Burlington/ Puerto Cabezas Sister City Program celebrates 20 years of People-to-People relationships. 

     The years 2003-2004 marked the 20th anniversary of the Burlington-Puerto Cabezas Sister City Program and its mission of promoting understanding between the people of Vermont and those of Puerto Cabezas on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua.  The program has a history that has included exchanges between municipal leaders, educators, artists, firemen, baseball players, students, musicians, carpenters, drug counselors, agronomists, and families.
      In August 2003 Mayer Peter Clavelle kicked off the Burlington Latino Festival by declaring August 8 Puerto Cabezas Day in Burlington. Working with the Parks and Recreation Department we were able to close the block in front of City Hall for a street dance. Howard Jaentschke played Soka music from Nicaragua, and Vermonters who had been involved with the program over the years spoke of their experiences. The municipal gallery featured an exhibit of Dan Higgins’ photographs of residents of Burlington and Puerto Cabezas, “Side by Side”.
     In October 2003 The Living Learning Gallery exhibited an exhibition of new photographs by Dan Higgins of life on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast. Included in the exhibition space were monitors showing videos made as part of the Sister City sponsored URACCAN video program launched in 2000.
      In December 2003 the Sister City Program was approached by a group of UVM students wishing to do community work in Bilwi as part of UVM’s Alternate Spring Break program. Their leaders attended several of our meetings and we organized contacts for the group although ultimately the group cancelled their plans. We are working toward sponsoring a UVM Alternate Spring Break delegation f or year 2005.
      A special focus this past year has been to celebrate the program’s history and promote new outreach. Increasingly important to the program has been the use of video in introducing Vermonters to their sister City in Nicaragua, and in introducing Burlington to people in Puerto Cabezas. The video program we started in Bilwi in 2000 continues to generate rich programming that Adelphia Cable Channel 17 regularly broadcasts. In May 2004 Channel 17 devoted a time slot for videos from “Port” every Friday evening from 7 until 8pm. 
      In Burlington we have encouraged groups to reciprocate by making videos to send to "Port". In April we helped members of UVM professor Tina Escaja’s Spanish class record video messages about their lives to their student counterparts at URACCAN. We continue to help independent video producers in Bilwi with equipment and technical support, as well as advise the media program at URACCAN. We archive video programs onto DVD for the library at URACCAN.
      In April 2004 the Sister City Program sent local ambassador Howard Jaentschke to Bilwi to represent Burlington at the 75th anniversary of Puerto Cabezas. Sister Cities from Spain and England were also present in Puerto Cabezas for the occasion.
      In May the Program hosted Margarita Antonio, the director of communications from URACCCAN. She came to Burlington to discuss future direction for the video program there. We arranged for her to meet representatives of various educational institutions to discuss possible future collaborations. Also we helped with the purchase of DVD equipment for URACCAN’s new media center. Margarita appeared on Richard Kemp’s Channel 17 “Here and Now” show. 
      A June newsletter was sent to long time supporters with an update on activities and request for continued support from the community. That generated funds and the donation of baseball equipment. Also CVU high school student, Laura Navarro, has chosen to work with the Sister City Program as her community project for academic year 2004-2005.
      This fall the Sister City Board has plans for activities in both Bilwi and Burlington. In September we will send a delegation from Burlington to Port that will coincide with an Autonomy Conference in the region. Dan Higgins and Jane Kramer will conduct a video workshop for students at URACCAN on documenting life and culture in region. They will be collaborating with the Dwayne Waters dance group that performs regional dances on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast. Marisha Kazeniac will also be part of the delegation, seeking contacts for future educational exchanges between Puerto Cabezas and Burlington. 
      In October we plan to bring Dwayne Waters and three members of his group to Burlington to highlight of the Sister City Program’s 20th anniversary celebration. The group will offer dance workshops for Burlington Kids followed by a joint performance at Contois or Memorial Auditorium.  City Arts has agreed to sponsor the event and arrange for space in municipal buildings and several schools have expressed interest in participating. We are actively seeking outside funding for travel costs to bring the dancers to Vermont.
      The annual stipend from the city is invaluable, both materially and psychologically. As a program we have very little overhead, with almost all funding going into active programs. We are proud of Burlington’s 20 year commitment to a program that offers unique opportunities for involving Vermonters in the lives and realities of people in another culture. As an organization we function as an umbrella, supporting a wide range of people to people contacts. The direction the program takes has always been directed by the interests of the people involved. Burlington residents are welcome to attend our monthly meetings, and we continuously seek new members representing different aspects of the community. 
 The best way to keep informed of Sister City activities, or to reach us, is through our web site, www.uvm.edu/sistercity
 

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