Lost in Montevideo, Minnesota

This is the first installment of a series of Movistar commercials to be broadcast in Uruguay over the next several months featuring a story about a young Uruguayan man who becomes "Lost in Montevideo, Minnesota". Movistar is one of the largest phone companies in the world, and the commercial is filled with great street shots of both Montevideos. Numerous people active with Partners are in the video, not least Patrick Moore playing the restaurant owner. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/LN9JavEQvQg

"Hello Montevideo" Documentary Explores Partnership Between Sister Cities

Here is a link to a sharp and photo-filled posting from Partners of the Americas in Washington about Pioneer Public Television's wonderful documentary about the partnership between Minnesota and Uruguay. Check it out!

The Premier of Hello Montevideo

What a great event!

It was standing-room-only at the premier screening last evening in Saint Paul of Hello Montevideo, Pioneer Public Television's documentary exploring the relationship between Montevideo MN (pop 5000) and Montevideo, Uruguay (pop 1 million) through the eyes of videographers, photographers and contemporary youth.

Produced by Pioneer Public TV’s award winning producer Dana Johnson, videography by Joah Colby and Ben Dempcy, edited by Kevin Russell, with Lowell Hellervik, Executive Producer.

The documentary was made possible in part through a travel grant from Partners of the Americas and the involvement of Minnesotans and Uruguayans, who featured prominently both on camera and off in making such a high quality and fun production. Congratulations all. Check it out!

http://video.pioneer.org/video/2365741838/

New Minnesota / Uruguay Documentary Screening, Monday, May 9, St. Paul, Minnesota

A special screening even of Hello Montevideo, a new international documentary, will be held on Monday, May 9th  from 6 to 8 p.m. at the George Latimer Central Public Library in downtown St. Paul. 

The event is sponsored by Minnesota-Uruguay Partners of the Americas and Pioneer Public Television and is free and open to the public.  

Last October, Pioneer Public TV sent a three-person production team to Uruguay for 10 days to explore what young people in Uruguay knew or thought about the ongoing 110 year old exchange between Montevideo, Minnesota (pop. 5,000) and Montevideo, Uruguay (pop. 1 million).  The project was funded in part by a contribution from Lowell Hellervik, a Montevideo, Minnesota native, and through a travel grant from Partners of the Americas.

The title of Johnson’s documentary was borrowed from a book of photographs by Uruguayan photographer Federico Estol of the same name.  In 2010, Estol spent a month in Montevideo, Minnesota documenting the culture of the small Midwestern town to create a book that has sold well in Uruguay.  Several of Estol’s photographs are featured in the documentary and they are compared and contrasted with the artful videography of Joah Colby and Ben Dempcy, who accompanied Johnson on the October 2015 visit to Uruguay.  Editor Kevin Russell, who worked with Johnson in the Upper Midwest Emmy Award winning documentaries My Way Back Home: Caroline Smith and Haiti Love had the daunting task of distilling more than 50 hours of raw video footage down into the 28 minute story.

Montevideo Senior High School students Thomas Hoover and Katie Hillerud are featured in the documentary along with several other ISD 129 students at basketball games and in the classrooms of Spanish teachers Erin Lippert and Pam Dahl.  Visiting Uruguayan teachers Gilda Battagliese and Victoria Dieste, who recently visited Montevideo, Minnesota through travel grants provided by Partners of the Americas, are also featured in the documentary. Uruguayan students Sharon Ettinger, Juan Regent and Juan Robles from Montevideo, Uruguay are also featured in the film along with Partners' Arts and Culture Committee president Marta Arjona.

Partners of the Americas connects people and organizations across borders to serve and change lives through lasting partnerships. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy and founded in 1964 under the Alliance for Progress, Partners of the Americas has designated Minnesota and Uruguay as collaborating chapters for nearly five decades.

More information about the current projects of the Minnesota-Uruguay Partners chapter is available through our blog at http://minnesotauruguaypartners.blogspot.com/. Information about Partners of the Americas in general is found at http://www.partners.net/.

About Pioneer Public Television

Established in 1966, Pioneer Public TV is an award-winning, viewer-supported television station dedicated to sharing local stories of the region with the world.  For more information visit:  www.pioneer.org.

Next Event Announced! Celebrated Author Tessa Bridal with Candombe by Lonjas de Minnesota

Join us for an evening of Uruguayan literature and music with author Tessa Bridal and Lonjas de Minnesota.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at 7:00 pm

Magers and Quinn Booksellers

3038 Hennepin Avenue

Minneapolis, MN

Sponsored by Minnesota-Uruguay Partners of the Americas, this special event will feature live Afro-Uruguayan candombe music played by the group Lonjas de Minnesota.

Next, Uruguayan author Tessa Bridal will read from her new novel, River of Painted Birds, and discuss the native, African, and European cultures represented in the book. The novel appeared simultaneously in English and Spanish versions in October of 2015.

