Civic Engagement
These initiatives lend support to Paris-based, European, and international organizations across four thematic areas: journalism; social justice; arts and culture; and health and medical science. With these partners, the Paris Global Center organizes public events, conferences, and capacity-building workshops. We spotlight this work on our Atelier podcast and through publications on our website and social media. Behind the scenes, we provide logistical support for some of our partners, as well as providing classroom and office space at Reid Hall for some of these organizations.
Journalism
The Columbia University Journalism School’s Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is a resource center and global network of journalists, journalism educators, and health professionals dedicated to improving media coverage of trauma, conflict, and tragedy.
The partnership with the Paris Global Center includes raising awareness around journalism and trauma through a series of public talks and panels on trauma, conflict, and violence in journalism, workshops and training for journalists and journalism students at all levels of experience, and cultivating partnership with local partners.
Founded in 2017, Forbidden Stories is a global network of journalists whose mission is to protect, pursue, and publish the work of other journalists facing threats, prison, or murder. It is the only existing program with this mission, with the message that killing the journalist won’t kill the story.
The Paris Global Center hosts a series of public events about their investigations and is currently developing a capacity-building program for journalists around questions of collaborative journalism.
Le Monde is France’s leading newspaper. It has provided news coverage, unique perspectives and in-depth analysis to francophones all around the world since 1944. Le Monde in English, founded in 2022, brings the best of our award-winning journalism from France, Europe and all around the world, to anglophones.
The Paris Global Center has hosted several events both in Paris and in New York, inviting Le Monde journalists to speak on some of the most critical questions facing journalists and journalism today, particularly in an international context. Learn about Journalism and Crisis, a series held in New York City in April 2024.
Social Justice
Founded by former Obama Scholar Alice Barbe, the Academy of Future Leaders is an immersive training program for those committed to environmental and social justice causes, eager to embody a new political generation: inspiring, empathetic, and guided by progressive values.
Intended for individuals who desire to enter politics as a new generation of politicians guided by progressive values, the program provides the tools necessary for transforming social involvement into political influence. It offers participants a platform for political engagement and assists them in forming alliances, creating strategies, and projecting themselves politically.
The six-month training program begins in January of any given year. It takes place at Reid Hall three days a week and benefits from the engagement of more than 100 volunteer speakers. Seven skill sets form the core of its educational mission:
- Understanding the fundamentals in Political Science
- Preparing for the European elections in 2024
- Examining new issues in Democracy
- Comprehending the great global challenges ahead
- Learning how to campaign and win
- Maintaining well-being and mental health
- Mastering one's political discourse
Listen to the Atelier podcast episode with Alice Barbe to hear more about the inception of the Académie, and read more about it here.
Génération Leaders is part of the Assa Traoré Endowment Fund, whose goal is to advance the cause of equality, not in words, speeches or political intentions, but on the ground, in our lives, in training courses, and in the history we decide to build together. Launched in 2022, this six-month training program attracts those who are determined to make their dreams of justice and equality come true through personal and collective projects.
The Paris Global Center facilitates their capacity-building programs as well as their social and cultural outreach.
Listen to the Atelier podcast episode with Assa Traoré to hear more about the inception of Génération Leaders, and read more about it here (article en français).
The Global Women on Boards (GWOB) program is designed to equip new, aspiring, and existing women directors with the competencies and knowledge required to participate effectively on boards. Being a women-only program, it provides a safe platform for women to openly share experiences, ask questions and learn in a closed conducive environment.
The 6-month program provides targeted development and mentorship to help women understand the skills required and gain practical insights in preparing and equipping them for their board journey. Each participant is assigned to a mentor with board experience, who provide guidance and advice to support the mentee to successfully navigate the board environment. By increasing the diversity of corporate leadership through greater representation of women on boards, companies can benefit from a wider range of perspectives, experiences, and skills, leading to better decision-making and improved business outcomes. The journey culminates in Board Simulations, allowing delegates to apply their knowledge and learning, and at the same time receive feedback from qualified observers.
