Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 09:37:20 +0200
Dear Mrs. Flanders,
Thank you very much for your e-mail from April 19, 2007, which Dr. Knopp asked me to answer. Due to a loss of data in April I wish to apology for this late answer. Thank you for letting us know your overall concern for our activities, in which you express apprehension about the restructuring of the Goethe-Institut Toronto. I comprehend very well your regret, and, at the same time, I am pleased to note your empathetic concern for the development of the Goethe-Institut.
Restructuring always denotes adaptation and change. But on all operational levels the work of the Goethe-Institutes in Canada will continue in full force. So there is now intention at all to close the Goethe-Institut cultural facililities. Let me explain in greater detail what we plan and why we need to change.
The decision to transfer our own programs and integrate them entirely with Canadian supporter and partner organizations certainly has positive aspects and follows on good experiences. Even in the past we have frequently and successfully carried out events together with Canadian partners in their own venues. It is therefore not a novelty to embed our programs in Canadian establishments. In future we will reinforce this modus operandi - and also extend the radius of our work. Furthermore, we will gain new flexibility in using our budget, which we would like to apply to emphasizing focal issues, enabling us to define them anew with every project, because this strikes us as particularly pressing and important. In contrast, we have experienced that with permanent buildings there is also always a danger of a professing to issues, defining their content by means of their structure, although the natural starting point of our work is to focus on the political aspects of culture. Moreover, this restructuring will allow a de-centralization in all operational spheres of the Goethe-Institutes, be they language courses, information distribution, programming projects or events, thus also benefiting less centrally located Canadian cities. Another pleasant aspect is that the limits of the budget for culture and education will be less constricted when they are no longer tied to the fixed costs of steadily increasing infrastructure prices. An expiring rental contract such as the one for the Goethe-Institut Toronto can be viewed from many perspectives to present a good opportunity to assume new cultural and political positions, to readjust one's plans, to better conform to and integrate with local conditions.
So these are the reasons why we will in the future just show German films and exhibitions of German artists in cooperation with local Canadian partners in their venues. From now on we want to spend more money on shared Canadian-German cultural projects and simply less on rent.
As you can see, we have arrived at these decisions - which were not easy ones for us - not purely through financial considerations, but rather by strong conceptual arguments.
An additional aspect concerns the new alignment of our Institute's network in terms of global strategy. Shifts on this level are a completely normal and, indeed, necessary process for "global players", determined by overarching political perspectives rather than the respective local viewpoint. A worldwide network such as the Goethe-Institut has to conform and restructure from time to time. In cooperation and agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs of the German Federal Republic and members of the German parliament, the Goethe-Institut has therefore decided to initiate the kinds of changes you have observed in Canada. For that reason, I hope you will understand when we persist in our decision.
We would like to thank you particularly for your kind words of appreciation about the cultural contributions of the Goethe-Institut Toronto. At the same time, we encourage your future cooperation and ongoing connection with the Goethe-Institut.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Eva Marquardt
Strategy and Planning
Head North America Desk
Goethe-Institut Zentrale
Dachauerstraße 122
D-80637 München
Tel. +49 89 15921-220
Fax +49 89 15921-668
marquardt@goethe.de
1 comment:
Thanks for writing this.
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