Voices of Exchange

How can you be a rock band without instruments – and connect with people through song? Tune in to the next episode of Voices of Exchange and discover how one a capella group, The House Jacks, created a pitch perfect connection through song and how their music has struck a chord with audiences across the world, most recently in Latvia and Estonia.

With a special holiday treat at the end, this final episode of Season 3 is one you won’t want to miss. 

Catch Voices of Exchange on all major podcast platforms and at alumni.state.gov/voicesofexchange. Subscribe at bit.ly/SubscribenowVoE.

What happens when five musicians who have never met before and haven’t performed in person since the start of the pandemic get together in Abu Dhabi and Dubai?

In the second part of this hip-hop diplomacy story, the ExchangeAlumni team of Next Level artist-educators dive into the magic of connecting in person and serendipity.

For more Voices of Exchange, visit alumni.state.gov/voicesofexchange. Subscribe at bit.ly/SubscribenowVoE.

What happens when five musicians who have never met before and haven’t performed in person since the start of the pandemic get together in Abu Dhabi? Music, magic, and lifelong connections through “hip-hop culture.”

In the first part of this hip-hop diplomacy story, the ExchangeAlumni team of Next Level artist-educators and Next Level Director Julian Brickhouse chop it up on music and mutual interests, and the breakthroughs they made in the United Arab Emirates.

For more Voices of Exchange, visit alumni.state.gov/voicesofexchange. Subscribe at bit.ly/SubscribenowVoE.

Marie Christina Kolo wasn’t trying to be Wonder Woman when it came to the secret she kept for many years. But in her work as a climate activist, she wanted to be strong for her community. It wasn’t until she became a Mandela Washington Fellow that Marie Christine found the courage to get vulnerable, which allowed her to make a deeper impact.

Mathew Holloway and Cornelius Finley have a few things in common: they are both Black men. They both come from Southern United States. And they are both ExchangeAlumni, who attended a seminar on American identity with other exchange program alumni in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But that’s where the similarities end...  

In our two-part series on American identity on Voices of Exchange, Mathew and Cornelius talk about race, belonging, reclaiming your story, and why American identity is not just “black and white.”

Mathew B. Holloway II and Cornelius Finley have a few things in common: they are both Black men. They both come the Southern United States. And they are both ExchangeAlumni, who attended a seminar on American Identity with other exchange program alumni in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But that’s where the similarities end...

NOTE: The description above has been edited to correct an error. Mathew grew up in a small town, while Cornelius grew up in one of the biggest cities in the U.S.!

In the second episode of our three part arc on ExchangeAlumni working with augmented reality, or, AR, we spoke with Julia Beabout, the CEO and creative director of an award-winning AR creative studio.

We continue our dive into the transformative power of the technology with ExchangeAlumni Grady Hart, Julia’s partner on the augmented reality project, Monumental Conversations. Grady - an ExchangeAlumni of the Mandela Washington Reciprocal Exchange program and a community partnerships coordinator in Richmond, Virginia - talks about learning about systemic racism in his own community for the first time and how that spurred him to right some of the wrongs of the past by raising the voices of those who have traditionally not had a voice.

In Richmond, Virginia, ExchangeAlumni Julia Beabout and Grady Hart teamed up to create Monumental Conversations, an augmented reality project that centers on the undertold stories of Black resilience and excellence in Richmond. Little did they know how the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd would transform their project.

In this second of three episodes on the power of AR on Voices of Exchange, we hear how Julia got a deeper look at racism and its effect on a community, how her international exchange experience in China through the Critical Language Scholarship led her to the Monumental Conversations project with Grady, and more.

For Isabelle Foster, her return to the U.S. during the pandemic could have marked an end to a budding project. Yet the physical distance from her team created a new perspective that was perfect for those pulled miles apart: TavAR, an augmented reality (AR) app that brings communities closer to their roots and welcomes tourists to new places and stories.

In the first of three episodes on Voices of Exchange, we hear how Fulbright ExchangeAlumni Isabelle Foster, David Franco, and Tania Vargas are using AR to build resilience and preserve culture, and the ripple effects of their efforts.

Everyone has a story to tell. On Voices of Exchange, join us this season to hear how augmented reality can redefine a place; see American identity through non-immigrant eyes; explore climate activism in tribal nations and elsewhere; and, experience how hip-hop artist-educators are promoting multilateral relations.