Tessa Bridal was born and raised in Uruguay. Now living in Minnesota, she won the Milkweed Prize for Fiction and Friends of American Writers Fiction Prize for her first novel, The Tree of Red Stars.

Her new book takes us back to times and places rarely explored in fiction. Bridal has also published two nonfiction books on the use of theater in museums, based on her acclaimed work at the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Uruguayan teacher Victoria Dieste visits her sister city

Montevideo, Minnesota, welcomed Uruguayan teacher Victoria Dieste for a cultural exchange program where she visited each of the area's public schools. The Montevideo American-News profiled Victoria here.

Victoria also attended a Minnesota-Uruguay Partners board meeting hosted at the Wilder Foundation, as well as a chapter event featuring live-streamed Candombe music, among many other activities. 

Victoria shoveling snow on a glorious February day.

Member in the News: Lyndel King

Lyndel King, a longtime member of Minnesota-Uruguay Partners who recently traveled to Montevideo along with advertising executive Shelly Regan on a travel grant from Partners, was featured on WCCO television news yesterday. Check it out! Congratulations on your continued success, Lyndel. 

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/02/09/weisman-art-museum-ponders-the-magic-of-clouds/

Save the Date! Huracándombe Concert (in person in Miami or online anywhere on earth): January 28, 2016

On Thursday January 28 at 7 p.m. anyone with a computer and wifi will be able to watch and chat during a live stream performance of Andy Stermer’s new compositions performed by the The Frost Concert Jazz Band, the University of Miami’s premiere large jazz ensemble.

Stermer, a graduate student in Studio Jazz Writing at Frost, is originally from Montevideo, Minnesota. With the assistance of Partners of the Americas, he traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 2014 where he met and collaborated with guitarist Juan Pablo Chapital, pianist Manuel Contrera and master drummer Álvaro Salas of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Thanks to a grant from The Presser Foundation. Stermer is now able to bring his musician collaborators to Miami to perform a concert billed as a "Hurricane of Candombe" (or Huracándombe in Spanish). A music and dance native to Uruguay, candombe is an expression of Uruguayan cultural heritage with African roots. Featuring original compositions as well as new arrangements of Uruguayan traditional and popular music, Huracándombe will combine the folkloric roots of candombe with the exciting spirit and sound of modern big band jazz.

Video Description

Huracandombe Live Stream Concert Jan 28, 7 p.m. CST

On Jan 28, go to ovee.itvs.org/screenings/27bv2 and Watch Huracandombe and Chat with Elbio Caballero, Andy Stermer's family and other famous Montevideans in the OVEE Online Screening Room for the livestream of this international concert featuring the original compositions of Andrew Stermer played by guitarist Juan Pablo Chapital, pianist Manuel Contrera and master drummer Álvaro Salas of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Gilda Returns to Minnesota

The President-elect of Uruguay-Minnesota Partners traveled from Uruguay in September to spend two packed weeks working with chapter counterparts in both Oregon and Minnesota.

Gilda Battagliese, who had first traveled to Minnesota as a Teacher-in-Residence nearly 10 years ago, is now involved in international projects across North and South America, experiences she shared with Partners volunteers at the "What Works" Conference in Portland, Oregon.

She met there with University of Oregon officials to discuss new teaching methodologies and innovation in the classroom and her experiences with iEARN, the International Education and Resource Network. Linguistics professor Deborah Healey, PhD hosted Gilda for a wonderful dinner discussion. Gilda later met with the American English Institute's Director of eLearning, Leslie Opp Beckham, PhD and Brandy Collier, who showed her a collection of ISTE books consisting of 10 boxes that will be generously donated from the University of Oregon and shipped via diplomatic pouch to Uruguay for distribution nationally through the Alianza, our bi-national center in Montevideo.

Also in Oregon, Gilda presented at the What Works Conference, together with Cathy Healy and Ana Maria González. Their presentation was titled, "Youth Exchanges: Online Journeys Change Lives, Attitudes."

Gilda then traveled to Minnesota, where she was hosted by the much beloved Spanish teacher KC Carter in Stillwater High School, meeting with students and school administrators. She also met with other professionals in the ESL field at the University of Minnesota, where she ran into the Golden Gophers' mascot on the street, Goldy.

Gilda left the urban center of the Twin Cities for several days on the glorious prairies of Western Minnesota, meeting up with longtime counterparts such as Patrick Moore in Montevideo (population 5,000), putting on hundreds of miles visiting educators and officials in towns such as Laq Qui Parle, Appleton and New London. Before returning home, Gilda met with Dana Johnson, a producer at Pioneer Public Television, who is planning a trip to Uruguay to produce a documentary.

Gilda works with the highly regarded bi-national center in Montevideo, the Alianza Cultural Uruguay EEUU. The Alianza has hosted scores of Minnesotan visitors over the years and is recognized internationally for its extensive network across Uruguay and its many accomplishments. The Alianza has been the focal point for our enduring and productive collaboration.

More details on the August 8 asado appear below!