GCLP Alumni Success Stories
Our alumni have a lot of talent!
Over the years the Global Cultural Leadership Programme (GCLP) – the previous version of the Global Cultural Relations Programme – has built a community of 120 cultural practitioners from all over the world. These highly skilled professionals and cultural leaders from diverse creative sectors are strongly committed to international cooperation.
We regularly engage with our network of alumni and closely follow their activities and involvement in the field of cultural relations. Our alumni continue to collaborate internationally with each other or on their own long after their participation in our programme!
Here are some recent examples of the amazing things our alumni have achieved since taking part.
Alumni Collaboration Projects
During the GCLP Alumni Reunion in 2019, we launched a seed fund to initiate transnational cooperation projects between participants of the programme and support them to continue developing long term. Three projects were selected by the participants themselves:
- Project #1: Frontispiece: A team of 10 alumni from Romania, Canada, Russia, Mexico, India, and Brazil developed a book to address art and social change issues. The book compiles 10 case studies on socially engaged projects from ten different regions. It is expected to be published at the end of 2021.
- Project #2: CULCO – Cultural Constellation: The CULCO initiative aims to strengthen multilateral practice and relations between communities of cultural practitioners in the EU and third countries, by offering an online platform for collaboration and networking. CULCO is currently gathering 32 alumni from 15 countries (Sweden, Slovenia, Greece, France, UK, India, USA, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Russia, China).
- Project #3: Empathy in Cultural Heritage Interpretation: 5 alumni from Hungary, India, Brazil, China, and South Africa created a prototype of an immersive and empathetic journey into the stories of the Indian Partition using technology and gamification, designed for the Partition Museum in Amritsar, India.
Alumni Personal Projects
Matina Magkou (Greece) joined the international team of experts developing a Toolkit for Fair Collaboration in cultural relations as commissioned by EUNIC – EU National Cultural Institutes for Culture. The toolkit should be delivered by autumn 2021.
Beth Ponte (Brazil) recently published the article “Cultural Management in Latin America and Europe” as part of the book Cultural Management and Policy in Latin America (Routledge) released in May 2021.
In March 2021, Aishwarya Tipnis (India) and Matina Magkou (Greece) won the Mobility First’s collaboration grant launched by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) with their project “Virtual Case Clinics for arts and cultural organisations”.
Ana Alexieva (Bulgaria) and her company Fine Acts launched the Artists for Climate initiative to build a unique collection of open-license art illustrations to serve as a resource and tool for activists for climate change awareness.
Alumni & CRP activities
We regularly connect with our alumni through our website and social media. We often invite them to participate in our live and online events and give them the opportunity to shape future editions of our GCRP programme.
- In June 2021, Lauren Agosta (USA), Mohit Dhingra (India) and Beth Ponte (Brazil) took part in our roundtable Beyond Resilience: Resetting International Cultural Relations? discussing the role international cultural relations can play in a challenging time.
- In July 2020, we invited 51 alumni to a virtual reunion to discuss current pressing issues faced by global cultural operators in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
Alumni & the European Union
The Global Cultural Relations Programme also gives our alumni the opportunity to connect with the European Union and engage with its diverse representatives and programmes worldwide.
- EU Delegations worldwide occasionally invite alumni to conferences and webinars. Last year, four Brazilian alumni took part in a webinar on the EU’s foreign policy held by the EU Delegation in Brazil.
- Our alumni are also frequently invited to participate in the EU ALUMNI initiative, which brings them into contact with alumni from other EU-funded programmes around the world.
- The EU Film Festivals invited Gabriela Escatel (Mexico) and Jarrod John du Plooy (South Korea) to take part in its Film Selection Jury Members from May to October 2021.