

7. Study Abroad Statistics
 essential preparation for work in a globalized world
 2006/7 data from the Institute for International Education (www.iie.org)
 Italy is #2 destination for US students
 About 27,000 US students per year
 The AACUPI (Association of American College and University Programs in Italy)
 50 member programs in Tuscany
 About 8000 students per year in Florence/Tuscany
Me with 52 students and a
dozen profs/staff, Vatican
Museum, Fall 2008

8. Measurable Benefits of Study Abroad
 direct revenue for Italian economy = 396,832,000.00 €
 creates a degree of loyalty (fidelizazzione) to Italy
 creates “a context within which it is possible to develop
… real cultural exchange between academic tourists and
Italian residents.”
 conversational language exchange
 Art shows and symposia open to the public (for example: UGA
Cortona’s semestral “mostra”; Syracuse University’s gallery and annual art
history symposium)

9. Volunteerism
 Schools that give back
 New York University has a community service program – students
work alongside locals coaching sports, serving food at a church, etc.
[see: http://www.nyu.edu/global/florence/communityservice.html]
 Syracuse University in Florence: volunteer and internship programs;
collaboration with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; an art gallery
[see: http://www.syr.fi.it/study-abroad-florence-community.php]
 UGA Cortona students teach art to children in the local elementary
school
 The Tuscan-American Association (www.toscanausa.org)
 Funding fo Restoration of artworks
 Friends of Florence / Amici degli Uffizi
 Jane Fortune Foundation / Florence Committee

10. Informed / Cultural / Sustainable Tourism
 In Italy: about 5 million tourists
from the USA per year; 8.5% of 41M
total (source: enit.it)
 Need for sustainable tourism
practises to be applied to Italian
cities like Florence, with support of
local government.
 Informed tourism is adult
counterpart of study abroad
 Context Travel (www.contexttravel.com)
 My website: www.arttrav.com
groups on FB and LinkedIn
“Tourists” by Duane Hanson
Fibreglass and mixed media, 1970 twitter @arttrav
National Gallery of Scotland