EMBASSY NEWSLETTER Slovenian Tourism Presented in NYC Cheers to green was the title of the workshop that the Slovenian tourist board (STB) organized in New York City last Wednesday, November 16, to promote Slovenia as an exquisite and green tourist location. SLOVENIAN TOURISM IN NYC DOUBLE RECALL EUNIC WASHINGTON DC SLOVENIAN PHOTO EXHIBITION IN MEXICO AVSENIK MUSIC WORKSHOP SLOVENIA VS. USA SOCCER MATCH 2012 URBAN & REGIONAL POLICY FELLOWSHIPS LIST TO DO Embassy of Slovenia 2410 California Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20008, USA T: +1 202 386 66 01 E: vwa@gov.si www.washington.embassy.si The workshop gave the representatives of tourism boards of the towns of Bled, Kobarid, Tolmin, and Ljubljana, the spa Zdravilišče Rogaška and a number of tourist agencies the chance to meet potential partners among American interlocutors. Internationally renowned surgeon Dr. Ciril Godec, a Slovenian who for more than forty years has lived and worked in New York City, acknowledged the potential for medical tourism in Slovenia. According to him, Slovenia has two basic conditions for that -- high quality of medical services in Slovenia, and breathtaking unspoiled nature. The event was followed by a Slovenian dinner reception where American trip organizers, travel agents and travel media representatives could taste great Slovenian wine and food. Among the guests were also Dr. Ernest Petrič, first Slovenian
ambassador to the United States and Dr. Melita Gabrič, Slovenian Consul General in New York. In his speech, Ambassador Kirn invited American guests to Slovenia and gave seven reasons for it: striking and intriguing beauty, unspoiled nature, closeness to major cities like Venice, Vienna, and Munich, safety, good infrastructure, custom tailored programs, and location which you can enjoy all year around. A guest could enjoy a presentation of Slovenian attractions, where most emphasis was given to the Julian Alps, with the dramatic Soča River Valley and Lake Bled as well as to the spa and crystal of Rogaška Slatina, which was one of the event s partners. The director of STB Maja Pak reminded everyone that many Americans have already discovered Slovenia, among them Ernest Hemingway, who fell in love with the valley of Soča River. The event took place in Marriot Marquis hotel, where young, energetic Slovenian violinist Anja Bukovec created an electric and invigorating atmosphere. BUSINESS Double Recall The Reason You ll Have to Type Twice One of the faster growing Slovenian start-up companies in the U.S. market is Double Recall. The company provides textbased advertising on internet web sites before accessing the web sites content. They got the idea for this type of advertising on web sites while seeing the problems the London Times had with implementing payable subscription. The London Times lost almost 90% of its online users. So the idea for a text-based advertising system in which all the content of the web site would stay free and the publishers would still earn money, was born. The main point of the system is that before you can see the article you want on the internet, you have to type in the highlighted text from the advertisements on the website and then you get to see the content for free. The idea was well accepted in the Slovenian market, so now almost all publishing houses use this system on their on-line editions. 2
But the company didn t stop there. They went further and applied to the Y Combinator for startup funding and even got to meet Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Later, they became the first Slovenian company to get funding from the Y Combinator. They continue to work and develop their product in the United States, where they want to stay, since the economic climate is great for small start-up companies. And their work has not been unnoticed. Currently, big publishing houses like The New York Times, Forbes and Condé Nast are considering starting their Double Recall in the on-line editions. Their goal of the project is to rid web sites of adverts, so you d only have to type in two highlighted words per web site and then you d have unlimited access to the web site s content for the next 24 hours. EUNIC Washington DC CULTURE EUNIC is a coalition of national cultural institutes from the EU, that works across a global network of 80 cities from Brussels to New Delhi, from Moscow to New York and now DC. EUNIC Washington Cluster was founded this year and is aiming high in its ambitions. Full members of EUNIC in Washington are the Alliance Française, Austrian Cultural Forum Washington, British Council, Goethe- Institut, Hellenic Foundation for Culture, Instituto Camões, Romanian Cultural Institute, and Italian Cultural Institute. The embassies can become associate members, and current members in the Washington cluster are the embassies of Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden while the Delegation of the EU to the United States is an observer. EUNIC Washington aims to present diverse, cutting-edge and thought-provoking cultural and educational programs to showcase the best of contemporary Europe. On Tuesday, November 15 at 6.30 p.m. EUNIC Washington presented a Eurochannel event at the West End cinema. The best of European short films were gathered in one screening. All the tickets were sold out and the audience really appreciated the selection. Among ten films, there was also one of Slovenian production, titled Hop Skip, and Jump (Troskok). We will regularly keep you informed about the EUNIC events, so that anyone interested can attend. In addition, you can check the web side at: http://www.euniconline.eu/ or follow it on Facebook: http:// www.facebook.com/ EUNICDC. 3
