A Fall Update

Sep 15, 2020

“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.”
― Hans Christian Andersen

As I write this from my home in Seattle, WA. in mid-September, I’m reflecting on this year of restricted movements, where I’ve rarely left my neighborhood zip code, let alone travel across the Atlantic to Denmark. Seven months into this global pandemic, we are now in the waning days of summer and fall is fast approaching. With it comes the back-to-school fervor, which has an unusual overcast this year as we prepare our students to commence the new school year virtually, to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. That includes our partners at the Universities of Washington and Wisconsin, who have been busy all summer preparing for a new remote learning model to keep students and faculty safe. With the travel restrictions in force since March, our regularly funded study abroad programs were halted. The faculty adapted and moved quickly to virtual experiences, like Kimo Griggs at the University of Washington’s School of the Built Environment. Despite the time difference, he was successful in securing Danish master furniture designer, Erling Christoffersen, to participate as a guest presenter for the Furniture Studio.

Like our colleagues in academia, many of our other partners have had to pivot to adapt to a new way of engaging. At the beginning of this global pandemic, The National Nordic Museum was very agile as they quickly adjusted to presenting their second Nordic Innovation Summit, which included a high-caliber roster of speakers from all the Nordic countries, international leaders in sustainability from a variety of industries and civil society. As a sponsor, we were pleased to see Denmark was represented by Ambassador Lone Dencker Wisborg who provided a very thoughtful welcome and introduction to the program. There was also program participation by two important Danes, Kåre Mølbak, Executive Vice President, Statens Serum Institut on the Nordic Region COVID-19 update panel and Andreas Cleve, Co-Founder and CEO of Corti on the Nordic Healthcare Ways panel. I had just stepped into the role of President of this venerable organization, and as one of my first official duties, with President Emeritus Mark Schleck by my side, we recorded a short video of welcome. Little did I know that the summit would be viewed by some 3,000 people from around the world! Likewise, another of our long-standing partners, the Seattle Symphony stepped up to the challenge by adapting to broadcasting their season online, expanding their audience significantly. While there’s no substitute for the soul-enriching experience of a live performance from a full symphonic orchestra, they have made substantial changes to their forthcoming season, under the astute directorship of Danish Music Director, Thomas Dausgaard. The season begins on September 19 with the Season Opening Reimagined, a free broadcast for the entire community to celebrate the return of music to Benaroya Hall.

Our long-serving grants manager, Mary DeLorme, is keeping in lock-step with these changes and offering a flexible ear to our partners when grants need to be rolled forward or re-purposed. As a funder, we also adjusted our grants to these difficult times and joined other philanthropic partners to investing in local organizations who are on the frontlines of supporting our community. Through pooled fund efforts like the WA Food Fund, we provided a grant to keep food banks and pantries stocked, in cities and rural communities across our state. Another grant was directed to the Covid-19 Response Funds which quickly deployed much needed resources to organizations supporting local workers and families most impacted by the coronavirus crisis and a third grant went to ArtsFund’s Covid—19 emergency relief fund to help stabilize the arts sector and help prevent closure, bankruptcy, and insolvency.

In keeping with our mission of ‘advancing Danish-American relations’ it has been encouraging to witness the Danish spirit of innovation and entrepreneurialism adapt to changing times – and in many cases, leading the way. While this current situation has halted the ability to gather in large groups, I hope I’ll have the chance to at least connect virtually with some of you at the upcoming annual Danish American Cultural retreat, hosted by the NW Danish Association. A true Pacific Northwest tradition, DACR has been held every year for 40 years at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. This year will be different, but I’m sure, equally inspiring.

As we continue to assess how we can be a responsible partner, I encourage you check out our website for updates at www.scandesignfoundation.org and please reach out to me to share your thoughts. I’ll be happy to join you on Zoom or connect via email or phone – my coordinates are below. I am excited to engage with you and learn from you. In the meantime, take good care.

Farvel!
— Fidelma