Give1Project - Global Leadership Summit at UNESCO

On Friday, March 11, I had the pleasure and privilege of attending activities organized as part of the Give1Project Global Leadership Summit for 2016.

GIVE1PROJECT's mission is to invest in young global leaders, empowering and inspiring them to continuously strive for greater social, economic and political participation in their communities, both locally and internationally. Previous summits have been held in Cotonou, Benin (2013), Casablanca, Morocco (2014), and Washington, D.C., U.S.A. (2015).

The Paris summit was a four-day affair, with Friday's activities consisting primarily of two panel discussions about leadership. One hundred and fifty persons from 30 countries and 25 nationalities were in attendance.

Conference attendees
© Discover Paris!
The morning started with a brief introduction of the day's session by Jacqueline Cofield, director of Give1Project's Give1Arts program for the arts and cultural entrepreneurship. (Ms. Cofield organized the Global Educator Program that was an integral part of the Beauford Delaney art exhibition that took place in Paris from February 4 - March 15, 2016).

Jacqueline Cofield, Give1Arts of Give1Project
© Discover Paris!
This was followed by a presentation of UNESCO by Victoria Dellinger, External Relations and Public Information officer; spoken word by Ibson Littérapure; and an introduction to Give1Project by founder and CEO, Thione Niang.

Victoria Dellinger, UNESCO
© Discover Paris!

Thione Niang, Give1Project
© Discover Paris!
Give1Project executive director Dr. Anta Sané then introduced the first panel discussion, which was entitled "Women in Leadership: Inspiring Positive Change."

Dr. Anta Sané, Give1Project
© Discover Paris!

Panelists for "Women in Leadership: Inspiring Positive Change"
© Discover Paris!
Among the panelists were:

Karen Andre, White House Liaison to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Amaal Nuux, Somali-Canadian singer and songwriter; and Danielle Sassou Nguesso, president of the Sounga Foundation.

Karen Andre, White House Liaison, HUD
© Discover Paris!

Amaal Nuux, singer-songwriter
© Discover Paris!

Danielle Sassou Nguesso, Sounga Foundation
© Discover Paris!
This discussion went far longer than anticipated due to numerous comments given in response to a young man expressing his belief that women have no problems with inequality today and asking the panel whether women themselves prevented other women from achieving the success they desire.

Give1Project founder Niang then introduced the second panel, which was entitled "Against the Odds: Empowerment and Leadership."

Panelists for "Against the Odds: Empowerment and Leadership"
© Discover Paris!
Among the panelists were:

Mamadou Cisse, youngest mayor in Senegal; and Debo Folunrosho, Founder and Creative Director at Applause Africa.

Mamadou Cisse, mayor of Kédougou, Senegal
© Discover Paris!

Debo Folunrosho, Applause Africa
© Discover Paris!
Senegalese rapper and activist Simon Kouka delivered a powerful and impassioned speech about leadership and giving back to Africa.

Simon Kouka, Senegalese rapper and activist
© Discover Paris!
The afternoon ended with the presentation of Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards to start-up business owners

Outstanding Entrepreneurship Award Winners
(far left, center, and far right)
© Discover Paris!
and Karen Andre presenting a gift from the White House to Morocco's Ambassador to UNESCO, H.E. Mrs. Zohour Alaoui.

Karen Andre and H.E. Mrs. Zohour Alaoui
(Anta Sané and Thione Niang in background)
© Discover Paris!
During the course of the summit, participants also enjoyed a welcome at the French Business Confederation MEDEF, a visit to the Presidential Palace, and a gala dinner and award ceremony hosted by Royal Air Maroc.

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Bob Tomlinson: Fragments of Myth Exhibition in New York

Bob Tomlinson is a Jamaican-American artist, retired French professor, and long-time Paris resident who made the City of Light his home “by accident.” He lived in Paris during the 1968 student uprising, moved away for several years, and then came back and established permanent residency in the city. He and I share a burning passion for investigating the history of African-American Paris, particularly regarding Black Montmartre during the interwar years. His story is one of 24 African-American and Afro-Caribbean expatriate stories that I feature in the Discover Paris! publication Black Paris Profiles.

Bob Tomlinson and Anna Comnena
Image courtesy of Bob Tomlinson
Viridian Artists, a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea, NY, will be hosting an exhibition of Bob's latest works from March 15 - April 6, 2016. Called Fragments of Myth, the show will feature several complex canvases done in Bob's inimitable style.

