CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: Kieran Clarke. El FMI lanza un concurso de fotografía para jóvenes en América Latina y el Caribe
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has launched a regional photo contest entitled “Latin America and the Caribbean:Through the Eyes of its Youth” for Latin American and Caribbean youth. The contest, which is open to citizens of Latin American and Caribbean countries age 18-30, provides an opportunity for youth in the region to communicate visually the economic and social challenges facing their countries, as well as ideas about how best to build a better future for the region.
Carla Grasso, IMF Deputy Managing Director, announced the launch of the photo contest yesterday during a roundtable event with university students in Lima. “It’s always enlightening and refreshing to engage with young people to learn more about the challenges they see and aspirations they have for the future. The photo contest will be a fantastic opportunity to visualize their perspectives on the region’s economic and social situation and how to improve it,” Ms. Grasso stated.
The contest will accept photo submissions from May 6 to June 30, 2015 and the online voting will run from July 1 to July 31.
Full contest details can be found following this link
Restrospectiva de Susan Banks - Foto cedida. Susan Banks: Current Work
From April 30th to May 15th, New World Gallery -25 NE 2nd Street in downtown Miami- will hold an exhibition on Susan Banks, free and open to the public. A retrospective body of work by NWSA visual arts / sculpture professor, Susan Banks, explores the wonders of nature and its many interpretations and ramifications.
Susan Banks, a native of South Florida, has been working in ceramics for over 25 years. Her sculptures have been exhibited nationally and she is the recipient of two Florida Individual Artist Fellowships. Her work is included in many private and Museum collections, which include the Florida International University (FIU) Conference Center in Miami, Florida, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Florida and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art in San Angelo, Texas. She is an active member of NCECA (National Council for the Education of the Ceramic Arts), Florida Craftsmen, Inc. and the Florida Art Education Association. She has been teaching at the New World School of the Arts for 22 years, is a full Professor and recipient of an Endowed Teaching Chair. She received her BFA in Ceramics from FIU and an MFA in Ceramics from University of Miami.
Josep Roca, sommelier del restaurante El Celler de Can Roca - Foto cedida. La Gira BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca arrancará en Buenos Aires el 1 de agosto
Josep Roca, sommelier of the El Celler de Can Roca restaurant, has returned from Argentina, where he spent 10 days preparing the logistics for the tour with BBVA that according to him will start on August 1 at the facilities of Sociedad Rural Argentina in Buenos Aires, known simply as ‘La Rural’ among the locals. In the coming weeks the Roca brothers will announce the local ingredients they will serve with the dishes making up the Argentinean menu. They have already been working on these creations at their restaurant in Girona and at their own Roca-Lab.
During this research visit Josep Roca met on various occasions with renowned Argentinean chefs, and also with farmers and ranchers, sommeliers, wine experts, winemakers, anthropologists and journalists. Josep Roca also visited the bank’s offices, where he was received by Ricardo Moreno, executive president of BBVA Francés.
The sommelier of El Celler de Can Roca explained some highlights of this new tour. “I think we’ll do great things in Argentina. It will be an emotional, close, respectful, friendly and non-invasive tribute. Meat, mate, dulce de leche… we will be looking for these symbolic Argentinean products and giving them our own personal twist. We will also be using seafood, because what we have tried is amazing, and it will be a good way to make people aware of the resources available in the country. And of course, the Argentinean wine, of which we would like to be ambassadors to give our support to this new generation of winemakers that has impressed me so much. With this trip, BBVA is giving us a unique opportunity to learn and improve through a tour that, once more, is an ambitious challenge for us.”
Encounters with old friends and wine tasting in Mendoza
Josep Roca visited vineyards and cellars in Mendoza, Salta and Jujuy. “I’ve noticed that there is a revival of lively wines, led by a new generation of winemakers who understand that wine is from their native soil, rather than just being a variety. Their challenge is for the philosophy of their landscape to be identified in their wines, and I’m sure that this new generation will be expressing themselves much more in the future,” said Josep Roca.
