Sister Cities News Archive

Consider adding a historical vacation and tour of Belfast, Northern Ireland to your plans this summer. Set for the end of June, Sister Cities is organizing a 10-day tour of Belfast and surrounding areas that is designed to be fun-filled and educational. Participants will stay in the heart of Belfast in the historic Europa Hotel and enjoy guided tours of the city and walking tours of the countryside before moving to Slieve Donard Resort for your choice of adventure activities or luxurious spa treatments. Contact Kathryn McDaniel at kathryn@greenhillshealingarts.com for trip details and pricing.

Savor a five-course Argentinean-themed dinner accompanied by distinctive wines from Argentina imported by Vino del Sol. Sister Cities of Nashville has collaborated with The Mad Platter Restaurant & Catering and Lipman Brothers Inc. to offer a special evening for food and wine aficionados on Thursday, June 3 at 6 p.m. at The Mad Platter, 1239 6th Avenue North. Seating will be limited to 65 persons. The cost is $75 per person. A portion of the dinner proceeds will benefit Sister Cities' educational and cultural exchange programs with Mendoza. Wines served will be available to be purchased at a discount at the end of the evening. For a complete menu, click here. To make a reservation for this exceptional dinner, please call 615-242-2563.

Musicians from Mendoza will join the stage with the Nashville Symphony and Curb Youth Symphony, performing in the "Side by Side" series, with Kelly Corcoran conducting. As part of an annual cultural exchange with Mendoza, David Gologorsky and Omar Diaz, both violinists with the Mendoza Symphony, will travel to Nashville to participate in rehearsals and performances with the Nashville Symphony. They will perform in Shelbyville on Tuesday, May 11 and in Nashville at the Schermerhorn on Thursday, May 13 at 7 p.m. Complimentary admission to the performance with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sister Cities of Nashville invites Nashville high school students to participate in unique and exciting international student exchanges in 2010:

Gwangjin-Gu, Metropolitan Seoul, Korea (which is slated to become an official sister city to Nashville in 2010) sent 10 high school students to Nashville from January 10 - 24 to attend classes and visit attractions in the city. Gwangjin-Gu has invited 10 students from Nashville to visit and tour the area, June 1 - June 13. Students will stay with local families. Korean language skills are not required to participate. Application deadline is March 1.

Mendoza, Argentina - Students who have completed two years of Spanish have the opportunity to participate in an exchange to Mendoza, Argentina from June 22 to July 4. Students will attend classes with host students at a private K-12 school and go on exploratory tours in the area. Nashville will be hosting students from Mendoza in the fall 2010 and we are seeking host families. Application deadline for travel to Mendoza is March 25.

Caen, France – Students who have completed two years of high school French have the opportunity to participate in an exchange to Caen, France in Normandy in summer 2010. We are in need of a French-speaking chaperone for this trip. We will need 10 or more participants for the exchange to take place. We are also seeking a host family for a college-age student who will be interning in the Nashville Mayor’s office for one month in summer 2010. Conversely, there is an opportunity for a young adult from Nashville (age 18-25) to work in city government in Caen for one month.

Magdeburg, Germany –– Students who have completed two years of high school German have the opportunity to host students from Magdeburg who will be attending Nashville high schools, March 27 - April 11, 2010. Host students and any others with the required language skills will then visit Magdeburg, Germany and attend classes at a local school, June 4 - June 19, 2010. The exchange will include sightseeing in Magdeburg and a field trip to Berlin. Application deadline is February 15.

Please email director@scnashville.org or Burkley Allen at burknewt@aol.com if you are interested and would like additional information.

Ten students representing Gwangjin-Gu’s Youth Global Experience Team arrived at the Nashville airport on a cold Sunday, January 10, but they were greeted with warm smiles from all their host families. During their two-week visit, the students will be attending local schools as well as visiting area attractions, including a one-day trip to Memphis to tour Graceland. The students will meet with Mayor Karl Dean as well as present a gift of more than 50 books on Korea to the Nashville Main Public Library. Each student will home-stay with one or two families in Nashville and attend schools including Hume Fogg, Martin Luther King Magnet, Harpeth Hall, and University School of Nashville.

In the fall of 1989, citizens of Magdeburg participated in a series of “Monday demonstrations” that helped bring about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe. Twenty years later, Magdeburg is part of a thriving united Germany. Sister Cities is putting together a delegation to represent us at the Magdeburg celebration of the 20^th year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. The Nashville delegation will be in Magdeburg October 1-2. If you would like to be part of this commemoration, please contact Burkley Allen for more details at burknewt@aol.com or 383-6604.

