City officials addressed outreach methods to partner with global cities at a Sister City Collaboration Committee meeting Monday.
Each committee member presented ideas they have implemented with Madison’s sister cities as well as plans they have for the future that could improve the city’s culture sharing and world relations.
Jo Oyama-Miller, president of the committee coordinating with Obihiro, Japan, said each city is given a $1,000 budget for interaction and exchange.
Oyama-Miller said Madison hosted several students for about a week. Japan required the students to attend English as a Second Language classes and meet with Japanese business men while staying in Madison, he said.
Diane Farsetta, coordinating with Ainaro, East Timor, said they will have a table at the fair trade holiday festival in December to support the sister city. She said they sell traditional Tais weaving and send the money back to the city. They are also giving a large donation to a doctor who works in East Timor to support maternal and child health, she said, and much of their early work involved fixing up the area after a U.S. occupation ending in 1999.
“Part of our city has been helping with rebuilding and reconstruction after that occupation,” Farsetta said.
Sal Carranza, coordinating with Tepatitlán, Mexico, said a muralist from Madison went in February as a cultural exchange and created a mural in a middle school there. Tepatitlán sent an artist to paint a mural in Madison for about six weeks over the summer as well.
Supporting micro-enterprise, doilies and sweaters made by women in Tepatitlán are sold at festivals here, he said. Carranza said an idea for next year is a cultural exchange of Wisconsin beer and Tepatitlán tequila. Second, he said the University of Wisconsin arboretum has a project called the Earth Partnership.
“We want to connect the elementary school here with the elementary school in Tepatitlán to work together on this project,” Carranza said.
Charles James, secretary of the board, coordinating with Freiburg, Germany, said this sister city was founded in 1987. Freiburg holds a fair for all of their sister cities which Madison will be invited to next summer.
“The former mayor of Freiburg who started the relationship with Madison just turned 80 and so we sent him over a lithograph of Madison, the way it looked in 1850,” James said. “He was very pleased with it.”
Carolyn Gantner, coordinating with Arcatao, El Salvador, said a major project there is creating scholarships to send high school students to college, with a component requiring their return to Arcatao so the community benefits.
Daina Zemliauskas-Juozevicius, coordinating with Vilnius, Lithuania, said there was more of a humanitarian need when the relationship first began in 1989, but now a main goal is cultural exchange. Dignitaries will visit Oct. 13 of this year.
Frank Alfano, coordinating with Mantova, Italy, said the relationship is hosted by Italian Workman’s Club. He said Madison was chosen because it reminded the founder of the sister city relationship from Italy of his mother’s hometown.
The committee concluded as Oyama-Miller announced the date of the upcoming international festival, February 21. The members will register together so their attendance showcases the cultures of their respective sister cities.
