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"New Generation - New Approach" |
| In September 1998 ( in Stuttgart ) and January 1999 ( in Hanover ) the key organizations and foundations involved in transatlantic cultural, scientific and media work met at a "Round Table USA" on the invitation of the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations ( ifa ) and discussed ways in which to improve the harmonization of their activities and possible areas of synergy. One of the outcomes of these discussions was the joint decision to stage a German-American Conference in November 1999, the aim of which is to bring together young people some of whom we anticipate will be (co) responsible for transatlantic relations in key positions in 10 to 15 years time. The Conference is intended to be of a "workshop for the future" nature and, in work groups set up for specific subjects, to examine whether these subjects will be of crucial importance for future co-operation. The following organizations and foundations have undertaken preliminary work for the topics to be dealt with by the work groups and will consequently host the meetings of these work groups in Chicago: Global Values - Imagination, Illusion or Reality? ( hosted by the German Marshall Fund, the Aspen Institute, the Draeger Foundation and the Fulbright Commission ) The Production of Knowledge in the Age of Multimedia - ( hosted by the German-American Academic Council Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation) Non-Profit Thinking in a Globalized World ( hosted by the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations) Observers from like-minded US organizations have also been invited to the Conference. After the Conference has ended joint discussions are to be held with these organizations on future co-operation and conclusions to be drawn from the get-together as a whole. John Rielly from the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) has provided advice and support for the Conference, the CCFR acts as the "U.S. umbrella organization". This will be the first time in the history of German cultural policy that so many cultural and exchange organizations and foundations will be meeting for a joint "show of achievements" to set out to the American public how broad the basis of the transatlantic cooperation on the German side has been in the past and will continue to be in the future. |
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