American Spaces Live webinars provide an opportunity for American Spaces practitioners to share best practices, discuss innovative programming, and ask each other questions. These series are streamed onto our Facebook group on a regular basis. Here are previous videos in case you missed them:

Americana Box

• Americana Box: How are American Space reaching audiences with low bandwidth? In this webinar, American Spaces in Paraguay discusses their Americana Box program that brings American Spaces to key audiences. They have compiled their resources here and translated them into English and international Spanish.
• So, what’s in these boxes? Here’s a handbook and this folder has everything your space needs to make your own boxes, including editable graphics, logos, activities, and video scripts. If you have questions after watching the webinar, send us an email.

Alumni Engagement

• How are American Spaces Engaging with Alumni? – This webinar explores different ways American Spaces can engage with the alumni of U.S. government-funded exchange programs. The Office of Alumni Affairs talks about the various programs and grants and American Spaces in Guatemala and Armenia discuss innovative ways to work with alumni.
• Fulbright Engagement – A presenter from the Fulbright Program discusses its 75th Anniversary, history, and various programs. An alumna of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program discusses her experiences and best practices, and an American Corner in Hungary illustrates how engagement of Fulbright alumni and scholars has yielded impactful programs and exchanges.

Communication

• Newsletters – American Spaces from Italy, Côte d’Ivoire, and Argentina discuss how they use newsletters to communicate with their audiences. Here’s a link to their newsletters and presentations.
• EducationUSA and Social Media Best Practices – EdUSA Advisors in Mexico and Costa Rica and Program Officer in D.C. discuss best practices in social media and how American Spaces can work more closely with EdUSA.

Immersive Media

• Virtual Exhibitions – American Spaces in Bamyan, Afghanistan, and Dhaka, Bangladesh describe how they have used virtual exhibition platforms (Artsteps and Kunstmatrix) to provide accurate information on COVID, as well as promote women’s entrepreneurship, activism against gender-based violence, and the artistic community.
• Virtual Reality Part I – In this conversation, ECA Senior Advisor of Innovation discusses the potential of immersive media, such as virtual and augmented reality (AR/VR), as a tool for public diplomacy. The Office of American Spaces introduces its Virtual Reality Resource Toolkit, and American Center Cairo gives an overview with videos of its innovative 80-hour VR course that teaches Egyptians how to created experiences in VR.
• Virtual Reality Part II – American Spaces Dushanbe discusses how they used Mozilla Hubs for a Halloween open house event and the potential of VR spaces to promote community at American Spaces.
• Video Games – This webinar examines video games and esports as a public diplomacy tool to reach new audiences and shows how they are being used for programming at American Spaces in Mexico.

Managing your Space

• Volunteers – American Spaces Moldova discuss how their national network of volunteers not only benefit their American Spaces but also the volunteers themselves.
• How to Better Collect Data? – In this webinar, American Spaces Ukraine shares this Google Sheet template that any American Space can use to more accurately capture its statistics. Also, American Spaces data expert provides some impressive statistics about the global network of American Spaces.

Makerspaces Series

• What Are and Why Makerspaces? Former Makspace Manager from American Space Dushanbe and current Fulbright scholar on educational technology discusses a brief history of Makerspaces and their benefits to American Spaces.
• What is 3D Printing? Hear how American Center Capetown has used 3D printing to make a difference.
• What Kind of Makerspace Activities Can You Run at Your Space? Learn about American Center Hanoi’s low tech and mobile maker activities.
• How do You Find Partners for Your Makerspace? American Center Colombo talks about the role of partners in maker activities.
• How Can I Run Maker Programs with Assistive Technologies? American Spaces Brazil discuss how Casa Thomas Jefferson has created a more accessible Makerspace for persons with disabilities.
• How Can I Better Involve Makerspace Volunteers? “Technology doesn’t matter. People do.” America House Kyiv talks about the importance of investing in your volunteers.

Virtual Programming Series

• Blended Programs – American Spaces in South Africa outline how they engage virtual and in-person audiences at the same time, and the REPS in Cairo provides best practices in blended learning from the field of education.
• Virtual Programming and Social Media Part I – As American Spaces began to close in the Spring of 2020, American Spaces in Ukraine and Ivory Coast discuss how they were using social media and virtual programming to continue to reach their audiences.
• Virtual Programming and Social Media Part II – American Spaces in the Philippines and Mongolia continue the conversation on best practices and how to reach audiences virtually.
• Virtual Programming and Social Media Part III – American Spaces in Bangladesh, Uruguay, and the Kyrgyz Republic discuss lessons learned in transition to virtual programming.
• Virtual Program Platform Training (on Facebook only)
  • America House Kyiv goes over the basics of using the Open Broadcaster Software for live streaming.
  • This webinar discusses low tech options for virtual programming
  • Here’s how to set up an at home virtual programming studio
• Resources for Virtual Programming – Staff from the Office of American Spaces discuss resources that can be used for virtual programming.
• eLibraryUSA and Virtual Programming – American Spaces of Cameroon staff gives a virtual tour of eLibraryUSA.
• Enhancing Virtual Engagement with Mentimeter – American Center Tunis shows how Mentimer can enhance engagement for virtual presentations.
• English Language Resources for Virtual Programming – This webinar goes over best practices in English language instruction virtually. Here’s a handout on resources from the webinar.
• Connecting with Virtual Presenters – American Center Jerusalem staff discuss ways to find virtual presenters.
• Ask us Anything – REPS from around the world answer questions about reopening American Spaces, audience segmentation, and the importance of borrowing ideas from others.
• Digital Citizenship – Karkhana, a partner of American Spaces Nepal, shares its digital citizenship program and provides best practices for American Spaces wanting to run related programs.

Regional Programming

• Running Regional Virtual Programs – American Spaces India and Nepal discuss how they ran the Books Beyond Borders across multiple countries.
• Cross Cultural Dialogues for Peace – American Spaces Pakistan and Afghanistan discuss their Peace Mondays initiative to promote cross-cultural dialogues across borders.