Our past programs have helped pave the way for future ones by building on our reputation for high-quality programming and developing new formats and experiences designed to address global challenges and create impact for our participants.
Cultural Vistas has been encouraging professionals to engage in intercultural exchange opportunities for over 60 years. This time has allowed us to initiate impactful programs that created influential experiences for participants, and as with time, some of our life-changing programs came to an end. Explore this page to learn more about Cultural Vistas’ former programs. After exploring what we have done, visit our program page to see what we are currently doing and how you can get involved.
For any information on any of our past programs, please contact info@culturalvistas.eu
The challenges we face from climate change and its subsequent crises are complex and interwoven. Heat, droughts, forest fires, floods, rising sea levels, and loss of biodiversity are just some of the natural consequences of climate change that exacerbate health risks, trigger refugee movements, and threaten entire economies, among others. The countries of the Vulnerable 20 (V20) are particularly affected by climate crises and their consequences, as their very existence is threatened, for example, by rising sea levels or an increase in extreme weather events.
The Climate Action Artist Residencies provide a novel approach to address these complexities. By transcending borders and translating scientific research results into artistic media, participating artists generate new strands of discourse and perspectives that can transform our debates and perceptions, ultimately leading to new climate action by society at large.
The Climate Action Artist Residencies are developed and implemented by Cultural Vistas and generously funded by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program was a distinguished transatlantic initiative that offered a select cohort of accomplished Americans the opportunity to complete a comprehensive intercultural professional program in Germany, comprised of three main components:
Bosch Fellows acted as consultants in their fields of expertise at leading public or private institutions in Germany. In addition, they participated in professional seminars, where they traveled to meet and exchange ideas with experts and decision makers throughout Germany and Europe.
In addition to their work placements and seminars, Bosch Fellows received private German language tutoring prior to their departure and participated in intensive language courses while in Germany. Fellows represented the career fields of public policy and administration, foreign and security policy, urban and regional planning, business, journalism and communications, law, or cultural and arts management.
Examples of institutions that hosted Bosch Fellows include:
The program was funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, one of the largest foundations in Germany, with the goal of fostering a community of American leaders who have first-hand experience in the political, economic and cultural environment of Germany and the European Union.
Cultural Vistas administered portions of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program in both the United States and Germany from the time of its inception to the time of its discontinuation by the funder.
Program Length: 2018, 2019, 2021 virtually
The JED Fellowship was funded by the Transatlantic Program of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through funds of the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi). It annually gave up to ten U.S. and ten German student journalists the opportunity to meet one another and learn about the role that disinformation and “fake news” plays in political coverage in both countries. By exchanging ideas with distinguished experts and key institutions in the U.S. and analyzing the similar ways disinformation is seen in the media of both countries, the group of journalists came up with solutions for counteracting this trend that they were able to take home and share with wider audiences.
STEM & Enterprise Learning and Understanding New Career Horizons (STEM & Enterprise LAUNCH) offers students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States (HBCUs) the opportunity to spend up to 14 days in Germany on an immersive study tour. Once there, participants engage in meetings with leaders in industry, research, academia, business, and government. Cultural and historical visits complement the program. Students majoring or minoring in fields related to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or business are eligible to apply. This program enables participants to launch their international careers through cultural immersion and professional networking.
A part of Cultural Vistas’ New Transatlantic Synergies initiative, this program provides unique career development opportunities, exclusive access, and paves avenues into transatlantic exchange. Each year, 26 students and four faculty are invited to gain insight into career and educational pathways in Germany, network with experts and decision makers, and experience contemporary Germany’s political and social diversity through an expertly curated program.
Since 2019, Cultural Vistas has been supporting municipalities from Europe and the U.S. in their efforts to build international partnerships to increase their capabilities to counter violent extremism in all its forms. To this end, Cultural Vistas designed and implemented study tours, delegation visits, and virtual programming that cater to a variety of municipal stakeholders, focusing on policymakers and practitioners who exchange best practices on successful measures to combat key threats facing their communities. This work was supported by the U.S. Embassy in Berlin and the U.S. Department of State.
Each year, SCCVET built delegations between diverse communities and engaged in various activities. The past years’ participating communities and activities can be seen below:
2024 : German delegation visited the mayors of Weißwasser and Weißenfels at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting
2023 : German delegation visited the lord mayor of Nuremberg and deputy mayor of Munich at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Meeting
2021-2022 : High-level delegations between Germany (Halle and Rostock) and the U.S. (Atlanta and Savannah, GA) exchanged best practices in CVE
2019 : High-level delegations between Germany (Düsseldorf, Bonn, and Cologne) and the U.S. (Orange County and San Diego, CA) exchanged best practices in CVE
PACC was a week-long transatlantic visitor program from October 16 to 22, 2018, involving eight representatives from Berlin-based civil society organizations and seven members of the Berlin Police to Camden, NJ, and Philadelphia, PA. These two cities exemplify how dialogue between law enforcement agencies and civil society organizations can strengthen mutual trust, overcome traditional prejudices, and reduce the risk of alienation between the police and society. Participants learned about best practices and effective models of successful collaboration between the police and the public through visits to police departments, civil society organizations, and local neighborhood initiatives, as well as workshops, presentations, and discussions with experts from both cities.