Josep Roca had the chance to immerse himself in the Argentinean culture and even watch a match at the legendary stadium La Bombonera, where he pledged that “we’ll try to capture Argentina’s passion for soccer in a dish”. The maitre d’ of El Celler de Can Roca also ran into his friend the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat in Buenos Aires, and was received by Estanislao de Grandes, the Spanish ambassador to Argentina, who said that this visit was “a great honor”.
The students at Camino Abierto (a foundation that supports the integration of young people at risk of social exclusion in the province of Buenos Aires) will take part in this tour organized by BBVA and El Celler de Can Roca. They will have the chance to work directly with the Roca brothers and a team of more than 40 people who will travel from Spain. Thanks to a BBVA scholarship program, two of these young catering students will spend four months training at El Celler de Can Roca in Girona.
After this research trip to Argentina by Josep Roca, the next one to travel will be the younger brother, Jordi Roca, who will visit Miami and Birmingham in the United States next week. Joan Roca will also travel to Turkey in May.
Buenos Aires in Argentina; Miami, Birmingham and Houston in the United States; and Istanbul in Turkey are, in that order, the chosen cities for this second BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca tour.
Foto cedidaBen Wallace & Luke Newman de Henderson. Viendo el mundo en términos absolutos
The second annual collaboration between BBVA and El Celler de Can Roca will bring the trio of brothers who own the famed Spanish restaurant to three countries on three continents — Buenos Airesin Argentina; Miami, Houston and Birmingham, Ala., in the U.S.; and Istanbul in Turkey. The Roca brothers and 40 of their staff members will embark this summer on the five-week journey to recreate the experience from their Girona, Spain-based restaurant, preparing meals exclusively for bank clients at each stop.
The 2015 tour begins Aug. 1 in Buenos Aires and will come to a close the first week in September in Istanbul, the cosmopolitan city that joins Europe with Asia. Josep Roca, sommelier and head maitre of El Celler de Can Roca, has already departed for Buenos Aires to formally kick off the preparations for the tour. He plans to explore local Argentine products and ingredients and find inspiration for the summer tour. In the coming weeks, Joan and Jordi Roca will make stops in Turkey and the United States to do the same.
By the end of the 2015 summer tour, 100,000 plates of food will have been served in six countries and more than 74,500 miles covered over the two years of the tour, the equivalent of circumnavigating the world three times.
“We want to do more each year, and for this second edition of the tour, together with BBVA, our goal is really ambitious. We are excited and aware of the huge responsibility of this challenge, which my brothers and I came up with as a sincere tribute to extraordinary and different kinds of cuisine,” said Joan Roca today in San Sebastian, Spain, where he shared the first details about the new tour and where he will be receiving a “Genius” innovation award from Spanish media group CMVocento tonight during a conference that recognizes innovation in gastronomy.
BBVA Brand & Communication Director Ignacio Moliner said, “This tour is a tribute to the gastronomy of the countries we visit and we are doing it with respect and humility. It’s a passionate adventure, something that’s never been done before and which is made possible thanks to the pure harmony between BBVA and the Roca brothers. Their spirit of excellence, their non-conformity and their ability to innovate are values and attitudes that bring us together on this new tour, which is truly going global this year, and which will take us to several continents.”
El Celler de Can Roca muscled its way to the top of the high-end restaurant world through the Rocas’ wondrous techniques that honor tradition and push culinary boundaries. It has claimed one of the top two spots on Restaurant magazine’s influential World’s 50 Best Restaurants List for the past four years.
Joan Rocais considered a pioneer in sous-vide, a cooking process where food is vacuum-packed and cooked in water. He developed the Roner, a professional sous-vide cooking device. Josep Roca, the sommelier, meanwhile, has won over critics with his unorthodox wine pairings and techniques. And Jordi Roca, the pastry chef, won the World’s Best Pastry Chef Award 2014. The judges called him “part chef, part architect, part magician” and an “eccentric but modest genius,” citing his work recreating famous perfumes in edible form.
50,000 plates of food served at the first BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca Tour in 2014
In 2014, the BBVA El Celler de Can Roca tour turned into the gastronomic event of the year, traveling to Houston and Dallas in the U.S.; Monterrey and Mexico City in Mexico; Bogota; and Lima, Peru. The Roca brothers and their team prepared nearly 50,000 dishes for 2,700 diners.
