May 28, 2013, the opening ceremony for the significant cultural and educational photo exhibit, “America The Unknown” was held in St. Petersburg, Russia with the help of the American Councils team and the support of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General. After two weeks of hard work and dedication that FLEX alumni and Education USA volunteers spent creating the photo exhibit, “America The Unknown” opened its doors to visitors at the Griboyedov Public Library. This is American Councils first exhibit after many efforts to conduct an educational art event open for the public that reaches out to the broader audience.
The photo exhibit illustrated the non-typical side of American culture and life, reflecting unknown and mysterious aspects of America, while helping reveal everything that students had never known about this country and its people. A total of 47 photographs exhibited at the Griboyedov library created a genuinely fresh and unusual perception of the Midwestern American culture providing opportunity for guests to break some of the stereotypes they might have had about the U.S.
During the event visitors had a unique chance to find out more about the photographer Gregory Thomas Tsao, a talented American photographer from a small Midwest town, and learn more about the history, culture and traditions of the American Midwest. Consular Officer Frederick Noyes, the guest speaker at the opening ceremony, made an interesting presentation about ghost towns, talked about his home city Detroit, and led a jeopardy game during which teams formed by the audience competed with each other for the title of the American culture experts. The game showed that the audience proved to have quite sufficient knowledge in the five main categories: American presidents, landmarks, famous cities, food and education.
Over 40 visitors were present during the opening of the exhibition, and many more have since visited the site during the library's public hours. The exhibit has received a vast number of positive comments, and a success story was even published in The Telescope newspaper of Belleville, Kansas.
Apart from being a very unique, insightful and educative initiative this event provided a great networking opportunity for U.S. sponsored exchange program alumni and for people interested in pursuing their higher education and career goals in the U.S.
A guestbook comment: "This photo exhibit was a one-of-a-kind chance for me to broaden my outlook and become more open-minded towards understanding different cultures and subcultures, Midwestern American in particular. Thank you for giving me such an inspirational opportunity of rediscovering America in such an exciting and artistic fashion!"
News from Nadezhda Speranskaya, Director, American Councils St. Petersburg Office
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The photo exhibit illustrated the non-typical side of American culture and life, reflecting unknown and mysterious aspects of America, while helping reveal everything that students had never known about this country and its people. A total of 47 photographs exhibited at the Griboyedov library created a genuinely fresh and unusual perception of the Midwestern American culture providing opportunity for guests to break some of the stereotypes they might have had about the U.S.
During the event visitors had a unique chance to find out more about the photographer Gregory Thomas Tsao, a talented American photographer from a small Midwest town, and learn more about the history, culture and traditions of the American Midwest. Consular Officer Frederick Noyes, the guest speaker at the opening ceremony, made an interesting presentation about ghost towns, talked about his home city Detroit, and led a jeopardy game during which teams formed by the audience competed with each other for the title of the American culture experts. The game showed that the audience proved to have quite sufficient knowledge in the five main categories: American presidents, landmarks, famous cities, food and education.
Over 40 visitors were present during the opening of the exhibition, and many more have since visited the site during the library's public hours. The exhibit has received a vast number of positive comments, and a success story was even published in The Telescope newspaper of Belleville, Kansas.
Apart from being a very unique, insightful and educative initiative this event provided a great networking opportunity for U.S. sponsored exchange program alumni and for people interested in pursuing their higher education and career goals in the U.S.
A guestbook comment: "This photo exhibit was a one-of-a-kind chance for me to broaden my outlook and become more open-minded towards understanding different cultures and subcultures, Midwestern American in particular. Thank you for giving me such an inspirational opportunity of rediscovering America in such an exciting and artistic fashion!"
News from Nadezhda Speranskaya, Director, American Councils St. Petersburg Office