“Perspectives on Difference” Workshop in Helsinki

In October 2011 the University of Helsinki in Finland commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the Sylff program. Rector Thomas Wilhelmsson gave an opening speech followed by a greeting from Hiroshi Maruyama, the Japanese ambassador to Finland.

“Twenty years ago, when the Sylff program was established here, Helsinki was a very domestic university,” the Rector said. “But we have globalized significantly over the past two decades, and I think Sylff has made a major contribution to this development.” Continue reading →

The poster for the June 20 concert.

From April through June 2011, students at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna—one of the three music schools in the Sylff community—performed a series of concerts as a sign of solidarity with and hope for the people in Japan in the wake of the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear accident.

The performers included several Sylff fellows. These concerts were a part of the students’ commitment as musicians to charitable activities. Proceeds from the event were donated to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Fund, managed by The Nippon Foundation, the donor of the Sylff endowment.

The Tokyo Foundation is very grateful to the students for thinking about the situation in Japan and very much appreciates their commitment and dedication to making the world a better place to live. Continue reading →