The tour also served as the setting for the documentary film “Cooking up a Tribute,” which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, and which is currently being shown at other festivals worldwide.
Foto cedidaFoto: Tim Stevenson, manager of the Henderson Horizon Pan European Equity. Debunking the ‘growth versus value’ myth
Tuesday at 10.00 am, Christie’s New York will auction the original manuscript and notes to Don McLean’s “American Pie” -sold by the singer-songwriter-, arguably the most iconic and recognizable American song of the Twentieth Century released in 1971.
This masterpiece of American arts and letters is estimated at $1 to $1.5 million. The investor will get the 16 pages of original working manuscript and typed drafts for the song, containing 237 lines of manuscript and 26 lines of typed text.
Since debuting on the airwaves in 1971, Don McLean’s “American Pie” has stood as one of the most important icons of twentieth-century American music. The singer-songwriter’s masterpiece became the anthem of McLean’s own “generation lost in space,” and continues to resonate in the present day. The author has remained decidedly enigmatic about the meaning and messages hidden in his masterpiece; like any great work of art, he says, the song remains open to interpretation, informed by the histories and experiences of all those who encounter it.
McLean’s song describes the turbulent upheavals of the latter half of the twentieth century and it is an emblem that stands alongside the work of post-war figures such as Andy Warhol, J.D. Salinger, and Bob Dylan in its importance to the American cultural canon. The song was composed in Pennsylvania and Cold Spring, New York, recorded in May 1971 and released in October.
“I thought it would be interesting as I reach age 70 to release this work product on the song American Pie so that anyone who might be interested will learn that this song was not a parlor game. It was an indescribable photograph of America that I tried to capture in words and music,” he says. “I would say to young songwriters who are starting out to immerse yourself in beautiful music and beautiful lyrics and think about every word you say in a song,” added Don McLean.
Rock memorabilia collecting is popular among wealthy baby boomers, which are looking for alternative ways to invest, publishes bloomberg. The most sought-after manuscripts are from the Beatles and Bob Dylan, said Leila Dunbar, a former Sotheby’s executive who is a memorabilia appraiser and consultant in New York. Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” sold for more than $2 million in 2012, and the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”sold for $1.2 million in 2010. Both were sold at Sotheby’s.
The buyer is likely to end up being a private collector because museums cannot usually afford such an expensive memorabilia, and most items in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are donated, said Warwick Stone, a curator for the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas’s memorabilia collection. Chinese buyers have shown an interest in American pop culture memorabilia, particularly items from Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe, he said.
Photos: Pablo Blázquez. Funds Society Successfully Held the Second Edition of its Golf Tournament
The 2nd Funds Society Golf Tournament was held on Friday March 13th at the Miami Beach Golf Course, the tournament was attended by over 50 participants from the Asset and Wealth Management Industry in South Florida. On this occasion, we enjoyed the cooperation of Henderson Global Investors, MFS, M&G and Carmignac.
Although it seemed that the weather would be on our side this year, players had to contend with several of those storms so typical of Miami, bravely continuing with the game in spite of being soaked to the bone. Of course, no one gave up and all attendees continued the tournament, claiming that they were enjoying “a great day of golf.”
The session of golf was preceded by a panel in which each manager had the opportunity of sharing their strategy and prospects for 2015. Nicolo Carpaneda, fixed income specialist at M&G, reviewed the main triggers of the global debt market. Meanwhile, Malte Heininger, who manages Carmignac Euro-Entrepreneurs, a fund oriented towards small European companies, detailed the opportunities in European equities. Nicholas J. Paul, Director of Investment Products at MFS spoke about the attractiveness of emerging equities in the current macro environment. Asian markets were covered by Andrew Gillan, portfolio manager for the Asian Equity team (ex -Japan) at Henderson Global Investors.
After lunch, the championship’s shotgun start came at 13:30. As was the case last year, the game type was individual Stableford in two categories. The first category was for players with handicap 0 to 18.4 and the second for those with an 18.5 to 36 handicap.
