Paramaribo: Request for American Corners Sustaining Funds in

UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000026

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KIRC NS
SUBJECT: Paramaribo: Request for American Corners Sustaining Funds in
FY10

REF: 09 STATE 123621


1. (U) SUMMARY

(A) Embassy Paramaribo requests "American Corner Sustaining Funds"
for FY10. Post's vigorous efforts in harnessing the American
Corner's (AC) capabilities as one of Post's premier public
diplomacy tool paid off with a dramatic 132% increase in the number
of audience members reached in 2009, even as it streamlined the
number of AC's programs while enhancing the quality of current
offerings.



(B) In response to the growing popularity among local residents of
the American Corner (AC) as the de facto cultural and educational
arm of the U.S. Embassy, Post, with significant American Corner
Funding support, embarked on more strategic marketing that targeted
specific groups for specific programs, utilizing traditional means
of promotions combined with people-to-people marketing campaign.
In 2009, the number of guests who visited and utilized AC resources
more than doubled from the previous year's figure, while the number
of American Movie Night patrons more than tripled, to include
patrons in the District of Nickerie, Suriname's second largest city
along the Suriname-Guyana border.



(C) The American Corner served as the vibrant springboard from
which Post launched a total of 32 public diplomacy outreach
activities in 2009. These activities varied in breadth, scope, and
themes: from hosting a breakfast meeting for the American Chamber
of Commerce of Suriname at the American Corner, to co-sponsoring
spirited discussions on environmental issues among 235 secondary
school students, and staging a business consultation meeting
between Suriname's import/export business groups with a
representative from the U.S. Department of Commerce.



(D) As Public Diplomacy remains at the heart of the United States
official effort in Suriname, Post continues to face the challenge
of achieving our 2010 goals - with public outreach as the number
one goal in our Mission Strategic Plan - with lean human resource
capital: Post has just one USDH PolEcon officer who also supervises
our public diplomacy effort, one FSN PD assistant (currently a
vacant position),and one EFM PolEcon Assistant who assists on PD
programming. A fulltime USDH Public Diplomacy Officer position has
been approved for Paramaribo and was on the bid list. The new PAO
is projected to arrive at Post in summer 2010.



(E) In 2010, Post will continue to rely on the growing public
appeal of the AC, the steady support of the AC's host institution,
the Cultural Center of Suriname (CCS),and the continued AC
funding, to sustain current successful programs while exploring
fresh initiatives in expanding Post's public diplomacy outreach
activities. END SUMMARY




2. (U) AMERICAN CORNER PROGRAM ELEMENTS



(A) Description of Programs



In 2009, Post staged a total of 32 programs that catered to diverse
audiences, which included college/high school/primary school
students, musicians, business leaders, indigenous peoples, women's
empowerment groups, tours and travel representatives, and
government officials.



Six new programs premiered at the American Corner in 2009: (1) A
photo-poster exhibit that celebrated the Suriname-South Dakota
State Partnership Program; (2) Women in History Conference; (3)
Breakfast Meeting of the Suriname's American Chamber of Commerce;
(4) Consultation/Meeting between Suriname's import/export groups
and a representative from the U.S. Department of Commerce to
discuss trade facilitations and U.S. customs; (5) World Earth Day
celebration with primary school students; and (6) the English Story
Hour, a book reading event for secondary and primary school
students in celebration of the International Education Week. These
new programs were in addition to programming for Black History
Month, Indigenous Peoples Day, and the monthly American Movie Night

offerings. Total program attendance in 2009 soared to 2,556
compared with the 1,100 number of audience reached in 2008.



Post capitalized on the "captive audience" of the American Movie
Night to enhance the positive image of the United States among
Surinamers. The 2009 American Movie Night, which has emerged as
the AC's "flagship" outreach program, featured films that were
keyed in to the U.S. monthly themes or the United Nations days.
The monthly movies, in addition to showcasing American culture and
values, underscored global issues such as press freedom, campaign
to stop violence against women, environment, and drugs trafficking.
Thoughtful movie programming that balanced Hollywood entertainment
with substantive topics, robust promotion of the AC in 2009, and
tapping into the youth/student/school market, resulted in the
tripling of movie patrons from 324 (2008 data) to 1004.



Similarly, as Post and American Corner staff engaged in a committed
promotion of the American Corner as an iconic U.S. cultural and
information resource center, the number of patrons who utilized the
AC's inventory of materials and equipment rose from 2008's number
of 500 to 1045 in 2009.



