From the Executive Director
Our Centennial Year has passed and we have started a new century of service to the international scholars who have come to further their studies and learn about the U.S.
We thank all our collaborators and partners who made the IHP Centennial Celebration such a wonderful year filled with events and recognition of the International House World Wide Movement, which started in Philadelphia and continues to be a flagship of international understanding and partnership. These activities brought back many of our friends and gave us the opportunity to make new friends as we introduced International House Philadelphia to those who visited us for the first time.
Our many accomplishments during the centennial year speak to the staff’s dedication and to the support of our Boards and the community. The 536 films screened during the year and the 44 events that we hosted provided a view of the many cultures represented not only at IHP, but throughout the greater Philadelphia region. We saw new friends join us to celebrate our Centennial Gala, “It Happened First in Philadelphia!” Eight major art exhibits continued to further our mission of presenting high-quality arts by showcasing the work of world renowned and local artists.
We welcomed 814 residents from 79 countries, who attended 53 colleges, universities, educational and training programs in the greater Philadelphia region. Our multi-cultural home away from home gave them all the opportunity to experience and share the unique elements of each culture found under IHP’s roof. Through this cultural exchange, new relationships have developed between people from numerous countries who will now network and call each other life-long friends.
We continued to arrange visits from our many international partners and collaborators so that they would share with our residents their professional experiences as executives, in the US and abroad, as part of our Leadership Lectures series. These lectures provided our residents insight into the business world and offered support in professional and personal development.
IHP residents were also recognized for the third consecutive year, receiving Davis Projects for Peace grants to implement their own grassroots peace-building programs. The recipients for 2011 returned from their fieldwork in Ghana and Egypt to present the results of their work to an audience of residents, staff and invited guests at IHP.
IHP’s Spoken Language Program continues to thrive, educating students on the conversational elements of many languages offered. In 2011 we had over 400 people working together in intimate class settings to learn from each other through inspired conversation groups.
2011 was indeed a wonderful year for IHP as we honored the previous 100 years of service and began to look forward to our next century here in Philadelphia, and across the globe. Once again, from the bottom of my heart and for all those associated with International House who have come before me, I thank you—residents, contributors, board members, volunteers and staff—for a successful Centennial year. Without your hard work, time, resources, expertise and dedication it would not have been possible for us to reach this milestone.
Sincerely,
Tanya Steinberg
Executive Director
