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         |  CANADA - Millennium Bureau of Canada Canada Millennium Partnership Program: Under the theme, Sharing the Memory: Shaping the Dream, $50 million will be allocated for community-based projects and national activities. Millennium Scholarship Fund: With the initial contribution of $2.5 billion by the Government of Canada, the Foundation aims to award 100,000 needs-based scholarships for ten years beginning in 2000. Also, $10 million Millennium fund, administered by the Canada council for the Arts will grant funds to artists and arts organizations. Virtual Millennium: Millennium Web site to allow all Canadians access to details of all events and programs. Millennium Projects: Including the Viking Project, to celebrate Viking arrival; TransCanada Trail, a recreational trail across Canada; Natural Legacy 2000, nation-wide conservation effort; Music Canada 2000; and Heritage Fairs. Contact Information:Barbara Uteck FRANCE - The Mission for the Celebration of the Year 2000 The Celebration of the year 2000 can be seen as an invitation--an invitation to think about the future, to mark a new relationship to time, to each other and to our environment. Three different kinds of time will mark the turn of the millennium: The time for festivities, the time for reflection, and the time for creation. Time for festivities: Major celebrations include New Year's Eve, December 31, 1999, focusing on solidarity; Musical Festival in June 2000, focusing on shared culture, Bastille Day, July 2000, focusing on a celebration of nature and environment; local celebrations ranging from The Children's Village, a group of touring child musicians, to events that bring together groups of writers and young people. Time for reflection: The process will culminate in the University of World Knowledge. Professors from all disciplines will conduct seminars in Paris. Cities have developed their own projects (i.e.: Lyons-The new renaissances, Lille-The new African creativities). Time for creation: Programs to stimulate, coordinate, and support initiatives in all fields of the arts. Public art commissions, audiovisual productions, publications, and "Imagining Tomorrow" fellowships--funding for ten recent Ph.D.'s to research various aspects of daily life in the 21st Century. Contact Information Francois Laquieze ITALY - The Roman Agency for the Preparation of the Jubilee 40 million pilgrims, visitors, and tourists are expected to converge on Rome and its region during the year 2000. The task of The Roman Agency for the Preparation of the Jubilee is to coordinate the operations to welcome the guests expected for the great event of the Jubilee Year. The Agency will initiate and oversee the planning of cultural celebrations, transportation projects, information systems, urban maintenance, and special ceremonies. Contact Information: Prof. Francesco Bandarin ICELAND - The Leifur Eriksson Millennium Commission of Iceland The Millennium celebrations which the Government of Iceland will support are focusing on the country's early history: The Leifur Eriksson Millennium Commission of Iceland will: Design a program of events related to their discoveries in North America which will include retracing the path of a Viking ship, concerts by the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, film festivals, theater productions, international seminars in Iceland for youth from North America, exhibitions of paintings, literature (with the Library of Congress) and the history of Viking exploration (with Smithsonian). Make grants within Iceland in support of films on Viking history, school curricula development, Internet linkages among schools, programs in environment affairs for young people, international exchanges for students, and commemorative celebrations for the 1000 year anniversary of Christianity in Iceland. Contact Information: H.E. Ambassador Einar Benediktsson In the year 2000 from June 1 to Ocober 31, Germany will host a universal World exposition for the first time in history. EXPO 2000's theme, Humankind-Nature-Technology stands for central issues facing the world in the coming century. To date, 175 nations and organizations have accepted Germany's invitation. Each country will stage its own representation in exhibition halls. The expected attendance will be 40 million visitors. Germany will also showcase its 10 years of reunification. George Sewig Norway 2000 will focus on making Norway prepared to meet the changes coming in the new century and plans to use the opportunity to learn from others. The government has set up an independent company owned by the Ministry of Culture and managed by a Board of Directors. Just recently the Commission has begun hiring permanent staff. Their intent is to remain in business through the year 2005 which coincides with their hundred year separation from Sweden. The Commission will make grants to local communities using the following themes: solidarity, responsibility, oneness and environmental awareness. Specific plans include: Millennium Squares: New community meeting places will be built in all 435 communities. Millennium Buildings: The commission will build a Medieval museum, a modern national library, a technological center, a multi ethnic and cultural building, as well as Norway's first opera house. Millennium projects: Everyone will be invited to submit ideas and develop projects which meet the vision and values of the Millennium celebration. Suggestions may include new musicals, concerts, or exhibitions. Contact Information: Anne Kari Lande Hasle UNITED KINGDOM - Millennium Commission The centerpiece will be the Dome in Greenwich. It will be the largest building of its kind in the world, at 150 meters high and 8 hectares around. It will contain exhibits and attractions exploring aspects of life in the past and future and will house a live show in its central arena. The Dome is also acting as a catalyst for the regeneration of the dilapidated Greenwich peninsula, inspiring the development of Millennium Village, which will include 3000 new homes, 50 acres of new public parks, and permanent improvements in public transport to the area. The Millennium Commission is distributing 2 billion pounds of National Lottery funds. They are being distributed through grants to individuals enabling them to fulfill personal aspirations while benefitting their communities, and also to capital projects at more than 3,000 locations across the UK. The capital projects are focusing on five themes, dealing with the environment, education, science and technology, city refurbishing, and community support. The Millennium Challenge includes locally-generated projects, including Our Town's Story, in which the story of different towns in the UK will be told each day, in the Dome. The focus will broaden to embrace overseas collaboration during the European and Commonwealth months within the Dome. Contact Information: Mike O'Connor
President and First Lady | Vice President and Mrs. Gore |
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