(B) List of Programs



- American Movie Night (12 monthly films))

- Suriname-South Dakota State Partnership Program
Photo/Poster Exhibit (1)

- Black History Month Events (5, including cultural
concerts, drums workshops, and book reading)

- Women in History Conference, Presentation, and
Discussion (1)

- American Film Festival in Nickerie (6 films )

- World Earth Day film screening for school kids (1)

- American Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Meeting (1)

- Indigenous Peoples of Suriname Day (2 cultural
presentations/workshops by the Kevin Locke Ensemble at the CCS)

- U.S. Trade Facilitation and Customs Consultation with
U.S. Department of Commerce official

- International Education Week: English Story Hour (2
book reading sessions for students)



Note: For more detailed listing of AC programs and tracking of
number of audience reached by a specific program, please see "2009
Box Office Report," "American Film Festival in Nickerie Report,"
and "2009 American Corner Hosted/Co-Sponsored Programs"
attachments. These supplemental data are also posted in the AC
Paramaribo website.



(C) Media Coverage and Promotion



Post and the American Corner enjoyed generous and positive coverage
from the local media in 2009. Local media devoted significant
press coverage to Kevin Jones (Cultural Envoy) for the Black
History month events, and to Kevin Locke Ensemble (PAI) for the
Indigenous Peoples of Suriname Day celebration. Press articles
promoting cultural performances that were co-hosted by the American
Corner at the CCS and other public venues were amplified by photos
in the cultural pages of the print media, in addition to broadcast
media interviews. The Ambassador's visit to the American Corner,
its resources, student patrons, and youth-oriented programs were
the subjects for a segment in the "Youth Journal," a popular
ten-minute daily TV news program, during International Education
Week. The American Movie Night continued to receive regular
monthly radio promotion, free of charge, from one of the American
Movie Night patrons who hosts a regular weekend radio talk show.

In addition to media promotions, Post pursued a vigorous
people-to-people campaign to promote the American Corner and its
programs by complementing traditional and broad approaches with
marketing blitz tailored to specific target audience. Aside from
handing out flyers, bookmarks, and AC souvenir pens in fairs and
other public gatherings, Post worked with schools, non-governmental
organization, special interest groups, and government agencies in
inviting patrons to specific programs that featured specific
themes.



Media promotions of American Corner-sponsored events are reinforced
by e-invitations. Post boasts a robust 200+ cultural e-mailing
list.




3. (U) AMERICAN CORNER OPERATIONS



(A) Location and Staffing



American Corner Paramaribo is located in one of the major
thoroughfares in the capital city, just three short blocks from the
business district and a few meters walking distance from four
public schools. Since its inauguration in May 2005, the AC has
reaped the benefits of being housed at the CCS, itself a landmark
cultural complex that enjoys considerable public esteem. Aside
from the American Corner, the CCS also hosts a writers' group
workshop center, the national HIV/AIDS prevention training center,
an internet caf???? and gift shop, a music school, and Suriname's
equivalent of a national library that receives an annual fund of
40,000 euro from the Dutch Embassy. On the average, 200 people
visit the CCS complex daily, thus guaranteeing the AC steady public
exposure.



The AC itself is a 25-seat maximum capacity air-conditioned room
situated on the second floor of the CCS Annex Building. Adjacent
to the AC are a huge exhibition/research space that can comfortably
seat 150 people and a medium size function room (capacity 60 seats)
that Post uses for the monthly movies and other medium scale
events. These rooms are in addition to the 400-seat capacity of
the CCS auditorium, which Post utilized extensively in 2009.
Other foreign missions that have staged cultural presentations in
the CCS auditorium in 2009 included the French, Indonesian, and
Indian embassies.



The AC is managed by a full-time AC director and a part-time AC
assistant director whose salaries are borne by the CCS foundation
and the government. Both AC managers are fluent in English.



(B) How FY2009 Funding Was Applied and Its Impact



The FY2009 funding of U.S.$9,000 invigorated Post's and AC's
initiatives in enhancing AC's existing inventories, creating new
promotional materials, sustaining basic services, developing new
programs while improving the quality of existing ones.



