Pennsylvania First Lady Susan Corbett Announces Cultural Exchange Program with Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile, April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- First Lady Susan Corbett today announced a cultural exchange program with Chile that provides for five-week artist residencies in Pennsylvania for two Chilean visual artists. 

Mrs. Corbett made the announcement during a Pennsylvania tourism luncheon focused on promoting Pennsylvania as an ideal vacation spot to Chilean tour operators, travel writers and meeting planners. The luncheon is a part of the Governor's Jobs 1st Mission to Brazil and Chile. During the mission's first stop in Brazil, Mrs. Corbett made a similar announcement about a music exchange program with Brazil.

"Our engagement in and appreciation for Chile's arts and culture will strengthen our relationship and foster our economic ties," Mrs. Corbett said. "This exchange will be mutually beneficial, allowing residents of each country to see and experience the talent that helps our respective cultures thrive."

The Chilean printmakers will be resident artists with Artist Image Resource in Pittsburgh and up to two Pennsylvania printmakers will be resident artists with Taller 99 in Santiago, Chile.

Artist selection will be conducted collaboratively between the host studios and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Arts Midwest. Residencies could take place beginning in fall 2013 or winter 2014.

While in residence, the Chilean printmakers will be provided opportunities to interact with other artists in the Pittsburgh community, and each will be given an exhibition opportunity to present work from their residency and samples of works they bring with them. After they return home, the artists will share their experience with their colleagues.

The five-week exchanges are a collaboration of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency, and Arts Midwest, a U.S. regional arts organization which promotes creativity, nurtures cultural leadership, and engages people in meaningful arts experiences. As chair of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mrs. Corbett initiated the residency to further strengthen the economic and cultural ties to Chile.

Governor Corbett, Mrs. Corbett, and a delegation of Pennsylvania business, tourism and university leaders, are currently in Chile on the Governor's Jobs 1^st Mission, a business development mission to create new economic opportunities for the commonwealth. The mission is focused on creating jobs through export promotion, investment attraction, building relationships to increase port traffic, international student recruitment and promoting Pennsylvania as a world-class destination for tourism. 

The three-city, two-country mission, privately funded by Team Pennsylvania Foundation, included stops in the Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, along with Santiago, Chile. It will conclude April 16.

For more information about the governor's Jobs First Mission to Brazil and Chile, visit www.paglobal.org. 

Media contact:  Kirsten Page, Governor's Office 717-783-1116         

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the First Lady