January; 2008
Issue
46
In This
Issue:
*Consul General's message
*"Philadelphia" Play
*American West Exhibit
*Jazz Concert
*Discussion on Rzeszow Radio
*American Day in Rzeszow
*Living on Exhibit
*Course for Teachers
*E-journalUSA
My colleagues at the US Consulate and I enjoyed the wonderful Christmas spirit here in Krakow in December. We were delighted to have the very talented children from the ¯mi±ca Children’s Care Center here at the consulate to sing carols for us. We enjoyed meeting the children, and they gave a heartwarming performance. Consulate employees also made a special holiday donation to the foundation Mam Marzenie, which fulfills the wishes of seriously ill children here in Poland.
It was an honor for me to participate in the well-attended lighting ceremony of the traditional Hanukkah menorah on December 14th. The lighting ceremony took place in the beautiful new building of the Association for the Festival of Jewish Culture in Kazimierz.
Ambassador Ashe visited the region in December and we called on the newly appointed governor of Malopolska, Jerzy Miller. I also traveled to lower Silesia in December and met the new governor of Dolnoslaska, Rafal Jurkowlaniec, to hear about his vision for Dolnoslaska. Congratulations to these two fine new governors. On his trip, Ambassador Ashe also opened the "Living On" exhibition at the Galicja Museum. This moving photographic exhibition honors Holocaust survivors and camp liberators who now reside in the state of Tennessee. It is on display until the middle of January and then will move to the City Public Library in Wroclaw.
On the cultural side, in December, Jagiellonian University’s Film Theory and Audio-Visual department, with support from the US Consulate, published the second in its “Masters of Cinema” series. The volume, entitled “Rebellion and Nostalgia”, examines the work of American directors such as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola. It is on sale in bookstores now.
Coming up in January, I’m delighted to tell you about a production of the play “Philadelphia” by American playwright David Ives that will take place in Polish at the Center for Contemporary Art Solvay in Krakow on January 11. The play will be preceded by the opening of the art exhibition “American West”, which features photographs of spectacular western American landscapes from Polish-American photographer Wieslaw Pikul. Admission to both events is free. For more information please see our website.
I’d like to close by wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2008!
The US Consulate in Krakow and the Center for Contemporary Art Solvay (CSW Solvay) would like to invite the public to a performance of the comedy “Philadelphia“ by the contemporary American playwright David Ives that will take place on January 11, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. at CSW Solvay, ul. Zakopianska 62 in Krakow. The play is about a man who falls into a metaphysical hole called Philadelphia. In Philadelphia everything goes wrong: the taxis don't take you where you want to go, the newsstands don't sell your newspaper, and no matter what you order at a restaurant, you'll end up with a cheesesteak. The play is a lot of fun with some philosophical reflection. The comedy, directed by Bartlomiej Piotrowski, will be in Polish.
An opening of a photo exhibition of American landscapes taken by the Polish-American photographer Wieslaw Pikul will precede the play and will take place at 6:00 p.m. the same day. The exhibition, entitled “American West”, features breathtaking photographs taken in the western United States and will be on display January 11 - 30, 2008 at the main gallery CSW Solvay. The general public is cordially invited for both events.
CSW Solvay website: http://www.solvay.krakow.pl/
The US Embassy in Warsaw and the US Consulate in Krakow are happy to be co-sponsoring an outstanding jazz group touring Poland and the region. The Dan Tepfer Trio from New York will appear January 15-21 in Warsaw (three shows), Torun, Gdansk, Zakopane, and Krakow. The concert in Krakow will be held at the jazz club PiecArt, ul. Szewska 12, on Monday, January 21, at 8 p.m.
Critics have called New York based pianist/composer Dan Tepfer "brilliant" (Boston Globe), "one of tomorrow's jazz stars" (Eugene Weekly) and "certainly among those clearly willing to play with familiar formulas and take new approaches, even as he incorporates strokes from the masters" (Jazzreview.com). He tours internationally as leader of his trio and has released a debut CD which was voted one of the ten best albums of 2005 by Cadence Magazine. Tepfer was awarded both the first prize and the audience prize at the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition and was most recently named the 2007 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz of the American Pianists Association. He has performed with jazz greats Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, and Bob Brookmeyer, and has studied with Martial Solal, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Danilo Pérez and Bob Brookmeyer. Dan will appear with Aidan Carroll on bass, and Richie Barshay on drums.
Dan Tepfer website: http://www.dantepfer.com
The US Consulate General, together with Polish and Ukrainian partners, is organizing a discussion entitled "Overlapping Cultures in Time and Space" in the Rzeszow Public Radio Studio. Partnership for Democracy Board Director and Radio Rzeszow journalist Marek Cynkar will lead the discussion that will take place on Tuesday January 22, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. in the Rzeszow Public Radio headquarters on Zamkowa 1. Sussan Parker-Burns, Public Affairs Officer in the US Consulate General in Krakow, will participate together with Jurrij Wynnyczuk, poet, author and Vice-Chairman of the Ukrainian Writers Association.
On Wednesday, January 23, the US Consulate General in Krakow offers a day of cultural events to students of the Rzeszow WSIiZ University College to mark the Martin Luther King holiday, observed in the US on January 21. In cooperation with the Institute of Research on Civilizations, the Consulate is organizing a lecture on Dr. King and his message for today, a film showing and a photo exhibit entitled "American Writers" by American photographer Nancy Crampton. The exhibition features author photographs and thoughts on the craft of writing from well-known American writers such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Saul Bellow and John Irving. The American Day will be concluded with an announcement of an essay contest for students who will be asked to write about the impact of Martin Luther King’s "I have a dream" speech on their own lives.
"Living On" Photographic Exhibit Opens in Wroc³aw
On November 1, 2005 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to designate January 27 as Holocaust Remembrance Day. To commemorate this day a photographic exhibition featuring Holocaust survivors will open at Wroc³aw City Public Library, Branch 23 at Bulwar Ikara 29-31 on January 28 at 6:00 p.m.
“Living On” delivers an inspiring message of the victory of life over death by telling the stories of Holocaust survivors, liberators, prisoners of war, and witnesses who came from or moved to the state of Tennessee. Most of the photographs feature individuals born within the borders of pre-World War II Poland or whose major experience of the war was on Polish soil. Each photograph is accompanied by the person’s story in Polish and English. “Living On” shows how deeply this dark part in history continues to touch on all of us in ways that link us, Poles and Americans alike – even in just one of the fifty states of the United States of America. The exhibition is brought to Poland by the US Embassy in Warsaw and the US Consulate in Krakow in cooperation with the Tennessee Holocaust Commission.
For exhibit hours and other information, please contact the library at: http://www.biblioteka.wroc.pl/strona/filia_23
New media technologies give average citizens access to vast amounts of information and broad networks of people. People can use these tools to pursue social and political agendas of their own making. This edition of eJournal USA shows how this new empowerment is influencing nations in various parts of the world.
PDF version of the journal: http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/1207/ijge/ijge1207.pdf
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U.S. Consulate General, ul.
Stolarska 9, Krakow, tel.: 12 424-5100
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