DAICOR was a German-American exchange held between 2021-2023, focused on the implementation of best practices in the remembrance cultures of both countries. It served as the inspiration for our current Building Cultures of Remembrance (BCOR) program.
Since 2015, Cultural Vistas Europe has implemented numerous professional exchange programs between Ukraine and Germany, focused on strengthening civil society, democratic institutions, and an exchange of best practices between both countries. Since 2022, these programs have been conducted under the framework of PRESERVE. DOCUMENT. HEAL. REBUILD., with a special focus on supporting Ukraine during the war.
In November 2023, the expert exchange “PRESERVE & DOCUMENT: Expert Meeting & Workshop” took place in Berlin. Twenty-one representatives of civil society organizations from all parts of Ukraine traveled to Berlin and exchanged best practice examples in support of the country during and after the end of the ongoing Russian war of aggression. In the PRESERVE priority area, the project aims to protect and preserve Ukraine’s cultural heritage and memory, as they are also targets of the Russian war of aggression. In the DOCUMENT priority area, the project supports the legally admissible documentation of human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in order to help bring justice to the victims and survivors of these acts.
This virtual program brought together gender equality experts from Ukraine and Germany in order to strengthen and promote long-term cooperation.
Twenty-five women’s rights activists and gender equality experts from all over Ukraine met with representatives of women’s associations and NGOs working for the protection and equality of women in Germany. The practical focus on successful case studies from both countries was rounded off with the participants developing concrete plans to expand and continue their collaboration in their home communities.
This exchange introduced civil society professionals from Ukraine to Germany’s memorial and remembrance culture.
15 professionals from across Ukraine with expertise in areas such as memorial preservation, archaeology, ethnography, and pedagogy took part in meetings with their German counterparts and received new insights into Germany’s coming-to-terms with problematic elements of its past in workshops and expert discussions, thus strengthening their international networks and initiating new collaborations between both countries. Following their return to various regions of Ukraine, participants organized local events to share their newly acquired knowledge with a wider audience in their home communities.
With the aim of strengthening the work of civic organizations in Ukraine which focus on resettling and supporting internally displaced persons (IDPs), this program brings together Ukrainian IDPs and Integration Practitioners in Berlin to discuss best practices.
The study tour in September 2018 brought thirteen integration practitioners from various Ukrainian cities together in Berlin to meet with representatives from German civil society organizations, refugee entrepreneurship programs, volunteer initiatives, and officials from the Office of the Federal Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration. The goal of the tour was to foster discussions among integration practitioners about best practices for integrating newcomers and strengthening the capacity of civil society in two seemingly different contexts—Ukraine and Germany. After their return, all of the Ukrainian integration specialists implemented action plans in their regions, ranging from information events for local governments to interviews and workshops with young people, thereby passing on the approaches learned from the program to their local communities.
This high-level visitor program for Ukrainian journalists organized by Cultural Vistas in 2016 aims to strengthen civil society in Ukraine focusing on press-government interaction.
Participating Ukrainian journalists represented media from the national and regional levels, and included reporters from TV, online, print, and radio media outlets. They met with journalists from German news media such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel, Radio Berlin Brandenburg, the Federal Press Conference, and Der Spiegel, as well as with government officials in the Bundestag, German Federal Press Office, and the Federal Foreign Office.
Following their time in Berlin, participants published articles and reported in their own media about press-government interaction in Germany. In addition, they held presentations for their colleagues on aspects of press-government interaction that could be applied in their work in Ukraine.
Watch Vladyslav Burbela’s Video on Press-Government Interaction in Germany Read Pavlo Shapoval’s Pamphlet on Press-Government Interaction in Germany
Following their return to Ukraine, a meeting was held between the journalists and government communications officials who had previously participated in Cultural Vistas’ Strategic Communication Workshop in Berlin in 2015. The journalists and government officials collectively developed suggestions for improving press-government interaction in Ukraine at the national and regional levels, including commitments from each participant to enact specific changes in their purview.
The workshop series for communication officers of the Ukrainian government deepens their knowledge of strategic communication and effective interaction with the media.
In 2015, Cultural Vistas organized a weeklong workshop for government communications officials from Ukraine who represented the national, state, and local levels. Participants met with their German counterparts and communications trainers from a range of companies and government agencies, and were able to further hone their communications practices in a follow-up workshop in Kiev.
To deepen cooperation among the alumni and community of the Building a Diverse and Inclusive Culture of Remembrance (DAICOR) exchange program, Cultural Vistas redeveloped the DAICOR Cooperation Grants in 2023. These grants enabled five alumni and network members of the DAICOR program the opportunity to visit a selected partner organization in the U.S. for the duration of up to one week to pursue transatlantic, action-oriented collaborations.
With these organizations, grant recipients built upon their program experiences, expanded and diversified the transatlantic exchange on memory culture, deepened their connections with the DAICOR network, and create tangible results that bolster cultures of remembrance in the U.S. and Germany.
Learn more about DAICOR and its impact through the link below.