The Nashville Bar Association Sister City Committee and the Caen Committee of Sister Cities of Nashville have received confirmation of an invitation to visit France this year. The committee is starting planning for the trip which is scheduled to take place during the week of October 12th, 2009.

We traditionally begin our visits to our Sister City in France with a dinner together in Paris before heading out to Normandy. Many members of the delegation take advantage of sightseeing and cultural activities for a day or two in Paris prior to the official opening of the visit. In addition to an interesting program on a comparative legal topic, everyone enjoys a great visit to an historic area. The itinerary for this year's trip also includes visits to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, the artillery batteries at Longueville, the Bayeux Tapestry, a guided tour of the city of Caen, and extraordinary meals.

Normandy is one of the top gastronomic regions of France featuring some of the most famous cheeses of France including Camembert. It is
famous for cider, calvados (which is in essence cognac made from the distillation of cider rather than wine) and its famous cream and butter. Not for the dieters but extraordinary for all the rest of us.

It is a particularly historic area for Americans because of the landings in occupied France in June of 1944, 65 years ago this summer. There are over 9000 Americans buried in the Omaha Beach cemetery on territory which has been granted in perpetuity to the United States by France in honor of these service personnel who died liberating France. There is also a more ancient tie. William the Conqueror left Normandy to conquer England, and this marked the beginning of the Anglo-American legal system which we enjoy to this day.

If you are interested in participating in this extraordinary trip and would like a complete copy of the itinerary, please e-mail director@scnashville.org as soon as possible.

Law Competition Provides Opportunity to Visit France

A member of any bar association may submit an outline of an argument in favor of human rights drawn from current news. The deadline for submission of an outline is usually early November. Finalists receive an all expense paid trip to compete in Caen in January 2010. Winners receive cash prizes up to $10,000. There is no requirement to be fluent in French in order to participate. For additional information, please contact Steve Cobb at s.a.cobb@comcast.net.

Visit to China Planned for October

Sister Cities of Nashville members and friends can take advantage of a wonderful trip to China in October...

China’s civilization began around the Yellow River. Travel by train from Beijing to visit this heartland area of Shanxi Province and several of its UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In the north of the province, see the impressive Yungang Buddhist sculpture caves and the Hanging Temple, suspended on a sheer cliff-face of sacred Hengshan mountain.

In Taiyuan, learn about the Tai Chi Masters and traditional forms that developed here, see the Jinci Temple and its Song Dynasty court ladies, and visit an up-and-coming winery whose wines are on the wine list of Hong Kong’s prestigious Peninsula Hotel. Because Taiyuan is Nashville, TN’s sister city, we’ll also visit friends. Just south of Taiyuan, visit two sites with impressive Ming architecture—the Qiao Family Courtyard where Zhang Yimou filmed Raise the Red Lantern, and the town of Pingyao, where narrow lanes lined with houses are enclosed by an intact city wall.

The tour is divided into two parts. The first part, October 11-19, will visit Beijing, Taiyuan, & Shanxi Province. If you can stay longer (to October 23), you can also see historical and cultural sites in Xian, Shanghai, and Suzhou.

Tour facilitator is Barbara Cobb, co-chair of the SCN Taiyuan Committee and tour coordinator for US-China Peoples Friendship Association (www.uscpfa.org). Arrangements in China will be handled by Regent Tours (www.regenttour.com). If this tour is not extended to include Xian and Shanghai, individuals may seek extensions through Regent Tours.

Let us know NOW if you are interested in this tour—whether Oct 11-19 only, or Oct 11-23—and any questions. Contact: Barbara.cobb@juno.com, Tel/Fax 615 833-9512. For application (due by August 20) and tour/cost information, please contact director@scnashville.org. We will consider a later departure (November) if that is preferable and there is enough interest.

For the first time in its history, Sister Cities International hosted its annual conference outside the United States, and it took place in Nashville’s sister city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Sister city leaders, members, and government officials from around the globe attended the conference July 29 – August 1. “Building Enduring Peace after Conflict” was the conference theme and explored how municipalities and communities can work together in matters of conflict resolution through community and cultural diplomacy.

A delegation representing Sister Cities of Nashville attended the conference and met with the Belfast Nashville Steering Group to discuss the action plan for 2010. SCN Board President David Briley participated in a panel discussion at the conference on successful cultural exchanges. The delegates also attended the Belfast Nashville party to launch the exhibit of photos taken during the Belfast musicians' trip to Nashville in March. Returning from the whirlwind trip, Briley remarked,"I loved Belfast and Nashvillians would love the city. I am looking forward to a return trip soon." Click here to see additional photos.

