Europe has always been a key issue for the Allianz Cultural Foundation, which has developed specific projects in the last two years. In addition to projects focusing on Central and Eastern Europe, in 2007 it will organize another Allianz Summer Academy and continue the Allianz Lectures series.
Allianz Group
Munich, Oct 9, 2006
The non-profitmaking Allianz Cultural Foundation, which has its headquarters in Bogenhausen, Munich, seems almost tailor-made to achieve the ideals of the new Allianz SE. Not only do its statutes proclaim its aim of supporting promising academics and artists throughout Europe, but for two years now, the foundation has also been working with local partner institutions to develop specific operational initiatives in several European countries.
"We have reached the point where the only way forward is to embrace the idea of a truly unified Europe," says Michael M. Thoss, Managing Director of the foundation. "However, to ensure that this idea does not simply remain a pipe-dream, we must create a solid foundation on which to build it. The most important prerequisites for this are respect for the different cultures in Europe and the establishment of cross-border dialog. We want to make people aware of that and facilitate such dialog, particularly for young people, for it is them on whom the future of Europe ultimately depends."
Michael Thoss: "The European ideal needs solid foundations"
Central and Eastern Europe: Translator's Prize and Borderlands project
The current focus of the foundation's activities is Central and Eastern Europe, where it is encouraging the numerous Allianz subsidiaries to become involved: in conjunction with Allianz Polska, the foundation presented the very first Allianz Translator's Prize at the International Warsaw Book Fair, and plans to present the next award at the Bucharest International Book Fair.
Also, the highly successful European Borderlands festival to promote literature and translation was held in the Ukrainian city of Lviv in September and will be held again in Romania and Moldavia next year. Allianz was the first company to be awarded the German Cultural Patronage Prize by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) for its European Borderlands project.
International Conductors' Academy in London
The Allianz Cultural Foundation also remains active in Western Europe – with the fourth International Conductors' Academy held at the Royal Festival Hall in London in conjunction with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra London on the horizon.
With maestros Kurt Masur and Christoph von Dohnányi at the helm, these international workshops have already helped several young conductors to achieve the career break they needed and find a position with an orchestra.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit might pick up where he left off at the first "Allianz Lectures" in May 2006
Summer Academy as Germany takes over European Council Presidency
One of the foundation's most successful operational initiatives is the Allianz Summer Academy: since 2004, students from five different European elite universities have attended the academy each year. The next Summer Academy takes place in May 2007 in Brussels as Germany takes over the Presidency of the European Council.
The idea is to create a forum that permits young people to develop forward-looking ideas and concepts for a changing Europe and at the same time to involve the students who are set to become the next generation of managers in the debate on what a unified Europe should look like. Every Summer Academy ends with the adoption of a jointly drafted "manifesto" that incorporates the results of the forum.
For the first time ever, Allianz Cultural Foundation alumni from all over Europe will be invited to attend, with representatives from the London School of Economics, the Paris Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Milan Bocconi University, Madrid Comillas, the Charles University in Prague, the LMU in Munich and the St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia.
This Academy will focus on expanding the European network that has already been developed, as well as facilitating an exchange of experience between these young professionals, many of whom are working in European institutions.
The Allianz Lectures in May 2006 were usually sold out
Allianz Lectures: "Let's talk about Europe"
Several of the speakers who participated in the May 2006 "Allianz Lectures" at Munich's Residenztheater will be giving guest presentations at this Alumni Academy in Brussels. The lecture and discussion series was hugely successful and sold out on most occasions, and the Allianz Cultural Foundation and its media partner Sueddeutsche Zeitung will be continuing the series between January and May next year.
EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen has agreed to give the first lecture on January 28, and will also be attending the Academy in Brussels. Those who will share their "Visions of Europe" include French historian Pierre Nora ("Realms of Memory"), German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, author and former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and former German Minister for Cultural and Media Affairs Christina Weiss. Other speakers include Ukrainian author Juri Andruchowytsch (2006 Leipzig Book Fair award winner), Franco-Tunisian philosopher Abdelwahab Meddeb and French Minister for Equal Opportunities and novelist Azouz Begag.
In asking these speakers to divulge their personal visions for Europe, the foundation is deliberately aiming high: "We want extraordinary and passionate speakers who pose crucial and also potentially controversial questions about the future of Europe," says Thoss, "because European integration is the biggest and best project in the history of Europe. We want to use these events to create a new awareness of the challenges and to contribute to the formation of a unified Europe where people feel at home in all senses, including feeling culturally at home."
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