2008
American Corner Conference Upgrades Coordinator Skills
Vladivostok PAS and IRC staff conducted an American Corner Coordinator Conference for four Russian Far East American Corner directors during a three-day training workshop that took place in Vladivostok on September 22-24. The first day of the workshop was devoted to meeting with the Vladivostok Consulate and Embassy Moscow staff, AC coordinators’ presentations, best practices' discussions, and Public Affairs Officer Bridget Gersten’s presentation on using America.gov material at American Corners. Bridget Gersten also stressed that Election 2008 programming and alumni networking are a priority for American corners. The next two days of training were focused on using various software (Adobe Photoshop, MS Outlook) and online services (Mindomo, Google Services) in the American Corners' portfolio. The cultural program included a visit to the premiere of the Broadway musical “Company”, performed by the students of the Vladivostok Academy of Arts and directed by Bud Coleman, professor and choreographer from the University of Colorado at Boulder who came to Vladivostok within the ECA-funded Cultural Envoy program. All participants noted the importance of the training that allowed them to share their respective experience, learn new skills and develop new ideas.