American philanthropist Susan Lehrman has received the Fulbright Award for contributing to international diplomacy, specifically Russia-US cultural ties. A month ago, her efforts were warmly saluted by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Since 1991, public organization One to World has annually
bestowed the Fulbright Award on individuals who make outstanding
contributions to promoting international understanding in culture
or education. This year, real estate investor and President of
Lehrman LLC Susan Lehrman was chosen to be one of three nominees
for the award.
Washington socialite Lehrman was awarded the prestigious
Fulbright Award for working to bridge the gap between Russian and
American cultures.
In her acceptance speech, Lehrman recalled the classic Russian
writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and his saying that beauty will save the
world. She shared her belief that culture can break through the ice
of negative stereotypes in Russian-American relations.
Lehrman founded and chaired the Initiative for Russian Culture
(IRC), an initiative of American University in Washington, DC, that
promotes greater understanding of Russian culture among young
Americans in the mid-Atlantic and Washington metropolitan area. The
initiative specializes in cultural exchange programs, Russian art
courses and also includes extremely popular discussion series on
Russian cinema. The IRC brings old Soviet and modern Russian movies
to the US that otherwise would likely never make it to American
screens.
“During different conversations that I had with [Russian]
Ambassador [to the US Sergey] Kislyak over the time he shared with
me his vision of young people working together on joint projects of
interest. And I also knew people at the American University
interested in expanding the programs on Russia so getting everyone
together, the Initiative for Russian Culture was born,” Lehrman
told RT.
Earlier this year, Lehrman was awarded a prestigious Russian
diplomatic medal, which previously had never been given to a US
citizen. In April 2013, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak decorated
Lehrmann with the Medal for Contribution to International
Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian
Federation. “I’m very honored to receive this precious award, it
was quite a surprise to me, but it is very nice to know that your
efforts being recognized,” Lehrman explained.
“I’m very happy and pleased to see that other organizations
are thinking among the same lines,” she said. “To me true
change comes through the heart and to reach hearts and minds of the
young people you must go through culture. Cultural understanding is
of critical importance to the younger generations so that they are
not drawn into easy stereotyping that you see all of the time on
television and Hollywood movies.”
After the ceremony, Ambassador Kislyak stressed that Lehrman has
no business interests in Russia, and that her activities are aimed
at bringing Russians and Americans together through shared
culture.
Lehrman also has a great love of French culture, and works on
cultural projects in France. Shortly before being decorated with
the Russian medal, she became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in
France — the country’s highest award for non-French citizens — for
her contributions to developing cultural ties between the US and
France. Lehrman has also supported the Kids Euro Festival in
Washington launched by the French Embassy in 2008.
This article originally appeared on: RT