Sister Cities of Nashville participated in the International Tai Chi Symposium on Health, Education and Cultural Exchange (www.taichisymposium.com) hosted by the Vanderbilt Center for Integrative Health and Vanderbilt University, July 5-10, 2009. The symposium embodied the spirit of Sister Cities of Nashville -- connecting Nashvillians with friends around the world through cultural exchange and community partnership.

Traditional Tai Chi Chuan: A View through the Lens of Science was the first symposium in the U.S. to bring together the five grandmasters of traditional Tai Chi Chuan, academic researchers, and health professionals. Because of Nashville’s sister city relationship with Taiyuan (capital of China’s Shanxi Province), we were especially pleased that one of the five grandmasters who came to Nashville for the symposium was Master Yang Zhenduo from Taiyuan. Also in attendance was his grandson, Master Yang Jun, who is the president of the International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association, sponsor of this symposium.

SCN president David Briley made introductory remarks at the welcome banquet on Monday, July 6, which celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the sponsoring association. Presentations by the grandmasters were a part of the evening. Sister Cities also co-hosted a Friendship Picnic for its members and friends in conjunction with the Tai Chi Symposium on Friday, July 10. Click here to see pictures from the week.

Mendoza Musicians Perform with Nashville Symphony

The first cultural exchange to take place between Mendoza, Argentina and Nashville since the two became Sister Cities in March occurred May 20 - 26 when a delegation of musicians from Mendoza visited Nashville. The three musicians rehearsed and performed with the Nashville Symphony and Curb Youth Symphony durings its "Side by Side" series. Sister Cities of Nashville Board President David Briley hosted a luncheon in their honor at his law firm. Mayor Karl Dean, who traveled to Mendoza in March to sign the official sister city documents, also attended to welcome the cultural ambassadors from Mendoza. Other guests included executives from the Nashville Symphony and members of Sister Cities.

The Consul General of Japan Hiroshi Sato recently hosted two receptions at his home in support of the launch to identify a sister city in Japan. Celeste Wilson and Dr. James Auer are serving as the co-chairs of this new Sister City initiative. They announced the initiative at a reception in June, in which the group was also celebrating the success of the first annual Cherry Blossom Festival with Consul General Sato and Mayor Karl Dean. An honorary and a working committee have been formed to research possible sister city partnerships. The working committee met at a second reception in July and delved into possible arts, academic and business exchanges. A delegation is slated to travel to Japan this fall to informally visit prospective sister cities. For more information and/or to participate in the committee, please contact director@scnashville.org. Click here for additional photos.

Mayor Karl Dean and Mendoza Mayor Victor Fayad recently signed documents establishing Nashville and Mendoza as sister cities. A delegation representing Sister Cities of Nashville, including Mayor Karl Dean, traveled to Mendoza, Argentina in March to make the partnership official and to attend the Vendimia Festival as Mayor Fayad's guests. Mendoza is designated as one of the eight great wine capitals of the world; Vendimia is the annual celebration of the grape harvest, complete with pageantry and parades.

"We have been working on this partnership for about five years," said Phil Rasico, Sister Cities board member and chair of the Mendoza committee. "We have traveled to the Mendoza area on three occasions already, have sent a group of high school students there to study for several weeks, and our two symphonies have participated in a musician exchange."

Located in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, Mendoza has a population of 112,000, and the greater metropolitan area has a population of approximately 850,000. Two of the region’s main industries are wine making and olive oil production. With its proximity to the mountains, Mendoza is a frequent destination for visitors wishing to engage in mountaineering, hiking, rafting and horseback riding activities. In 2008, National Geographic named the city as one of the top 10 historic destinations in the world.

"Through our partnership, we hope to establish annual cultural, educational and business exchanges," said Rasico. "Mendoza is a beautiful, vibrant area, and we are excited about introducing it to more Nashvillians."

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and SCN have invited Zhang Bingsheng, Mayor of Taiyuan, Nashville’s Chinese sister city, to bring a delegation to Nashville July 3-6, 2009, for economic development meetings and special cultural events including U.S. Independence Day and the 2009 International Tai Chi Chuan Symposium on Health, Education and Cultural Exchange. Symposium vice president William Wojasinski (on left in photo) and executive director Lauren Wade (second from right) and Taiyuan committee co-chair Tracy Dry Kane met recently with Mayor Dean concerning the Symposium and Mayor Zhang's visit.

