Last Wednesday, March 9, Franklin's Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Kim Hildebrant, delivered a speech on the occasion of the Lugano Dance Project press conference event held at the Lugano Arte e Cultura (LAC). As an incredible collaboration between Franklin University Switzerland, the LAC and the City of Lugano, the Lugano Dance Projects aims at representing an important opportunity to create a positive and lasting impact on both the local and international community.
In his address, Mr. Hildebrant explained how as a liberal arts and sciences university, Franklin offers a holistic approach towards education, providing students with a comprehensive, cross-curricular overview in a wide variety of fields of study. Through active participation and hands-on learning opportunities, students acquire new competencies and abilities, gain new perspectives, and develop new horizons. Franklin University Switzerland wishes to leave a significant and lasting impression on the Ticino community by allowing students to learn and appreciate the cultural and historical relevance of the Lugano Dance Project. As a result, our institution will be involved in proactively promoting the event to an extremely heterogeneous public, from school children to a wide audience of adults and international professionals of the sector.
As Festival Partner of the Lugano Dance Project, Franklin's allowed its students to participate in the support and coordination of different phases of the project. In particular, four different groups of students will be engaged in the event's management:
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Students of the major in International Management, led by Professor Giulia Miniero, will contribute to the organization and dissemination of the project, liaising with representatives of the LAC and the City of Lugano to understand, measure and communicate the social impact brought by the Lugano Dance Project. These students will be operating in promoting arts philanthropy by creating and maintaining a high level of engagement with various stakeholders, including the artist, the local and the Franklin community.
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Students of the Communications and Media Studies major will support Professor Elettra Fiumi in the creation of a documentary and other additional accompanying videos. The feature film will introduce the origin of contemporary dance and its return to the territory of Ticino, while also exploring the lives of the three talented choreographers at the center of the Lugano Dance Project. Involved in filming and video production, students will learn the various phases of filmmaking, discovering different methods and styles of telling stories through a lens.
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Students studying Arts and Cultures will be involved in the Lugano Dance Project through the pilot course in Creative Practices, supervised by Professor Gabriel Gee. These students will analyze performance art and the historical framework of the Ticino region's dance legacy, inspired by the Monte Verità community. Using these insights as common ground for approaching the world of creativity, students will create a practical project using a medium of their choice.
Mr. Hildebrant concluded "Franklin is a citizen of the world, with students coming from more than 55 nations, an equally international faculty, and partnerships scattered around the globe. Through its involvement in the Lugano Dance Project, our university also wants to emphasize being a proud citizen of Lugano, and linked to the city's cultural, academic, media and business hub. In this sense, Lugano also belongs to the whole world."