THE ΤΕΛΟΣ SOCIETY speaks to Sozita Goudouna, Founding Director of Greece In USA
Greece in USA is a non-profit organization with a global reach that promotes knowledge of contemporary and ancient Greek Culture while fostering international cultural cooperation, experimentation and social engagement. The organization's extensive programming includes commissioned artists' and curators' projects, residencies, educational and ecological initiatives and the commitment to cultivating a sensible culture of innovation and thought leadership.
We are dedicated to offering innovative and unique programs in education and the arts, all exploring the evolving diversity and richness of Greek and Cypriot cultures. The non- profit organization seeks to generate new thinking about the arts and promote cross- cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of creation.
The organization promotes international exchange of practice and knowledge in the arts - visual and sound art, dance, architecture, theatre - research on the methods used in curatorial and performing practices and investigation of points of intersection between the arts, science and the public sphere by means of interventions, collective actions, educational programs and publications.
Greece in USA aims to collaborate and build long-lasting partnerships with leading institutions and individuals who actively engage with Greece and its culture and to convey a comprehensive and distinctive representation of Greece and Cyprus by producing cultural and educational programs that encourage intercultural dialogue and enable cultural involvement.
Our principal goals are:
ï‚· To shape and envision the image of contemporary Greece in the United States beyond existing stereotypes
ï‚· To recalibrate the assumed center of Greek national narratives to include those who have often been denied historical recognition.
ï‚· To transform the way Greek histories are told and produce projects that reflect the vast, rich complexity of Greek culture.
ï‚· To support Greek inspired cultural practices by welcoming and nurturing new ideas and influential perspectives
ï‚· To commission, produce and present contemporary Greek and Cypriot culture that grapple with many of the pressing social and political issues of our time
ï‚· To foster Greek scholarship and cultural research within the American educational system
ï‚· To develop a transatlantic network for the exchange of culture and ideas
ï‚· To strengthen the development of structures in cultural policy & leadership, and foster worldwide mobility.
Greece in USA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization registered in the State of New York, tax-exempt ID no. 85-0828531. Contributions to Greece in USA are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Greece in USA's launch is under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture.
The Day After...
Acolytes of Inheritance
by Jack Moore, Nipomo
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So curious that it had cleaved cleanly in two. Being made of glass, not crystal and having tumbled from the shelf, it was an entirely remarkable occurrence. The moment of reprieve to regard this marvel was short-lived and the argument that preceded it morphed into a brusque discussion of what to do with it.
An aesthetically unremarkable object, not even worthy of dusting, it was generally assumed it would be deposited in the garbage, the small shards Hoovered from the carpet, and the clearing of Gran’s house would continue. No one felt sentimentality toward it, it was not an heirloom, and there were far too many other things to deem worthy of family heirloom or trash to linger too long on this one object.
The afternoon sun hit the two halves of the bowl, and it was the first time I ever regarded its presence in this house as anything remarkable. I considered its journey across the Atlantic and up the Mississippi. How, in a neoclassical manor, it might have been set upon a shelf, not in dissimilar fashion to ours.
Maybe, Nancy had looked at it, admired it, and imagined it on her own shelf, or maybe she thought of how, not unlike her, it came in the cargo hold of a ship. And perhaps, these glances were why it was given to her as she left, free, on the journey to the Bisbee. Perhaps Gran similarly marveled it on the shelf in her shack it might have been why she felt compelled to gift it to a young Gran on her deathbed. Thus continuing the cycle of this object sitting on shelves, bearing witness to stories. A thing to be admired, and only regarded when it would be brought to its next resting place.
Though this is only conjecture. It could be a host waiting for its story to continue, or maybe it was simply another broken thing, to be swept up and it’s mythos forgotten. Just like the rest of everything.
