Education
onderwijs
Educational exchanges take place in many ways, involving students and teachers on all educational levels. Baltimore and Rotterdam periodically send school officials to each other’s cities, to trade knowledge. Our committee has also helped to establish several ongoing student exchange programs.
Elementary/Middle/High Schools
Rotterdam schools occasionally contact us about doing exchange projects with Baltimore. If you are affiliated with a Baltimore school, and your school is interested in an exchange, you can contact our committee.
Rotterdam artist and theatre artist Kathie diStefano from Avalanche Arts (Stichting Lawine) has done several residencies in Baltimore over the years, with a focus on Baltimore’s Brooklyn-Curtis Bay neighborhood. During these residencies, she has worked with students, teachers, and community residents. diStefano periodically facilitates virtual exchanges between Baltimore and Rotterdam area schools with an environmental theme. She received a grant from the Netherlands Chapter of World Wide Fund for Nature (WNF) for this initiative. She also conducts workshops and interactive performances about trash and recycling for students throughout Maryland via Arts For Learning Maryland.
More information on our HarborTraces website
Architecture Education
Professor Cristina Murphy coordinates exchange programs and collaborations between Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning (MSU SA+P) and the Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst (RAvB) since 2019. Activities have included: architecture student trips to Rotterdam and Baltimore with city tours and visits to architecture and urban design firms; research and designs for neighborhoods in Baltimore and Rotterdam; exhibitions; symoisums; design workshops; and lectures.
Art Education
The Willem de Kooning Academie (WdKA) in Rotterdam and Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore have had an institutional partnership since 1992, born of the efforts of Annet Couwenberg, Professor in the Fiber Department at MICA, a native of Rotterdam (Couwenberg also served as chair of the Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee for many years).
In the beginning, exchange of students between the two institutions was slow — only one student every couple of years. But since 2004, interest in each college as a study abroad destination has grown exponentially. As many as five students a semester participate in study abroad exchange between MICA and WdKA, in areas such as fibers/fashion, graphic design, illustration, painting and sculpture.
The schools are currently engaged in Unravel the Code, a recurring collaborative interdisciplinary course about digital fabrication and smart textiles. Students from both schools participate in classes together, across the Atlantic. Johns Hopkins University’s Digital Media Center and Technische Universiteit Eindhoven have also collaborated on this coursework. More information and examples of the student work: Class website
Medical Education
University of Maryland School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have ongoing student exchange programs with Erasmus Medical School in Rotterdam. University of Maryland’s program was started in 1985. These university exchanges were initially started in the 1980’s with help from Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee members.
Architecture lecture series
Cristina Murphy from Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning coordinates webinars with speakers from Baltimore and the Netherlands on these themes:
- Architecture and urban design
- Materials for the built environment, with circular economy approaches
Another architecture exchange is being planned for 2024. The upcoming exchange is expected to include community-focused design workshops in both cities with a presentation of the outputs and collaborative partnerships with more organizations. Professor Cristina Murphy (Morgan State) and Thijs van Spaandonk (Bright) are the lead organizers/curators for this exchange.
2023 exchange: Students and faculty from Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning (MSU SA+P) traveled to Rotterdam in in March 2023. In April, students and faculty from Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design (RAvB) reciprocated the exchange by coming to Baltimore; RAvB hosted an exhibition about the exchange in Fall 2023.
2023 trip report by Professor Cristina Murphy
Rethinking Infrastructure to Bridge Baltimore’s Divides
Symposium
Cristina Murphy from MSU SA+P organized a symposium and exhibits on October 10, 2019 with help from Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee. She posted a report about it on AIA Baltimore’s website. The symposium featured a speaker from Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design (RAvB); the exhibits included works from their students. At the bottom of the report are links to videos of the symposium.
University of Maryland School of Medicine at night, with downtown Baltimore in the background.
(Photo: © George Hagegeorge)
Maryland Institute College of Art's Brown Center.
(Photo: © George Hagegeorge)
