EUC-affiliated graduate student wins prestigious German Chancellor Fellowship for Prospective Leaders

European Union Center affiliated graduate student Reneé Gordon Holley recently won the prestigious German Chancellor Fellowship for Future Leaders. Holley, a Ph.D. candidate in musicology, is a European Union studies graduate minor, has received four FLAS fellowships from the EUC, and has worked frequently as a graduate assistant at the EU Center. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate College recently published an article about Holley's success in winning the fellowship. Check out the article below or by clicking here.
Reneé Gordon Holley, Illinois Ph.D. candidate in Musicology, has received the prestigious German Chancellor Fellowship for Future Leaders. No more than ten awards are given to fellows in the United States annually.

Awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the fellowship provides an opportunity to young leaders from a broad range of professional and academic backgrounds who have completed at least a bachelor’s degree, have gained work experience and have shown outstanding leadership potential in their careers. The Foundation aims to foster future leaders who are able to act as goodwill ambassadors between Germany and their respective home countries by providing one year of support for a project of merit.

Holley’s project centers on the European Union’s (EU) Cultural Program initiative. The EU sponsors musical events with the goal of increasing a sense of shared identity among the EU member states. Holley will examine if these EU programs have the intended impact on participating arts and audience members. “I want to see if the cultural events that the EU funds actually achieve the goals of the EU cultural programs [which include] the creation of transnational identity and a sense of belongingness.”

The fellowship will allow Holley to conduct research in Germany on musical performances supported by the European Union’s (EU) Cultural Program initiative. She will be centered in Bonn, where she will have access to a variety of German cultural organizations that are key to her project, including the European Choral Association and Germany’s Cultural Contact Point, the organization that supports those interested in applying for EU cultural funds.

Holley’s project is the result of the confluence of several key experiences. Her earlier studies in German and music, and her membership in several choirs led her to a semester of undergraduate study abroad in Salzburg, Austria, and one year of coursework in musicology in Freiburg, Germany via a Fulbright Scholarship. She has also won several shorter-term fellowships which allowed her to study in Germany and continue to improve her German language skills and knowledge of German culture and institutions.

For the past year Holley has worked as a graduate assistant at the European Union Center at the University of Illinois, which has led to a deepened interest in the EU, and a minor in EU studies as part of her doctoral coursework. When it came to her dissertation topic, it seemed a natural step for her to combine her love of musical performance and her interest in musicology with EU funded musical activities.

When asked what advice she might have for graduate students applying for fellowships, Holley recommends that they “do their homework” and tailor their proposal for the specific funding institution, noting that it took her two tries to develop a winning proposal. Her previous application for another fellowship did not yield results, so she talked with a couple of friends who were having more success to find out what they had done differently. She also met with Dr. Ken Vickery, director of External Fellowships in the Graduate College, who gave her advice on how to improve her proposal, and she conducted mock interviews with Dr. Rebecca Bryant, director of Career Services Office in the Graduate College, in preparation for her interview in Washington, D.C.

With the stress of the application process behind her, Holley is looking forward to her year abroad, and to one event in particular: “I am so excited that I will get to meet and have dinner with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor!”

For more information about the German Chancellor Fellowship for Future Leaders, see the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.  Fellowship and career services resources for graduate students are available on the Graduate College website.



Photo by Shannon Leigh Anderson Photography

EUC-affiliated graduate student wins prestigious German Chancellor Fellowship for Prospective Leaders

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Across the Cornfields – Holiday Edition

by Reneé Gordon Holley

As we all prepare for our respective holiday traditions, it is difficult to escape the festive decorations and flickering shop windows. Even in little Champaign-Urbana, our city streets are adorned with wreaths, lights, and trees. For me, however, a new crucial holiday tradition involves traveling to Chicago each December to take in more of the big city treats.

In addition to the fine shopping and dining spaces in Chicago, anyone taking a Christmas trip to the Windy City should pay a special visit to the annual Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza in the Chicago Loop. Since 1996, the market has been attracting thousands of visitors each year. Chicago’s market is an initiative of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, and its original visionaries conceptualized the Midwest version of the German tradition based on the Christmas market in Nuremberg, circa 1545. For a quick introduction to the German Christmas traditions, including the Christkind, the Nuremberg market, and others, watch this video, hosted by European Travel Guru Rick Steves:

The Chicago Christkindlmarket includes vendors from Germany, in addition to some from the United States, Ireland, Poland, the Ukraine, and Austria. This is a one stop shop for hand-carved Christmas tree ornaments, traditional crafts from Germany, like votive houses, painted glass, and coo-coo clocks, or recordings of German Christmas music.

Alternatively, the market provides an ideal mid-day and early evening stop for a quick meal and festive drink. In addition to several German bratwurst options, the Christkindlmarket boasts German holiday favorites like spiced nuts, baked apples, pancakes, potato salad, chocolate-covered everything, strudels, traditional German Stollen cake, sauerkraut, hot soups, and potato pancakes.