In September 2009, Post purchased materials that are meaningful and
valuable to the local students' English language learning
experience. Based on the Recommended Reading List for High School
Students submitted by the Ministry of Education of Suriname, Post
was able to identify and acquire American books that now form a
growing collection. These new inventories are supplemented by
three sets of twenty-six book titles, also drawn from the Ministry
of Education list, that are now the resource nucleus for an English
Book Club (EBC) that Post started promoting during International
Education Week in mid-November 2009. Along with the high school
books, the AC also purchased materials for the English Language
Learning Club (ELLC),a language learning program for middle school
students that was developed in partnership with the Youth Affairs
Division of the Ministry of Education. Post plans to officially
launch the EBC and the ELLC in February 2010. In September 2009,
the American Corner also added subscriptions to seven popular U.S.
magazines, such as Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, and Sports

Illustrated. Post's expenditures of $3,523.00 on reading materials
accounted for more than one third of the FY2009 total budget.



In April 2009, Post launched the concept of a mini American Corner
On Wheels Program by bringing American Movie Night to the District
of Nickerie, Suriname's eastern border city with Guyana. The
three-day event, billed as "American Film Festival in Nickerie,"
showcased films that highlight Black History, native American
culture, American sport, and Broadway, and drew in close to 350
movie patrons composed of young professionals, students, members of
civic groups, business people, media, and orphans. Inspired by the
positive result in Nickerie, Post plans to bring American Movie
Night to other underserved sectors of Suriname's twelve districts
in 2010.



Post is in the pre-production stage of promotional pamphlets that
will detail AC services, resources, and program offerings. The CCS
has also committed to installing a steel/metal signage in a
strategic corner in front of the CCS compound that will advertise
the American Corner to the steady stream of pedestrians, and
vehicular drivers and passengers that pass by the CCS complex
daily. Funds for these projects were already obligated in 2009 and
Post hopes to complete these projects by February 2010.



Of the $9,000 FY2009 sustaining funds that Post received, AC
expended $8,250 and obligated $1,402 that has not been liquidated
pending final completion of the projects (for a total of $9652.00).
The FY2009 AC sustaining funds of $9,000 were matched by Post
public diplomacy funding support of $10,356.00 for the staging of
Black History Month (Cultural Envoy),Indigenous Peoples of
Suriname celebration (PAI),and the American Film Festival in
Nickerie. Post did not receive any private fund donations in
FY2009, but in-kind radio publicity was received.



(C) Plans for the Future



In 2010, Post will continue to identify and pursue opportunities to
grow the American Corner as a multifaceted organization that caters
to the resource needs of a broader audience. As the American
Corner continues to nurture its base audience, comprised mostly by
youth and students, by offering more and quality youth-oriented
programs, it will also initiate and cultivate linkages with
professional groups for possible collaboration in the future.



With the planned launching of the English Book Club (EBC) and the
English Language Learning Club (ELLC) in early 2010, Post will
continue to fine tune its current inventory in order to make the
American Corner not only a repository of reference materials but
also a lead promoter of reading English books (fiction and
non-fiction),which should be popular because foreign, imported
books can be quite expensive for everyday Surinamers to purchase.
To this end, Post hopes to be able to purchase additional books,
drawn from the 150 titles that the Ministry of Education suggested,
with FY2010 American Corner funds. As youth remains one of the
major targets of AC outreach activities, Post plans to invite and
transport underserved students from Suriname's outlying districts
to the American Corner/CCS for special themed events.



In 2010, the American Corner will pursue its plan to host State
Department web chats on topics that will attract educators,
arts/crafts, and trade groups, women in management positions,
religious leaders, tourism representatives, and youth leaders,
among others.





(D) Itemized Budget Request for 2010



$3300 Wireless internet services and electricity
(upgrade to ADSL at 512/128 kps)

$2500 Books, subscriptions, audio/visual materials,

poster exhibits, and updated reference materials

$1680 American Movie Night logistics ($140/month)

$ 720 Audience transport costs (gasoline, etc.),
including student transportation to/from English book
reading/literature discussions/special events

$ 800 Program preparation and support

$ 800 Publicity (print media advertisement for Black
History Month & Indigenous Peoples Day)

$200 Anti-Virus Software



$10,000 TOTAL



(E) American Corner Training Provided



The American Corner Director has not participated in any training
since the 2007 training in Trinidad and Tobago because of budgetary
constraints. Regular, quarterly consultations between Post and
American Corner managers were held, however, to provide feedback
and guidance to the American Corner.
NAY