News - December 07, 2007
SUF students invited to take part in the Festival for Legality by the Region of Tuscany y
The fall 2007 farewell event will be a ‘party within a party,’ taking place within the context of a much larger event sponsored by the Region of Tuscany—the Festival for Legality. This event will take place on December 19, beginning at 4pm at the prestigious Palazzo degli Affari. SUF will be present not only as guests, but as an active participant in this community event: Director Barbara Deimling has been invited to speak at the Round Table about the confiscated fields of the Mafia, together with former Attorney General Pier Luigi Vigna, Vice–President for the Region of Tuscany Federico Gelli, President of the Region of Calabria Agazio Loiero, and Consul General of the United States in Florence Nora Dempsey. There will also be display panels chronicling SUF’s involvement in the fight for legality.
Another important focus of the festivities will be the students who have participated in the fight for legality through Liberiamoci dalle spine. This means not only Italians, but also students from Syracuse University in Florence. SUF students and faculty began actively participating in a volunteer program in Corleone over a year ago, with students working in fields confiscated from the Mafia. SUF’s presence has caused interest in the Italian community, and has been covered extensively in news devoted to the Region.
The opening ceremonies and round table discussions will be followed by a buffet dinner, offered to all participants and students, as well as SUF host families. At 9.30pm the festivities will move to the Fortezza da Basso, where the focus will shift to music and entertainment. In keeping with the theme of the event, actors from the popular Italian TV series ‘Police District’ will be present.
Says Deimling, “I am pleased to see that SUF’s engagement with the community has been extended to include the farewell party, which used to take place behind closed doors. This is indicative of SUF’s opening up to the community—and vice-versa.”
World-renown photographer-director to exhibit work at SUF
Oliviero Toscani, world-renowned Italian photographer who has long been known for his ad campaigns based on social awareness for, amongst others, the Benetton fashion group, has agreed to hold an exhibition of his work on the SUF campus. The installation will be part of the SUF Art Gallery's Contemporary Visions initiative which brings contemporary artists and students together. Says Devorah Block, Coordinator of the SUF Art Gallery, "This project is going to be something completely new for the Gallery. We are working together with Toscani to explore alternative spaces on the SUF campus for the artist's installation. This is going to be very exciting."
Through the shock appeal of his photography Toscani has in the past lobbied against racism, female genital mutilation, and capital punishment.
More recently, October saw the airing of an ad campaign for the name brand Nolita of the fashion group Flash&Partners, against anorexia. The company’s social campaign, with the backing of the Italian Ministry of Health, portrayed the ravaged body of French fashion model Isabelle Caro, who recounted for readers of the magazine Vanity Fair her fifteen-year battle with anorexia. The billboards literally stopped traffic in Milan.
The exhibition will take place in April 2008, and will include a lecture for SUF students and the public. “We are not yet ready to reveal the subject matter of Toscani’s exhibition,” says SUF Director Barbara Deimling, “but rest assured it will be captivating.”
A three-day celebration of 100 years of academic excellence at SUF
There’s more to the equation 43+36+21=100 than simple mathematics…
The long-awaited three-day Celebration of Excellence: 100 Years of Scholarship in Florence is finally upon us. The SUF campus is gearing up for a community-wide celebration, to be kicked off at 5:30pm on Thursday, December 13 with a reception for graduate alumni students who have returned to Florence for the festivities, marking 43 years of the Florence Graduate Program.
The evening event will continue at 8pm with a book presentation honoring Rab Hatfield, when Italian Art, Society, and Politics: A Festschrift in Honor of Rab Hatfield will be presented to him by his graduate students on the occasion of his 70th birthday—fittingly enough, at the feet of the David in the Galleria dell’Accademia. The Festschrift is the third book to be published in SUF’s Villa Rossa Series, and this special occasion will recognize 36 years of Rab Hatfield’s tenure at SUF.
The third event in the celebration will take place on December 14, at 3:30pm at the Villa Rossa, the academic heart of the Florence campus, when the 2007 FIA graduate students will present their theses at the Symposium Processions and Pageantry in Renaissance Italy, markingthe21st anniversary of the Annual Florence Symposium.
Joining the celebration will be representatives of Syracuse University and SUAbroad, as well as 75 SUF graduate student alumni.