To warm up, visitors enjoy hot chocolate, spiced cider, and, my personal favorite, Glühwein, German hot spiced wine. This brew features flavors of oranges, cinnamon, and cloves, infiltrating the steaming cup of red wine. Consumers of these hot beverages invest in a bit of Chicago market lore; each year the market features newly-designed mugs, shaped like boots and decorated with scenes from the market, Daley Plaza, and Chicago.

To aid in your own holiday selections, below is a list of other German-inspired Christmas markets in the United States. If you are unable to visit one of these fine establishments this year, try out some Glühwein in your own kitchen with the recipe listed below!

• Christmasmarket - Union Square, 14th Street, New York City
• Christkindlmarkt - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• Christkindl Market - Denver, Colorado
• Christkindlmarkt - Baltimore, Maryland
• Christkindlmarkt Front Royal - Front Royal, Virginia
• Christkindl Market - Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania
• Christmas Village - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Christkindlmarkt - Lovettsville, Virginia
• Christkindl’s Markt - Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Weihnachtsmarkt - Sparta, New Jersey
• Canandaigua Christkindl Market - Canandaigua, New York
• Old World Christmas Market - Nashua, New Hampshire Coming in 2012!

Glühwein – Adapted from allrecipes.com 

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 orange
• 10 whole cloves
• 1 (750 milliliter) bottle (cheap) red wine

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, sugar, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer.
2. Cut the orange in half, and squeeze the juice into the simmering water over a juice strainer. Push the cloves into the outside of the orange peel, and place peel in the simmering water. Continue simmering for 30 minutes, until thick and syrupy.
3. Pour in the wine, and heat until steaming but not simmering. Remove the clove-studded orange halves. Serve hot in mugs or glasses that have been preheated in warm water (cold glasses may break.)

Makes six 4 oz. servings. I usually buy boxed wine and double or triple the recipe.

Happy Holidays to all our EUC Blog readers!

Reneé Holley is a PhD Candidate in Musicology and an EU Center Graduate Assistant. She is working on a dissertation that addresses the influence of EU cultural policies on contemporary German musical life.

Across the Cornfields – Holiday Edition

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Celebrating Oktoberfest: Across the Cornfields Edition

by Reneé Gordon Holley

Every September, millions of people flock to Munich, Germany, eager to take part in the annual Oktoberfest celebration. Tourists and locals alike overrun the city, spending hours in festival tents, sipping fine brews specially formulated for the occasion, and consuming innumerable pretzels and pork shanks. Among the smells of people, beer, meat and sweets, listeners are treated to traditional folk bands, which blast Bavarian classics and entice children to dance.

For those unfortunate souls who are unable to make the yearly pilgrimage to Bavaria (myself included), you may be able to catch a local party. Communities scattered throughout the United States put on their own, home-grown versions of the “Fest,” complete with Dirndl, Lederhosen, and traditional Bavarian decor.

In Central Illinois, residents have the option of making a culinary pilgrimage to experience the closest thing to German Gemütlichkeit on this side of the Atlantic. Travelers heading north on Illinois 47 encounter corn, soybeans, and the occasional pumpkin patch. But, when an old drive-in theater peaks over the horizon, you have reached a town that serves the best slice of Germany, complete with Oktoberfests, May poles, and enough apple strudel to satisfy any appetite. In Gibson City, you are transported to a Bavarian hunter’s lodge when you eat at Bayernstube.

This experience of European culture “across the pond” is really just a few miles away, across Illinois’ golden sea of corn, bending in waves with the cool harvest breeze.

On Friday, September 30th, the EUC staff paid a visit to Gibson City, complete with jovial German folk tunes, appropriate for the journey. (Those of you with UI library access, check out item number CDISC M1734 B38 – Bavarian Holiday – for a unique German music listening experience, complete with brass, yodeling, and some culturally puzzling moments that might spark larger musicological debates, if you are interested in that sort of thing.) As we approached Gibson City, we caught a glimpse of Twin Groves Wind Farm, one of the largest wind farms this side of the Mississippi. Wind farms are a staple in many regions of Germany, and since seeing my first windmill in my high school German textbook, I associate one with the other.

The EUC staff regrouped at the restaurant in the Dietrich Hall, named after the original owner’s father. Father Dietrich’s hunting legacy was readily apparent; restaurant guests enter the bar, which features walls of many fine examples of taxidermy. Before entering the beer hall, I was tempted to select one of the hundreds of steins adorning the main dining room to serve as my beverage glass for the evening.