Following is the list of Winners of the 2ndFunds Society Golf Tournament:
Flight 1:
1st Place – Luis Cardenas – Sabadell Bank, Miami Branch
2nd Place – Ignacio de la Maza – Henderson Global Investors
Flight 2:
1st Place – José Alfredo Ruiz Marcos – Agent
2nd Place – Carlos del Hierro – Sabadell Bank, Miami Branch
Foto: Steve Snodgrass . Santander firma el primer acuerdo con el Berklee College of Music
Santander Bank has recently signed an agreement with Berklee College of Music for its Santander Universities to provide scholarships to support the Berklee Study Abroad program.
“We’re delighted to support this program that will give Berklee students the opportunity to study at the school’s international campus in Valencia, Spain,” said Roman Blanco, CEO of Santander Bank. “Study abroad programs are life-changing experiences where students can immerse themselves in the culture and traditions of their host country. These enriching experiences give students a well-rounded education and a global perspective.”
Santander’s support of the Berklee Study Abroad program will provide scholarships to undergraduate students who participate in the study abroad program at the school’s Valencia campus. Berklee College of Music, which is based in Boston, opened its Valencia campus in 2012 at the iconic opera house Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, to offer graduate programs, summer study, and professional education programs to a music community of peers and master musicians from around the world.
“With these scholarships, Santander is allowing our students to both further their expertise and broaden their experience in the global music industry, while immersing themselves the rich Mediterranean culture of Valencia, Spain”, said Berklee president Roger Brown. “Music technology and international music business will be their main focus, with plenty of opportunities to record in state-of-the art studios, perform in clubs around Valencia and Madrid, and network with students from Europe, South America, the Middle East, Asia and North Africa.”
For 70 years, Berklee College of Music has evolved to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. The college’s national after school music program for underserved teens, the Berklee City Music Network, is in 30 cities and counting. With a diverse and talented student body representing nearly 100 countries, and alumni and faculty that have collectively won more than 300 Grammys and Latin Grammys, Berklee is the world’s premier learning lab for the music of today—and tomorrow.
Photo: Motori Italia. FIA Formula E “Miami ePrix” Silently Takes Over the City
On Saturday, March 14, motor racing returns to the streets of downtown Miami. But unlike before, when the buildings vibrated to the sound on Internal Combustion Engines, this time it’s the quiet revolution of motor racing that’s drawing in the fans.
The FIA Formula E Championship is the world’s first all-electric single-seater series. Conceived by the FIA – the governing body of world motorsport – the series aims to showcase the potential for electric cars in their most relevant environment – city centers.
The World Health Organization reckons that seven million people a year die as a result of air pollution, and with gas-powered cars estimated to contribute 75 per cent of that air pollution, the potential for electric cars to benefit the environment – and people’s quality of life – is enormous.
Formula E intends to play a key role in this by showing that electric cars can be exciting and cool as well as environmentally beneficial. Indeed, it is predicted that as a result of the promotion of electric cars through initiative such as Formula E, an additional 77 million EVs will be on the road by 2038.
Formula E will also accelerate the rate of development in electric car technology. There’s an old saying that ‘racing improves the breed’. The relentless pace of technical development and prototyping that is needed to compete at the forefront in motorsport means that it has the potential to drive technological development at a far greater pace that conventional R&D programs.
At present, in order to complete the hour-long Formula E races, drivers have to change cars midway through. However, from season three onwards, Formula E will allow manufacturers to develop their own battery technology. The aim of this competition is to ensure that by season five the cars are able to complete the whole race on a single charge.
So in effect, Formula E wants to stimulate a 100 per cent increase in battery range in just two years. This will have enormous benefits for the usability and drivability for electric cars for everyday use.
Formula E also aims to minimize its carbon footprint to the lowest possible level paying special attention on waste, water and energy management on site. To this end, the cars for the Miami ePrix will be charged using electricity generated by solar power supplied by the Florida Power and Light Company.
The calendar is also designed to be as low-carbon as possible, with the races taking place across the global in geographical clusters. The series started in South-east Asia before moving to South America and onto North America before finally concluding in Europe.