The Symposium, to be held July 5-10, 2009 at Vanderbilt University, will focus on bringing together the wisdom of Chinese culture with the precision of modern science through evidence-based academic sessions, Master’s workshops, and other special events designed to foster an exchange of knowledge and cultures. The Symposium will bring together for the first time all five Masters of traditional Chinese Family Schools of Tai Chi Chuan as well as other top Tai Chi Chuan practitioners and scholars.

Because of our sister city relationship with Taiyuan, we are especially pleased that one of the five Masters coming to Nashville for the Symposium is Master Yang Zhenduo from Taiyuan. Also in attendance will be Master Yang's grandson, Master Yang Jun, who is the president of the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan International Association, a sponsor of this year's Symposium.

For more on the Symposium, see www.taichisymposium.com. To participate in the Taiyuan Mayor’s visit, contact Barbara (Barbara.cobb@juno.com) or Tracy (tracydkane@gmail.com).

Sister Cities of Nashville has named Heather Cochran Cunningham as its new executive director.

Cunningham previously worked as executive director of the Fairhope Educational Enrichment Foundation in Fairhope, Alabama, as an independent public relations consultant in Nashville, and for major advertising and public relations agencies in New York City. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she received a B.A. in journalism/advertising.

Cunningham can be reached by email at director@scnashville.org.

David Briley began his term as the new president of the Sister Cities board of directors on October 15, 2008, succeeding Doug Berry, who served in this office for nine years.

David is an attorney at Bone McAllester Norton PLLC and previously served eight years as an at-large member of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County. David is a native Nashvillian who graduated from Georgetown University in 1987 and earned his Juris Doctor from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California in 1995.

David gained an appreciation of international relations while he studied in Latin America as part of his Georgetown education. He has been a member of the Sister Cities board for more than six years and has traveled with delegations to Caen, France and Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul, South Korea.

"I thank Doug Berry for his leadership of this organization over the last years," said David, "and I hope that I can continue the growth of the organization. As the residents and businesses of Nashville become more and more international, Sister Cities of Nashville must expand the depth and breadth of our contacts with the rest of the world."

David can be reached by email in English or Spanish at dbriley@bonelaw.com.

Students from Tennessee State University visited the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg during the summer of 2008 in a program examining international perspectives on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Joel Dark, a member of the TSU history faculty and the instructor for the course, previously worked with Sister Cities in the hosting of students from Magdeburg at TSU in 2005, and the more recent program built on this earlier relationship.

Nashville's role in the Civil Rights Movement was also the focus of a Sister Cities collaboration with TSU in December 2006, when Dr. Bobby Lovett, also of the university's history faculty, presented a lecture on this subject in our French sister city of Caen during the commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of our sister-city relationship.

On Monday, February 11, 2008, Nashville, Tennessee and Crouy, France officially became International Friendship Cities. Nashvillian Steve Schmoldt and SCN Vice President Rita Richardson traveled to France for the ceremony.

The proposal to twin Nashville and Crouy was initiated by Schmoldt in October 2007. While doing research on a fallen WWII soldier from Nashville named Charles M. Peal, Schmoldt found that Captain Peal had died while flying a mission over the small town of Crouy in northern France. Schmoldt also discovered that the townspeople risked their own safety to give Captain Peal a proper burial.

After the war, the town erected a monument in his memory and named a street after him. To paraphrase Schmoldt, our two towns are linked for eternity thanks to this brave young man who gave his life for our freedom.

As part of their visit to the small town, Schmoldt and Richardson were given the opportunity to interview six townspeople who witnessed the pilot’s plane crash. Their ages at the time ranged from thirteen to twenty-one. It was a touching moment for everyone present.

One French gentleman, Georges Carpentier, had actually taken Captain Peal’s remains to the building that served as the town morgue. He asked Richardson, who was acting interpreter, to make sure Captain Peal’s family and all Nashvillians know that he was given a very dignified funeral. He explained that the townspeople woke up very early for the funeral and were very quiet, so as not to awaken their occupiers.

At the signing ceremony, Richardson read the mayoral proclamation in French. Both English and French versions of the proclamation bear the signature of Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Crouy Mayor Bernard Pitois. Gifts were exchanged on behalf of the two municipalities as well as the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, where Schmoldt is currently employed.

As the proclamation declares, this relationship "will remind all the citizens of Crouy and Nashville that the personal and national ties that bind us all together are much stronger than any challenges to peace and liberty that we may face individually or collectively."

Click here to read the Tennessean story on the Crouy-Nashville Friendship City relationship.