Slovenian Photo Exhibition in Mexico On Friday, November 11, the Slovenian community in Mexico unveiled a photo exhibition called ESLOVENIA: PAIS QUE SE SIENTE!. The exhibition is on view at the cultural center of Benemérito de las Americas in southern Mexico and will be available to the public until November 25. The exhibition was prepared in cooperation with the Honorary Consulate General of the Republic of Slovenia in Mexico. The opening of the exhibition was attended by Antonio Velasco Piña (deputy director for development and cultural policy in Coyoacan), Ariel Lopez (honorary consul of Slovenia in Mexico) and Primož Kajdič (president of the Slovenian community in Mexico). Avsenik Music Workshop CULTURE The exhibition unveils mostly photos by Jože Denko from Rakičan, who is an academic painter, and by Marko Mrše, a freelance photographer from Zagreb. CULTURE Music School Avsenik Institution invites all accordion players and other Slovenian musicians from abroad to attend a week-long Avsenik Music Workshop in June 2012. The participants will learn the special Avsenik technique of playing the instrument and have a chance to perform in a concert tour around Slovenia. The workshop will take place in Begunje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia, from June 19 through 25, 2012. Application deadline is December 15, 2011. Entry form and the details are available at: http://shop.avsenik.com/en/musicschool/258-glasbena-delavnica-zaglasbenike-iz-izseljenstva. 4
Slovenia vs. USA Soccer Match On Thursday, November 15, Slovenia s and the U.S national men s soccer team met at a friendly game in Ljubljana. This was the first time Slovenia s new head coach Slaviša Stojanović was at the helm of the Slovenian team. The US head coach Jürgen Klinsmann said before the game, that he was happy to get SPORT together again with his former colleague Srečko Katanec. Although the game at the Stožice stadium did not end up how Slovenia s fans would have wanted (the U.S. team won 2-3) it awas a good way for both teams to begin their attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. The game was not a first just for head coach Stojanović, the U.S. ambassador to Slovenia Joseph Mussomeli also watched his first soccer game live at the stadium. The German Marshall Fund has announced their 2012 Call for Applications for fellowships being offered through its Urban and Regional Policy program. The Urban and Regional Policy Fellowships are open to practitioners and policymakers working on local and state policy in the United States and Europe. Fellows have the opportunity to conduct research projects (of varying SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2012 Urban & Regional Policy Fellowships length and depth) designed to shed new light on an urban or regional policy challenge by exploring how it has been addressed on the other side of the Atlantic. The deadline for submission of applications is January 31, 2012 You can find more information at: www.gmfus.org. For specific questions please contact ckuklick@gmfus.org. 5
LIST OF EVENTS List To Do 1. The European Career Fair in Boston The European Career Fair in Boston is an annual recruiting event, organized by the MIT European Club, that connects employers from Europe with the most talented candidates that live in the US. The Career Fair will offer an opportunity to: facilitate matching European employers to some of the brightest researchers who are interested in a career in Europe; and increase the awareness in the United States of the opportunities that European research offers. The European Commission will have a stand at the Career Fair on the exhibition day on January 21. When: January 21-23, 2012 Where: (MIT campus, Cambridge, MA) More information: www.euro-career.com 2. Glasbena Matica s annual concert Sing! Sing! Sing! The Glasbena Matica Slovenian singing society s Sing! Sing! Sing!, the annual concert, dinner and dance, will take place on Saturday, November 19, 2011, at the Slovenian National Home on St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The Joey Tomsick Orchestra will perform after the concert and dinner for the dancing part of the event. When: November 19, 2011 Where: Slovenian National Home on St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio More info: (216) 481-1439 3. New Exhibition River Slovenia, with its beautiful rivers, is a paradise for everyone: those looking to relax and the ones seeking more challenging outdoor adventures. Exhibtion features a set of photographs by Jaka Vinšek, a young but very successful Slovenian photographer. When: Ongoing - December 31, 2011 Where: Embassy of Slovenia, 2410 California St., NW, Washington, DC 20008 More info: (202) 386-6601 The weekly Embassy Newsletter, produced by the Embassy of Slovenia in Washington., is available on: www.washington.embassy.si. Send us your comments or request for a subscription on: vwa@gov.si, Editor: Maša Šiftar de Arzu 6