Foto: Zaqqy. UBS lanza una nueva oferta filantrópica para sus clientes de Estados Unidos
UBS Financial Services wealth management clients in the U.S. are now able to make philanthropic donations to the UBS Optimus Foundation, dedicated to the health, education and protection of children around the world. Investors with an interest in improving the lives and potential of children will now have the opportunity to join UBS clients in other parts of the world in accessing the Foundation’s verified and focused network of community-based partner organizations as part of their own philanthropic giving and wealth management planning, via the recently-established Friends of UBS Optimus Foundation Fund.
Established in 1999, the Foundation is a charitable grant-making vehicle dedicated to ensuring children are healthy, safe and ready for their future. To date, it has received over 20,000 donations, totaling more than USD 250 million. The Foundation currently funds projects in 40 countries reaching 1.8 million children, and offers UBS clients a range of options to support causes and charities that are important to them without the burden of doing their own research, vetting and monitoring. The Foundation works with experienced partner organizations around the world to identify, track, and supervise the programs, and provides regular updates to clients to ensure that they remain properly informed of the impact of their support. Because UBS bears all administrative costs of the Foundation, 100% of client donations go directly to the intended service organizations.
“Clients are increasingly looking for advice regarding their philanthropic giving — both in directing and executing their social investments, as well as ensuring they are achieving their desired impact,” said Bob McCann, CEO of UBS Group Americas.
“By choosing to work with only the best-in-class partners — including the World Health Organization, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in South Asia, a regional office of J-PAL Global based at the Economics Department at MIT— we are providing clients with a turnkey offering that will deploy their resources in ways that create meaningful and lasting impact,” said Phyllis Costanza, CEO of the UBS Optimus Foundation.
UBS was voted the Best Private Bank for Philanthropic Services by Euromoney 2014 based on the strength of its Client Philanthropy Services, which covers the complete value chain in philanthropy, providing giving, investing and networking resources to align clients’ wealth with their values.
This new philanthropy offering is being made available in the U.S. as the Friends of UBS Optimus Foundation Fund, through a collaboration with National Philanthropic Trust, which manages one of the largest donor-advised funds in the world.
Paintings by Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) and Diego Rivera (1886–1957), two of the most celebrated artists of the early 20th century, will be on view in a group exhibition of 75 works at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale from February 26 through May 31, 2015: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection & 20th Century Mexican Art from the Stanley and Pearl Goodman Collection.
Showcasing the rich artistic traditions of Mexico and the passionate and patriotic pride of its artists, the exhibition features masterworks by Kahlo and Rivera along with paintings, sculptures and works on paper by other influential Mexican artists involved in the country’s political and social struggles, including Leonora Carrington, Gunther Gerzso, José Clemente Orózco, Wolfgang Paalen, Alfredo Ramos Martinez, David Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo and Remedios Varo. Together, their work helped to define Mexican modernism, demonstrating the broad range of artistic expression and varying political forces that shaped the country’s cultural heritage.
Accompanying these works are photographs of Frida and Diego by American and Mexican photographers such as Leo Matiz, Martin Munkácsi and Nickolas Muray, who documented the vastly different personalities of Kahlo and Rivera in portraits included in the exhibition. The artists’ mutual passions and shared political and artistic convictions bound them closely.
The exhibition brings together works from both the world-renowned Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection and major works by Mexican modern artists collected by Stanley and Pearl Goodman of Fort Lauderdale, who pledged their collection of more than 75 works by modern Latin American artists to the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection is known for its significant holdings of work by Kahlo. Outstanding paintings from the collection include many of Kahlo’s best-known self-portraits including Diego on my Mind (Self-Portrait as A Tehuana); Love Embrace of the Universe, Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego and Señor Xolotl and Self-Portrait with Monkeys.
The Gelman Collection also includes major works from Rivera including his provocative Portrait of Natasha Gelman, Calla Lily Vendor,Landscape with Cacti.
The Goodmans’ collection includes Surrealistic paintings by Kahlo and other artists, including Leonora Carrington, Gunther Gerzso, and Wolfgang Paalen. Works from David Siqueiros are also shown. The first painting purchased by the Goodmans was his gouache on paper, Fligh. Also in the collection are works by Alfredo Martínez Ramos, Remedios Varo and Ramos.
Presented by AutoNation, the exhibition is organized by NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale in association with the Vergel Foundation.
