UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock Performs on Capitol Hill
Earlier this week UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador spoke and performed at an event on Capitol Hill aimed at raising awareness about the benefits Americans receive because the United States is a member of UNESCO.
The event, sponsored by the UN Foundation's Better World Campaign, L'Oreal Paris and National Geographic, was well attended by a number of lawmakers, government officials, and their staff.
Speaking of Benefits American Receive Because of U.S. Membership in UNESCO...
...members of the Commission's exective committee met earlier this week to discuss ways the Commission might help raise awareness about the benefits of U.S.-UNESCO engagement.
Commission Chairs talked about ways every member of the Commission who is interested might be involved in this effort. The Chairs asked me to put a "heads up" in the newsletter about this. So, if you are a Commission member, please stay tuned...
ICIWaRM and Dundee
Our International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) UNESCO Category II Center based in Alexandria, VA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with one of their counterpart Category II Centers at the Scottish University of Dundee.
Representing the U.S., ICIWaRM Director Bob Pietrowsky signed the agreement at UNESCO HQ in Paris on June 5. The MOU will enable the centers to cooperate more closely. You can read more here. Great work ICIWaRM!
More On the Church of the Nativity
The Church of the Nativity
As the World Heritage Committee prepares to meet next week in St. Petersburg, Russia - there has been more focus about the proposed emergency nomination of the Church of the Nativity to the World Heritage List. Read more here.
Satyagraha
Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, speaks in Maryland
Guy Djoken, Chair of our Clubs Working Group and Director of the UNESCO Center for Peace based in Frederick, MD was recently honored at the 10th annual Peace Crafters' awards for his work to improve community civility and communication. Congratulations Guy!
The event featured keynote remarks from Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. You can read more here.
Cultural Landscapes
This October Rutgers University will be hosting an international conference entitled "Cultural Landscapes: Preservation Challenges in the 21st Century."
The conference has been designated by UNESCO as an official World Heritage 40th Anniversary event and is certain to convene some of the foremost experts on Preservation from around our nation and the world.
This MOU bolsters UNESCO's commitment to engineering and lays the groundwork for UNESCO and ASME to work together toward establishing quality engineering education standards and increasing public awareness about the vital importance of engineering.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and BMW have again partnered up and are calling for 2012 nominees for thier Intercultural Innovation Awards.
Nonprofits who are active in promoting intercultural understanding and cooperation in new and sustainable ways are encouraged to apply for this award, which totalled over $100,000 worth of awards last year.
SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) - a cooperative international research center based in Jordan under the auspices of UNESCO - is hiring.
If you know of some American engineer-types who might be interested in working at a third generation 2.5 GeV synchrotron-light source, be sure to send them here.
As part of the effort to mark the 40th anniversary of UNESCO's World Heritage Convention, our Commission is teaming up with the National Park Service, the American Council for Historic Preservation, and History to accept submissions for a video challenge!
If you or anybody you know would like to speak out about why American World Heritage sites are important for the world, send in a submission! Find out more here!
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNACOC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are calling on youth (25 or younger) to submit original and creative videos - 5 minutes or less - focusing on migration, diversity, and social inclusion as part of a video conference.
Winners will get a free trip to New York to present their submissions to the Plural+ Youth Video Festival in December.
The deadline for video submissions is 7/1/12. For more information, go here!
11th UN Youth Assembly
Friendship Ambassadors, a foundation that supports international travel and exchange programs based in Connecticut, is helping to produce several events this summer worth noting.
From Wed 8/1 - Fri 8/3, Friendship Ambassadors will be producing the 11th Youth Assembly at the UN in NYC. This event will convene nearly 1000 global youth leaders (ages 16-24). There is still time to register and the meeting could use some more American representation. If you know of any young people who might be interested in participating, please send them here.
Friendship Ambassadors will also be producing the "Rhythms of One World International Choral Festival" this June. Find out more here.
Hey! Are you on the Twitter?How about the Facebook?
So is the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO! If you haven't liked us yet, we won't take it personally. But...what are you waiting for! Like us here.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and BMW have again partnered up and are calling for 2012 nominees for thier Intercultural Innovation Awards.