The Paris Global Center partners with Women on Boards Network Kenya and the Columbia Global Nairobi Center to host their online trainings and their graduation ceremony.
Serve the City Paris is part of a global network of English-speaking volunteers engaged in practical ways to assist those who are most in need. Their association is a legal NGO in Paris, focused on helping asylum seekers, the migrant population, the homeless, and underprivileged foreigners in Paris.
By inviting Serve the City to attend our student orientations, we have collectively sought to expand their volunteer base, which now includes Columbia University students. Serve the City has also participated in the Paris Global Center's virtual internship program, and it hosts bimonthly volunteer training workshops at the Center.
Arts and Culture
The 1991 Project is a Paris-based initiative dedicated to exploring and promoting Ukraine’s rich musical heritage while supporting musicians displaced by the war in Ukraine.
The project focuses on Ukrainian musical repertoire from the Classical era to the present day, highlighting its connections to Western European and North American cultural trends. It also aims to amplify the visibility of Ukrainian musicians affected by the war, who frequently share the stage with renowned international colleagues. At its core, the project is guided by principles of social entrepreneurship and feminist leadership.
The 1991 Project is led by Anna Stavychenko, a musicologist, opera critic, activist, and classical music curator. Stavychenko previously served as the executive director of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and was a Harriman Resident at Reid Hall. She also headed a Philharmonie de Paris mission that facilitated temporary contracts for Ukrainian musicians exiled in France with prestigious French orchestras, including the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre national de France, and the Orchestre national de Lyon. The 1991 Project continues to collaborate with participants from this mission.
Listen to the Atelier podcast episode with Anna Stavychenko to hear more about the inception of the 1991 Project.
The Arts Arena, which hosts many of its events in partnership with the Paris Global Center, is a multidisciplinary non-profit initiative in the visual and performing arts, film, and issues of culture and society. Since its founding in 2007, it has presented almost 400 cultural events to strengthen connections among artistic disciplines and between the arts and the worlds of business, economics, finance, cultural diplomacy, sciences, technology, and sustainable development.
A founding principle of the Arts Arena is to make these encounters with the arts and leading artists available to the broadest possible audience. To that end, all performances, film screenings, exhibitions, festivals, lectures, and conversations are free of charge and open to the public.
The role of the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger (CNLB) is to preserve, enhance and share the musical heritage of both Nadia and Lili Boulanger. Nadia Boulanger was a guest of honor at 4 rue de Chevreuse on numerous occasions and held workshops for music students both at Reid Hall and in her home. The Paris Global Center has partnered with the Centre to extend Nadia and Lili’s legacies to contemporary music lovers and performers.
Health and Medical Science
Born in 2001 at Columbia University, Narrative Medicine is a field at the intersection of medicine, literary studies, philosophy, and ethics. Over the past two decades Narrative Medicine has grown to touch many aspects of healthcare around the world. In recent years, training courses – centered on the multi-step practices of close reading, creative writing, and text sharing – have been integrated into more than eight healthcare specialties, many professional contexts, and more than 25 countries. These trainings have shown that NM can positively impact listening and empathy, self-awareness, reflection, communication, professional wellbeing, professionalism, and general quality of care.
The Paris Global Center hosts their workshops and conferences. Learn about the Narrative Medicine conference held at Reid Hall in January 2024.
The Maison des Femmes Restart in Saint-Denis is a resource for women in situations of precarity and violence. Attached to the Delafontaine hospital, it offers local multidisciplinary care. Founded in 2016 by Dr. Ghada Hatem, the non-profit aims to provide concrete and comprehensive help to women in difficulty in Seine-Saint-Denis. The Maison also works in the fields of prevention, education, and public health.
The Paris Global Center hosts some of their training workshops and public events.
Contacts
If you have questions concerning our civic engagement projects or would like to reach out regarding a potential collaboration, please contact
Marie Doezema
Special Projects Manager
Columbia Global Centers | Paris
[email protected]
Brunhilde Biebuyck
Director
Columbia Global Centers | Paris
[email protected]