Josephine Baker: The Myth of Africa
2016 Oil and collage on canvas
Image courtesy of Bob Tomlinson
Bob combines areas painted in oil with elaborately textured and printed papers, as well as digitally manipulated photographs. His work flows uniquely between the figurative and the abstract. Art critic Lawrence Downes writes that:

The subjects of the paintings are echoes of myths, be they ancient, literary, historical or personal. However, both formally and philosophically, they can reach us only as fragments.

The Expulsion from the Garden
2016 Oil and collage on canvas
Image courtesy of Bob Tomlinson
Bob was born in Brooklyn, New York. He has shown widely in Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York and is represented in many international public and private collections, including those of the Clark-Atlanta University Museum, City University of New York, the late Dr. Maya Angelou, Lord and Lady Hirshfield, M. Franco Trecanni di Montichiari, Mme Linda Weil-Curiel, and Herr Frits Bernard. A graduate of Pratt Institute and the CUNY Graduate Center, he is also a scholar of French Literature and Aesthetics and has lectured and published in both disciplines, as well as in Afro-American Studies.

In addition to Black Paris Profiles (2012), Bob figures in the book entitled 100 New York Painters by Cynthia M. Dantzic (Schiffer, 2006) and is one of the artists studied in a recent Masters Thesis by Charlotte Barat entitled "Artistes noirs américains à Paris (1945-1969). Vie de bohème, liberté artistique et négociations identitaires (Université de Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2014)." He is also the subject of a film project by the documentary filmmaker Louis Massiah.

Fragments of Myth opens March 15 with a reception on Thursday March 17 from 5-8 PM. The work will be on view through April 2. Bob will be at the gallery on Saturday, April 2, the final day of the exhibition, for coffee and conversation from 3-4 PM.

Viridian Artists, Inc.
548 West 28th St #632
NY, NY 10001

Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12-6 PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Director at 212 414 4040 or

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Beauford Delaney's Montparnasse - Entrée to Black Paris' Newest Walking Tour

When I organized the Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color art exhibition at Columbia Global Centers | Paris at Reid Hall, I created a new Entrée to Black Paris walking tour to honor the artist.

Beauford Delaney
© Carl van Vechten 1953
Beauford moved to Paris in 1953 and died here in 1979. For the majority of these years, he lived in the historic artists' district called Montparnasse. The walk features his homes and haunts in the 6th and 14th arrondissements, and includes two sites that bear plaques commemorating him on their façades.

Mural - Théâtre de la Gaîte - Montparnasse

 © Discover Paris!

On the day after the exhibition's grand opening, I gave the tour for the first time to students from the University of Arizona and their professor, Dr. Bryan Carter. This group traveled to Paris for the purpose of creating an Augmented Reality app that allows exhibition attendees and owners of the exhibition catalog to access information and spoken word performances on the Internet that are associated with several of the works in the show.

Professor Bryan Carter (far right), University of Arizona students,
and Monique (front left)
© Discover Paris!
The second group to experience the tour consisted primarily of travelers from Beauford's hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Four of them represented the Knoxville Museum of Art, which has since expressed keen interest in hosting the exhibition during the spring and summer of 2017.

Knoxville group at Théâtre de Poche
© Discover Paris!
One of the participants remarked that it was very special for her to see Knoxville's name displayed on two façades in Paris!

Plaque at Hôtel Le M
© Discover Paris!
The following week, teachers attending the exhibition and participating in J Rêve International's Global Educator Program for professional development took the tour.

At Hôtel Le M
© J Rêve International

At Montparnasse Cemetery
© J Rêve International

Crossing boulevard du Montparnasse
© J Rêve International
Their mission in attending the exhibition was to learn about STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education and to explore ways to incorporate the arts into teaching practices for their respective disciplines with Beauford's life and art serving as inspiration. For a full week, the group attended and participated in several conferences on these themes, including a meeting with the Fulbright Commission.

The exhibition was originally scheduled to run from February 4 to 29, 2016, but due to its tremendous success, it has been prolonged until March 15, 2016! Entry is free and registration is required to visit. To sign up for a visit, click here.

If you'd like to experience the Beauford Delaney's Montparnasse walking tour, send e-mail to

.

Beauford Delaney
Rue Guilleminot
France 1973
© Errol Sawyer

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