The universal language of the arts
14 December 2007
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Mrs. Fulbright and Professor John Hearn with Fulbright Scholars |
In 1962, at the height of Cold War tensions, the United States and the Soviet Union despatched their top ballet companies to perform in each other's back yard.
At a time when the two superpowers' public attitudes towards each other were increasingly hostile, the Bolshoi Ballet Company, renowned for its precision and colour, ignited stages across America. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the New York City Ballet wowed Russian audiences with its experimental style.
Working in Moscow as an English teacher, Harriet Mayor Fulbright was among the crowd. "The Russian audience went wild," she remembers. "They not only clapped, they stood up, stamped, shouted and pleaded for more."
Today, more than 40 years later, the arts still have an important role to play in building international understanding, said Mrs Fulbright at an international forum hosted by the University's United States Studies Centre and the Australian-American Fulbright Commission.
"Artistic exchanges are extremely important because they offer a more genuine, more realistic picture of who we are and what our culture is about. That deeper knowledge brings about a deeper and often more sympathetic feeling about that country."
Building on more than five decades in education and the arts, including an appointment as executive director of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities under the Clinton administration, Mrs Fulbright said that an arts education is fundamental to a better understanding of all subjects.
Only 30 percent of the population learns best through words and numbers, she argued. The majority of people understand and retain new information better through visual, oral or kinesthetic means.
Stephen Garton, Dean of Arts, added: "The University of Sydney is fundamentally committed to the idea of bringing the arts and humanities together with other forms of training. To this end we have a suit of very popular combined degrees, such as arts/medicine, arts/science, and arts/nursing."
As president of the Fulbright Centre, Mrs. Fulbight, shares the vision of her late husband. In the wake of the devastating impact of World War II, Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas proposed an international educational exchange program as a key vehicle to promote "mutual understanding" between Americans and the rest of the world.
The program was approved by US Congress and became law in 1946. Today, it is the world's largest bi-national education program operating in over 150 countries.
"I feel it's an awesome responsibility because he is still so beloved," said Mrs Fulbright. "It makes me want to double my efforts to get his words and ideas and make them contemporary to what's happening today."
Mark Darby, executive director of the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, said the Fulbright Program and Commission is "an integral and important part of the Australian-American relationship".
Signed in 1949, two years before the landmark ANZUS Treaty, it was the first ever treaty between Australia and America. Both the Prime Minister and the US Ambassador are honorary co-chairs of the commission.
"Mrs. Fulbright is an inspiration to the vision and ongoing ideals of the Fulbright program," he said.
Over the past 60 years, 148 of Sydney University's highest achieving scholars have been awarded a Fulbright scholarship.
In 2005 Professor Alex Frino, Chair of the Discipline of Finance, was awarded a scholarship to Georgetown University where he examined the impact of off-market trading and electronic trading on the US futures market
This year a record number of American Fulbright Scholars chose Sydney University as their host.
Alan Franks, who is completing a Masters of Film and Digital Image, is one of five American Fulbright Scholars studying at the University. He is filming a documentary on the engineering innovations used on Australian outback farms.
"I have developed an ambition for improving the social good through film-making. Studying at the Sydney will significantly help me make that goal attainable by providing me with world-class training from an internationally recognised school in a country with a very strong film presence."
Alan Dupont, acting chief executive officer of the United States Studies Centre, said artistic pursuits were essential to the centre's mission of creating "new understanding" between Australia and the United States.
Mr Franks intends to screen his engineering documentary in both countries. "Good films can build bridges, and as an engineer-film maker, I plan to build many! Mrs Fulbright will open a forum for me with the Australian community to celebrate the unique differences between our countries, while underscoring some of the similarities that may exist."
Each year, the Fulbright Commission offers approximately 20 scholarships to Australian citizens to study, lecture, or undertake research in the United States. Annual applications open on 1 June and close on 31 August 2008.Since 1996 there has been a Fulbright Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship program.
Further information and application forms are available at www.fulbright.com.au.
Contact: Claudia Liu
Phone: 02 9351 3191