Bayernstube maintains an Oktoberfest menu, including pretzels, traditional Munich “Weisswurst,” Rouladen, and a special Camembert and dark beer cheese spread. The regular menu boasts eight varieties of schnitzel (breaded, pan-fried pork or veal filets); red cabbage and sauerkraut so tasty that the pickiest eater might need convincing that they are indeed consuming cabbage; and potatoes that are served in salad, pancake, mashed, and sautéed forms. Each meal is accompanied by a basket of Bauernbrot, or farmer’s bread, plus Bayernstube’s homemade smoked sausage spread. Be warned; one slice is not enough. After selecting your entrée and drink from the list of German beers on tap, remember to save room for dessert. At the end of the meal, Dirndl-adorning waitresses display dessert trays at each table and feature an assortment of cakes, inviting guests to select a slice.

For as authentically German as we perceived our experience to be, we were glad to have a resident expert with us to provide a running commentary on the finer qualities of the meal. EUC Visiting Scholar Gregor van der Beek, along with his son, gave rave reviews of the food and atmosphere. Dr. van der Beek commented that Bayernstube embodied the style and feel of a restaurant that his grandparents would choose if they were to take the family out for a nice meal. After spending almost three months in Illinois, our German guests enjoyed the Bauernbrot and entrées, which reminded them of home, and Bavaria of course!

Although Oktoberfest has nearly drawn to a close for this year, plan on partaking in next year’s festivities, or perhaps make the pilgrimage to Bayernstube for a family meal or a get-together with friends. Bis dann!

Stay tuned for the next “Across the Cornfields” edition of “Across the Pond” – Chicago’s Christkindlmarket!

Reneé Holley is a PhD Candidate in Musicology and an EU Center Graduate Assistant. She is working on a dissertation that addresses the influence of EU cultural policies on contemporary German musical life.

Celebrating Oktoberfest: Across the Cornfields Edition

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Making Music, not Malice, Together: the European Union Capital of Culture in Essen, Germany

by Renée Gordon Holley

Amid fears of terrorist attacks and increasingly public xenophobia in Germany, tensions have grown as this founding member of the European Union and world economic leader has increasingly taken on burdens in the current financial crisis, aiding in the bail-out of Greece and now Ireland. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s declaration that multiculturalism has utterly failed in this ethnically diverse nation reflects growing concerns throughout Europe regarding uniting people from various cultures. In contrast to these dark political clouds, my field research in Germany during summer 2010 took place among celebrations, accompanied by World Cup vuvuzelas, cheering soccer fans, German flags everywhere, and news reports that Germany’s ethnically diverse team was an exemplary model of how the country had finally learned to work together with its many minorities.

Although the 2010 World Cup was an entertaining backdrop for the two and a half months I spent in Northern Westphalia last summer, the main object of my pre-dissertation research was the musical events of the EU’s Capital of Culture program. The EU’s recent participation in cultural policy has produced programs and agendas that simultaneously strive to preserve the cultural diversity of its members while highlighting common cultural threads throughout Europe. The EU’s main effort in this regard and most widely recognized program is the European Capital of Culture. Every year, several member states are selected to host an elaborate year-long series of cultural events. Cities in these countries compete for this honor in a similar style to that of Olympic cities. Along with Pécs, Hungary and Istanbul, Turkey, Essen, Germany and the entire Ruhr Region generated a rich program incorporating every aspect of culture.

As a musicologist, I am interested in the musical life of other nations and in learning about how assorted musical styles and performers contribute to the discourses of music, politics, and culture. My association with the EU Center and coursework specifically on the policies and structure of the European Union led me to consider how this institution adds to and amends the musical cultures found in its member states, especially Germany. An appropriate combination of music and EU policies made the Capital of Culture a dynamic stage where challenges regarding an aging population, cultural diversity, economic downturn, and industrial re-imagination were acted out by area orchestras, teenage pop singers, church organists, ravers, and sound sculptors.

Touted as one of the top highlights of Essen’s program, the !SING – Day of Song brought together hundreds of choirs from Europe and beyond. The four-day event featured over sixty-six individual choral performances and sing-alongs. On June 5, as over 50,000 amateur and professional singers gathered at the Veltins Soccer Arena in Gelsenkirchen, international star Bobby McFerrin and the Bochum Symphony orchestra accompanied us as young and old joined in singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” and the Beatles’ “Let it Be.” Germany has a long history of choral singing, where amateurs sang together with hopes to strengthen a sense of German identity and political consciousness in its members and the nation as a whole. The !SING events and many of the other concerts and performances held in Essen this summer worked to unite the community and reach out to its neighbors. This demonstration of music’s role in shaping and influencing Germany’s and the EU’s citizens shows how they might move forward in the years to come, isolating and tackling political, social, and economic struggles through music.

Renée Holley is a doctoral student in musicology at the University of Illinois and an EU Center FLAS Fellow. Her pre-dissertation research was supported by a DAAD German Studies Research Grant. Next school year she plans on completing dissertation research in Bonn, Germany, analyzing music’s relationship to regional, national, and EU cultural policy agendas.

Making Music, not Malice, Together: the European Union Capital of Culture in Essen, Germany

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