General News: Cultural Agents
Margarita Vannini, Directora del Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica (IHNCA). Margarita was just inducted as an Official into L’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres by the French Government for outstanding work in the fields of arts and letters—see the link below for more information on the ceremony. This is in recognition of her commitment to promoting these fields, her time in the French Government, and her dedication to excellence at the IHNCA. Margarita was actively and prominently involved in the literacy campaign launched in Nicaragua by the Sandinista government in 1980. She has also chaired the UNESCO-sponsored Committee of the Memory of the World for Latin America Programming and many other significant cultural projects, many of which have inspired positive change in her country.
More info:
https://ni.ambafrance.org/El-gobierno-frances-condecora-a-la-Dra-Margarita-Vannini-Oficial-de-la-Orden-de
Check out Reacción Acapulco’s video thanking Cultural Agents for supporting its growth. Reacción Acapulco won the “Cátedra Magistral de Conaculta y Harvard” award in 2013, which has allowed the group to grow as an organization and to gain acclaim across Acapulco. Watch the following video to see the members of Reacción Acapulco share their experience and excitement!
Carlos Andrés Franco Pachón and María Isabel Palomino from Ruta N visited the Cultural Agents team in early October. Ruta N promotes innovation and small business growth in Medellin, Colombia. Carlos and María met with Doris Sommer, Polly Lauer, Lolo Gonzalez, and Nai Kalema to discuss how to bring Pre-Texts to Medellin, working with both small business owners and local schools.
Polly, Sergio, and Lolo (L-R) have been working on streamlining communication and projects between the sister offices in Massachusetts and Colombia.
General News:
Pre-Texts
The team visited the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia October 12-14 to launch Cultural Agents’ new campaign: Literacy Brigades. In a lecture presented to a group of students and faculty, Doris invited the William & Mary community to create US literacy brigades in the spirit of literacy brigades that were active throughout the Americas in the twentieth century. Pulling examples from Nicaragua, Cuba, the United States, Spain, and Colombia, Doris demonstrated the efficacy of literacy brigades that travel to under resourced communities spreading literacy. The Brigades will work with local educators on Pre-Texts, sharing creative strategies that will encourage students to engage high level texts.
On Friday, Naseemah Mohamed joined Doris in leading a mini one-day Pre-Texts workshop with 25 William & Mary professors and administrators from departments including Modern Languages, Physics, Philosophy, Gender and Women’s Studies, and the Center for Liberal Arts. Working with Federalist Paper no.10, the group enjoyed exploring this classic document through activities like statues, tangent texts, and a rhetoric talent show.
Cultural Agents looks forward to future collaborations with William & Mary.
If you’re interested in getting involved with the Literacy Brigades, please email Polly at pwlauer@gmail.com |