On November 7 a large ceremonial bronze pot was presented to Mayor Karl Dean for the city of Nashville as a symbol of Taiyuan-Nashville Sister City friendship. The pot is a replica of an ancient bronze 3-legged pot unearthed in 1988 from Zhaojianzi Tomb at the foot of ancient Jinyang Dragon Mountain of Taiyuan. Nashville’s tripod pot is No. 56 of 2500 replicas made in 2003 for the celebration of Taiyuan City’s 2500-year anniversary. It is a gift of the Taiyuan City Government Culture Broadcast Bureau and Bureau Director Jian Jun DONG, who designed the replicas.

The presentation was made on behalf of the city of Taiyuan by Elsie Wang and David Wu, SCN President Douglas Berry, and SCN Taiyuan Committee co-chairs Tracy Dry Kane and Barbara Cobb. The bronze pot will be displayed prominently in City Hall to remind visitors of Nashville’s connection with Taiyuan.

Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province in north central China, became Nashville's newest sister city in April 2007, when the two mayors signed a partnership charter. Click here to view a video about Taiyuan and the partnership with Nashville.

In August the SCN Taiyuan Committee organized a send-off dinner for Major Wingate, who was moving to Taiyuan to play basketball for the Chinese professional team, Shanxi Yujun. Major is a former University of Tennessee basketball star and was the No. 2 player drafted in the Chinese top professional league this year. (You can learn more about the league and its teams at www.asia-basket.com/chn/chn.asp.) The Taiyuan Committee also helped Wingate and his family make contact with a local family in Taiyuan.

UPDATE: A musical connection between the two cities is planned--the 18-member Taiyuan Heping Ladies’ Band is being invited to come to Nashville September 10-19, 2008. The band, composed of young professional musicians, has been performing for the past three years in cities around China. They play both traditional Chinese music and Western songs. During their visit in Nashville, the band will provide performances open to the public, and will provide demonstrations at schools, universities, and public venues to promote cultural awareness in our community.

UPDATE: Nashville’s sister-city relationship with Taiyuan influenced Bill Wojasinski, Vice President of the International Tai Chi Chuan Symposium, and YANG Jun, a 6^th generation Yang-style Tai Chi Master from Taiyuan, to select Nashville as the site for the symposium. The Symposium will be held July 5-10, 2009, at Vanderbilt University. For more information, contact Bill at Taichisymposium@aol.com.

Wojasinski and Yang visited Nashville in November 2007 to talk with SCN and other organizations about the planned symposium. In the photo below, Master Yang (third from left) and Bill (far right) are shown with members of the Taiyuan Committee.

Sister Cities was privileged to support the Ulster Project again this summer in its hosting of a group of teenagers from Northern Ireland. The group toured Rock Island State Park on July 6, led by two of the park's naturalists, Corey and Rush. They first went to Twin Falls, exploring the area and playing on and under the waterfalls, and then moved on to the gorge area, where they jumped off cliffs in the very cold water and enjoyed lunch in the gorge. They then visited a warmer swimming hole and, finally, another falls with a 35-foot jump and more very cold water! After changing to dry clothes, Corey led the group on a tour of Big Bone Cave. The very hungry group had their fill at Ryan's restaurant on the way home.

Nine students from Nashville public and private high schools, accompanied by Dr. Laura Beasley of Father Ryan, spent most on the month of June in Argentina. Students lived with host families in the city of Mendoza at the foot of the Andes mountains and attended school during the day to improve their mastery of the Spanish language. "I could tell their improvement within the first week. That is what immersion does to your language skills", said Dr. Beasley. "Students were not afraid of making mistakes anymore and their fluency and comfort in the language showed." Students found that the warmth and affection of their host families and friends more than made up for Argentina's winter weather. The final three days of the trip were spent in Buenos Aires, known as "the Paris of South America" for its culture, art, and architecture.

Charlemos Spanish, the Spanish social conversation group of Sister Cities of Nashville, received one of the five Annual Noteworthy Awards presented by the Hispanic Nashville Notebook on January 15. The award recognized the program as "Noteworthy in Social Unity" for uniting Spanish speakers and learners and promoting "all things Hispanic." This is the inaugural year of the Hispanic Nashville Noteworthy Awards created by editor John Lamb. The awards were created to recognize “exceptional people, groups, events, and work in the Hispanic community in Nashville." Recipient were nominated by readers. “This award is shared by everyone who has ever attended Charlemos Spanish”, said Charlemos president, Elizabeth Worrell Braswell.