Team
Chase Bowman, Ahmed El Naggar, Shehab Farouk, Ahmed Naguib, Erika Witt
Now more than any time before, our world is perfectly virtually connected. Nearly two billion people all over the world can access the internet, and people from different countries can have a life chat with each other and know more about other cultures. It was expected that this communication revolution would help in building bridges between nations and promote peace. Surprisingly, the exact opposite happened, terms like “clash of civilizations” started to be used everywhere. Instead of being a platform for building bridges between different cultures, many internet sites became platforms for bridge-burning. The Culture Box is an active project which aims at building a physical connection between the American and Egyptian cultures through the creation of a sustainable physical tie between the two cultures.
Goals of the Project
Building a bridge linking the East and West through an educational and interactive tool for promoting interest and understanding of global cultures to diverse audiences in both affordable and accessible means.
Aims of the Project
Unlike virtual connection tools, the Culture Box is a physical connection tool that creates an interactive, attractive and durable bond with other cultures. This box offer durable items through which American citizens can embrace Egypt through his/her five senses. They can see Egypt through watching the best-rated Egyptian movie, they can hear Egypt through a best-selling music album in Egypt. They can touch Egypt through touching a replica of a famous Egyptian monument, they can smell and taste Egypt through an info-graphic recipe for Egyptian cuisine. Moreover, they can get a better understanding of Egyptian society through reading a Best-Selling book in Egypt.
Description of the Culture Box
The Culture Box is a container that will be made in Egypt and distributed in the USA. The box will contain a multitude of items which will enable the American audience to explore and interact with the Egyptian cultures through their five senses. The items in the box will consist of, but will not be limited to, a best rated book from Egypt, a miniature handmade replica of a famous monument in Egypt, a recipe for a traditional Egyptian meal, a DVD of popular Egyptian movie and a CD of popular Egyptian music. The Culture box will be distributed in museums, educational institutes, book stores and tourism agencies in USA.
Time Line
First week of July:
Selection of the box content.
Second week of July:
Presenting the box content to the Gabr Foundation, getting feedback and carry out required amendments until reaching the final content.
Third week of July:
Design of the Box and producing the first box.
Fourth week of July:
Presenting the Box to the Foundation, getting feedback, carry out required amendments until reaching the final shape of the box.
First week of August:
Producing the first two Boxes and send one of them to the USA for assessment.
Second week of August:
- Egyptian Members: Working on the feasibility study.
- American Members: working on finding places to show our box in + feedback.
Second and Third Week of August:
- Egyptian Members: working on finding sponsors and potential partners.
- American Members: feedback, working on creating an American box as a second phase.
Mid-August to Mid-October:
Production of 1000 boxes and shipping them to the United States to be presented in the event that will be held next November.
November:
Evaluation of the Action project and start working on American Culture Box to be sold in Egypt.
Conclusion
The Culture Ambassadors team offers the Culture Box for diverse audiences who want to learn about other cultures and cannot afford travelling abroad. Unlike other Culture-related ventures, The Culture Box is a durable cultural product with a residual value. Moreover, The Culture Box is sustainable action project which gets the private sector involved; create revenues, and support handcraft and publishers.
Future Extensions
The huge impact of art on the human psychology insists that the Culture Ambassadors team look forward to initiate art exhibitions that support and develop the idea of culture bridging and to be an advertisement for the Culture Box idea.