COMMON THREADS

The Venezuelan National System of Youth and Children´s Orchestras and Choirs (Fesnojiv), a foundation created by the Venezuelan maestro José Antonio Abreu and financed by the Venezuelan government, thanked the executives of the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, who visited Venezuela to give master classes for Fesnojiv musicians.
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The Venezuelan movies Havana Eva, by Fina Torres, and Hermano, by Marcel Rasquin, received the most important awards in the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) on Wednesday, August 25, reported AFP.
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Venezuela ranks third globally in terms of how many of its Internet users sign on to Twitter, coming in after only Indonesia and Brazil, reported the website La Red. In Venezuela’s case, the number of users of the social network has increased since President Hugo Chávez starting using Twitter.
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Over 120 U.S. intellectuals, progressive organizations, and activists urged incoming Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to establish “a constructive regional dialogue around the internal conflict in Colombia and its impact on neighboring countries” in a letter which will be delivered to the Colombian head of state on August 7, 2010, the day of his inauguration. The content of the letter was made public in a press release from the Alliance for Global Justice.
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A delegation from the Office of the Mayor of the City of Oakland, California, visited Venezuela to learn more about advances made in education. The members of the delegation met with the Mayor of Ocumare, a village on the Caribbean coast, and visited the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, an institution of higher education created in 2003 as an alternative to traditional Venezuelan universities.
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The recognized Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel  conducted for the first time the opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet on August 1 in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl.  On August 2,  Dudamel will conduct again the opera. The first-time performance was part of a series of shows that will take place in five countries this year.
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The Bolivarian Hall, the cultural space of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, D.C., was all glamour on Thursday, July 22 for a concert by Venezuelan clarinetist Alcides Rodríguez, whose performance delighted the audience during the closing event of the first part of the Venezuelan Sounds 2010 series.
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Today a coalition of human rights, social justice, civil society organizations and TransAfrica Forum published two letters in which they criticize the government of outgoing Colombian President Álvaro Uribe for continuing a pattern of falsely accusing Venezuela of having links to the insurgent groups FARC and ELN.
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In a concert full of music and Venezuelan flavor, harpist Leonard Jacome and his ensemble Cuerdas Bajo Presión performed in the Bolivarian Hall of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Repubilic of Venezuela in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, July 16. The concert was part of the seventh edition of the Venezuelan Sounds concert series  promoted by the Venezuelan embassy in the U.S. and sponsored by the Chevron Corporation. Venezuelan Sounds started on June 23 with a Venezuelan night in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
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Venezuelan independence hero and pan-American revolutionary Francisco de Miranda died on this day 194 years ago, ending a life that saw him participate in revolutions stretching from France to the United States and culminating in his valiant attempt to free Venezuela from Spanish rule.
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