3rd Annual Coulee Hoolie Ceili Links Charities in Wisconsin and Ireland
The La Crosse Bantry Friendship Association works to build a bridge between two charities on opposite sides of the Atlantic next week, with a fundraising night of traditional Irish music and dance.
The 3rd Annual Coulee Hoolie Ceili will benefit Sacred Grounds, a group that aids homeless and vulnerable people in the Wisconsin city of La Crosse, and Cork ARC, a support service for those in Bantry, Ireland, with family members needing medical care.A ‘hoolie’ is a gathering or party, and ‘Ceili’ refers to traditional Irish music, dance, and singing, all of which ...
Birmingham Ushers in the Year of the Dog
Record crowds flocked to an auditorium in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, last month to celebrate the Lunar New Year, in an event featuring performances by dancers of all ages, and even a Beijing Opera singer.
The city’s 12th Annual Chinese New Year Festival drew more than 4,000 people, not including performers from Birmingham’s sister city Chao Yang District (in the Chinese capital city of Beijing) and Chinese-Americans and others from the Birmingham area.
The festival is just one of the many international events sponsored or founded by the Birmingham Sister ...
Philippine High School Students to Spend Summer in Virginia City
The deadline is fast approaching for high school students from Cagayan de Oro, in the Philippines, to apply to visit Norfolk, Virginia, as part of a new summer exchange program between the two sister cities later this year.
The Philippine students will stay with Norfolk High School students and their families during the first half of July, and are expected to visit local monuments, museums, parks, souvenir shops, and the city’s naval base. They will also visit the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The new program was organized by Cheryl McGarrigle, chair of ...
The City of Auburn Goes to the Olympics
A delegation from the City of Auburn, Washington will touch down in South Korea this week to attend the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. They come at the invitation of host city PyeongChang, who counts Auburn as its only American sister city.
Seven delegates, including Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus and others involved with the sister city program, will join delegations from PyeongChang’s sister cities in Japan, China, and Mongolia for the opening ceremony.
The cities of Auburn and PyeongChang entered into talks to become sister cities nearly a decade ago. ...
Virtual Classroom Links Schools in Highland Park and Puerto Vallarta and Modena through Poetry
A virtual classroom project launched this month, connecting Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, Illinois, to Los Volcanes School in Highland Park’s sister city Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico.
The joint effort of the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation (HPSCF) and the Puerto Vallarta Sister Cities Committee connects the classes of Elm Place teacher Lori Wyatt and Los Volcanes teacher Raul Gibran through the study of poetry.
Using a virtual platform called Edmodo, students will explore the values we share with people in other countries. The project also enables ...
Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steve Goldstein Presents Citizen Diplomacy Award to Council Bluffs Sister Cities Association
1/24/2018
WASHINGTON, DC (January 24, 2018) – Sister Cities International congratulates one of its members, the Council Bluffs Sister Cities Association, on receiving the Bureau of Public Affair’s annual Citizen Diplomacy award. Steve Goldstein, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, will present the award at a ceremony to be held at 4pm on Monday, January 29, 2018, at the U.S. Department of State. The Citizen Diplomacy Award was created in recognition of American citizens and organizations engaged in international work that furthers U.S. foreign ...
Legislators Bring the World to Annapolis
Legislators and officials in Annapolis welcomed delegations from Maryland’s 20 sister state relationships late last month to showcase their programs’ achievements over the past year at the annual Sister States Legislative Reception.
The event also fosters greater cultural awareness in the Maryland community through special food, drinks, and items characteristic of each of Maryland’s sister states (in 17 countries total) set up at tables in an exhibit hall. This year’s reception, which was held January 30, also featured cultural performances by Chinese Taiji ...
“The Sultan and the Saint”: Building Bridges Through Film
Stories move us. Films are one of the most effective forms of storytelling and one that can be used to great advantage by Sister Cities, as the Baltimore Luxor Alexandria (Egypt) Sister City Committee did in recent months.
A nonprofit film production company, Unity Productions Foundation uncovered an incredible, virtually unknown aspect of a meeting between two men – St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan al Malik of Egypt - in 1219, during the height of the Crusades on the battlefield in Damietta, Egypt. Their meeting inspired the Sultan to make an incredible humanitar...
Three Generations of Citizen Diplomacy
In 1972, Kettering, Ohio established their first sister city relationship with Steyr, Austria. Since then, they have created lasting traditions and legacies together. The two cities have overseen five adult homestays and have conducted an alternating youth exchange for the past 40 years.
Kettering and Steyr also participate in cultural exchange: they have been sending music and performance groups to each other’s cities since 1980. Their most outstanding cultural exchanges include when Kettering sent their civic band to Steyr to help celebrate the city’s 1,000th ...
Kettering Sister Cities 50th Anniversary Celebration
"The 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Kettering Sister Cities Committee was kicked off at a recent Kettering City Council meeting. Mayor Don Patterson issued a Proclamation congratulating Kettering Sister Cities for 50 years of promoting cultural understanding with our Sister Cities abroad. It was accepted by Dr.Darrell Apt, a member of the first Sister City Committee in 1967 and by Emily Zimmer, Chair of the 2017 Sister Cities Committee. It was an honor to have a member of the original committee with us on this special occasion. .
Also at the meeting, ...
