Creative Arts & Technology
CATs International 2006

The CAT program is rapidly expanding its reach beyond the United States by creating rewarding study and work possibilities for our students all over the world. The first half of 2006 has seen our reach expand into Macedonia, Kosovo, South Korea, Japan, and Romania with some truly exciting projects.

East Meets West Collaboration with Jeonju University (South Korea)
Seven students and two professors from Jeonju University (http://www.jj.ac.kr/) in South Korea arrived at Kennedy Airport on January 14th, after a 14-hour flight from Seoul. For the next month they worked intensively with eleven CAT students and three CAT professors on an intercultural project that has continued via the internet this past spring. Shared activities included visits to Ellis Island, Blue Man Group, the Pixar Animation exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, a "vertical tour" to the top of St. John the Divine cathedral, Manhattan's "Koreatown," the Rose Planetarium, and countless other sites and attractions. From this came the idea of a web-based game exploring travel and the cultural differences between Korea and the United States. On June 26th, eight CAT students and three CAT professors will travel to Korea to continue work on this game over a period of three weeks at Jeonju University. Both student teams are comprised of members with advanced skills in graphics, animation, music, video, writing, and programming. Unlike many study abroad and student exchange programs, our East Meets West project is a true collaboration that allows students from both cultures to really get to know one other and work closely together.

To follow the progress of this project, check out: http://users.bloomfield.edu/students/hechtcry/emw_site/index.html

CAT Students Work in Southeast Europe

CAT was contracted by the Open Society Institute (OSI) to provide training and follow-up support to the SEEYLI Youth Radio Project during the spring of 2006. (SEEYLI = SouthEast Europe Youth Leadership Initiative.) Our contribution took the form of creating, equipping and conducting audio production workshops for "citizen journalists," and establishing and maintaining a web site to broadcast the products of these workshops. The workshops were planned and conducted by CAT honor students Lauren Jadick and Tierney Steele, who traveled to Macedonia and Kosovo this past spring break. Since then, CAT faculty and students have been working to provide follow-up support to SEEYLI trainees via a dedicated web site that has included storage and retrieval of audio files from the on-site trainings. You can hear the results at: http://cj.bloomfield.edu and you can read more about Lauren and Tierney at: http://bloomfield.edu/admissions/biolounge1.asp

CAT Students to Visit Tokyo

After three weeks in South Korea this summer, three CAT professors, eight CAT students, and one CAT alumnus will fly to Tokyo, where they will explore everything from A to Z (Anime to Zen Buddhism) in less than a week. Partial funding for the Japanese portion of this trip has been generously provided by InterChem Corporation (http://www.interchem.com/) and by numerous local merchants who contributed many valuable gifts to our fundraising raffle.

CAT Students to Teach at IDEA's Youth Forum in Romania

Fresh on the heels of their work in Macedonia and Kosovo this past spring break (see above), CAT students Tierney Steele and Lauren Jadick will travel directly from Korea to Romania this summer, where for two weeks they will teach multimedia as part of Youth Media Training at the annual Youth Forum of the International Debate Education Association (IDEA).. For more information:
http://www.idebate.org/events/index.php?event_id=57

CAT Hosts United Nation Foundation's "The People Speak" Project

CAT has been chosen to provide training and to manage and host the web broadcasts produced all over the world this fall by participants in the United Nations Foundation program, The People Speak. CAT multimedia students will have the opportunity to produce, edit, and broadcast the "citizen journalism" reports coming out of this project. For more information:
http://www.thepeoplespeak.org/

Art in Paris

After 18 years of exposing our students to live art of all kinds in our Art in New York class, CAT is planning to travel a bit farther with next year's Art in Paris offering. Students will be introduced to French visual arts, music, performing arts and even cuisine while still in Bloomfield, then travel to Paris during spring break to experience it all first hand.

Semester Abroad Possibilities
Bloomfield College's Center for Global Studies offers all the help you'll need in finding an affordable and rewarding semester abroad program. The college's membership in the College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS) gives our students access to over 80 study abroad programs in 31 different countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
http://bloomfield.edu/eslc/index.asp or contact director Emy Kamihara at: Emy_Kamihara@bloomfield.edu

Did you know that....
...CAT teachers, students and staff have quite an international background??
Click here to get the whole story.

Other Links
Student Travel Booking: http://www.statravel.com
Teach in China: http://www.uschinaedu.org/mainteach.asp
Teach in Japan: http://www.jetprogramme.org/
Teach in Other Countries: http://www.statravel.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0A536D8D-7EBB115E/us_division_web_live/hs.xsl/766.htm
Volunteer Projects: http://www.statravel.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0A536D8D-7EBB115E/us_division_web_live/hs.xsl/volunteer.htm

Questions? Contact Professor John Towsen at: johntowsen@gmail.com

And don't forget to check out our CATs International bulletin board as you enter Westminster Hall!