American Corners
The "American Corners" program embodies partnerships between United States embassies and host institutions, the goal of which is to further an understanding of U.S. lifestyles, culture, politics, legislation, and current issues. The concept originated in Russia in October 2000 and today there are over 400 American Corners worldwide, 18 of these in Latin America. This is a vibrant, ongoing program that projects the inauguration of additional Corners within the near future.
In essence, an American Corner is a friendly, accessible space, open to the public, which provides current and reliable information about the United States through bilingual book and magazine collections, films and documentaries, poster exhibitions, and guides as to the best Internet sites for research on the United States. At the same time, the Corner has a full programming agenda and organizes presentations, workshops, and dialogue with U.S. experts in areas that include journalism, grant writing, corporate ethics, foreign relations, literature, English, arquitecture, and a wide array of other topics. It is also a meeting place for US alumni, host to conversation and study groups, and great place to while away an hour or two!
At this writing, Chile has four humanities-oriented American Corners in operation. These are located at the Diego Portales University in Santiago, the University of Tarapacá in Arica, the Austral University in Valdivia and the University of Magallanes in Punta Arenas.
We also have partnered with the University of Talca in Santiago to create an American Corner that focuses on exclusively on science - The American Academy of Science and Technology.