Connecting the dots in the Arts…
Connecting the dots in the Arts…
In 2007 TransCultural Exchange thought to bring key art world leaders to Boston for its first biennale Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts. The goal was to help American artists learn about opportunities to interact with their international peers; and, by the Conference’s third edition in April, thanks to swissnex Boston, we were able to include New York City’s Swiss Institute Director Gianna Jetzer as a speaker, along with Hanneke Fruhauf, a frequent presenter at these Conferences and a long-time facilitator for bringing American artists to Switzerland. Then again, thanks to the generosity of swissnex Boston and Swiss International Airlines, I went to Switzerland to explore the possibility of making even greater collaborations between Swiss and American artists and arts organizations. The trip included a presentation at Y (Institut fuer Transdisziplinaritaet) at the Hochschule der Kuenste Bern, which led to promising talks about partnering with Boston universities for student and faculty exchanges; the use of a beautifully appointed studio in PROGR, which is itself an artists’ residency with studio spaces, galleries and performance halls (leading to my inviting them to present at TransCultural Exchange’s 2013 Conference); a meeting at Pro Helvetia, The Swiss Arts Council, with Marianna Erni who explained their grant making processes, suggested more Swiss speakers for TransCultural Exchange’s 2013 Conference and gave me a sense of just how lively and impressive the Swiss art scene is. This was followed by a dinner with Hanneke and Karol Fruhauf to discuss plans for the next Conference and Hanneke’s desire to help bring more American artists to Switzerland; visits to marvelous museums in Zurich and Bern (including Hanneke’s introducing me to Philippe Pirotte the director of the Kunsthalle Bern); and, a brief follow-up visit with the director of Culture Scapes Jurriaan Cooriman who I met at swissnex Boston in 2010. I cannot thank swissnex Boston enough for this help and I am sure that after many of the Swiss I met speak at TransCultural Exchange’s future conferences that even more Americans will have swissnex Boston to thank for connecting the dots to Switzerland.
-Mary Sherman
Director TransCultural Exchange
