Office of International Education

International Festival 2008 - Education Without Borders: Global Learning in the 21st Century 

Muppet Diplomacy: How Sesame Street is Changing Our World

Gary Knell, October 10, 2008 

12:30pm - Rangos Ballroom, UC

Throughout its 18 years, the International Festival has provided the community with a unique opportunity – a chance to engage and explore world cultures, pressing issues, and fascinating traditions through a wide range of mediums. This year will be no different. It is with great pleasure that we invite you to attend the 2008 International Festival: "Education Without Borders: Global Learning in the 21st Century."

With a full schedule from Friday, October 10 through Saturday, October 11, 2008 Carnegie Mellon’s University Center will be transformed into a world of exploration with workshops, lectures, performances, food, and films. The International Festival planning committee, comprised of students, faculty, and staff has put together a festival of captivating programs and events intended to bring to light issues involving education around the world.

Do not miss the keynote lecture- "Muppet Diplomacy: How Sesame Street is Changing Our World" by Gary Knell, President & CEO of the Sesame Workshop on Friday, October 10th at 12:30pm in Rangos Ballroom. A movement called Sesame Street that started in the 1960’s has grown to reach children in over 140 countries– using the magnetic appeal of television to improve their lives. As the single largest informal educator of young children, local Sesame Street programs are created to focus on the unique educational needs within each country, such as the stigma around HIV/AIDS in South Africa, girls’ education in Egypt, and respect and understanding in Northern Ireland. Gary Knell, President and CEO, will share insight into how Sesame Workshop develops these programs, how they address local educational needs, and the impact they are making around the world.

For a truly entertaining and cultural closing to the festival, be sure to attend the musical performance by Etran Finatawa- a nomadic blues group from Niger- on Saturday, October 11th in Rangos Ballroom. Etran Finatawa’s musicians come from Niger, one of the three poorest countries in the world. Niger has a very rich cultural heritage and sits at a desert crossroads between the Berber and Arab cultures of the North and the many sub-Saharan cultures of the South. In Niger there are eleven different ethnic groups most of whom are farmers or pastoralists, both sedentary and nomadic. Amongst them are the Tuareg and Wodaabe, many of whom are still nomadic. They move with their camels, long-horned cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys seeking pastures along the Sahelian savannah at the fringes of the South Sahara. Etran Finatawa was formed as a band at the time of the 2004 Festival in the Desert near Timbuctou. The literal meaning of their name is 'the stars of tradition’. They are the first group to use the songs and music of the Wodaabe in a modern context. In Niger their music has a cult following and their songs are sung by the young and school children all over the country.