A partner of the WHO-housed Stop TB Partnership, Icons of Europe participates in
the global fight against.tuberculosis. |
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Keats, Weber, Chopin, Tocqueville,
Kafka, Orwell
and many other Icons died early in their life of TB. "Their legacy provides an opportunity
to call attention to the
re-emergence of TB as a
massive global challenge in the 21st century."
Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen
Founders and managers, Icons of Europe |
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INITIATIVES BY ICONS OF EUROPE
The arts: art music drama publications
and cultural research |
 2013:
World TB Day 24 March
In the days leading up to WTBD, we participated in the
"Challenge the World to Do More on TB" theme by tweeting
at @IconsEurope and @ChopinFryderyk and by making three
posters for the
My Stop TB Interactive website (search: Icons).
For example: "We use the Arts to recall that fighting TB
today engages all levels of society - for which
goverrnments must provide leadership".
The income of our
Chopin biography continues to support TB advocacy.
2013: Jenny Lind Gala
Concert in the UK
The Chopin biography is also being promoted in
connection with the Jenny Lind Gala Concert "The
Dream of Chopin" at Malvern on 13 July 2013. |
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2012: Stanford
University / TB and the Arts
Icons of Europe responded with great interest to the invitation by a
musicology PhD
candidate at
Stanford University in California to provide information and
insight on the
approach of using cultural research and
the
arts in the
fight against TB. |
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 2012:
Donation to miners in Africa
Icons of Europe donated a financial sum to WHO's Stop TB
Partnership in support of
miners in Southern Africa.
They "have [today] some of the
highest rates of
TB / HIV
in the world". It's a tragic signal in the debate
on priorities for Africa's development - oil & mining
versus good governance,
education, health, agriculture, SME ...
>>
Article by Desmond Tutu, Cape Town, South Africa |
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2010-2011: Google ads
for TB and the Arts
Icons of Europe used Google ads to test the use of the
arts for World TB Day advocacy (click-through rate ca.
5%). As a result, Icons of Europe N°.1 of
174 million hits of a
Google search for TB, Arts (12 August 2012).
2009+: Amazon books income to TB fight
- Biography: "Chopin
and The Swedish Nightingale" (more)
- Musical drama: "The
Composer and The Nightingale"
(more)
- 1894 collectible: "Jenny
Lind: Her Vocal Art and Cadenze" |
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World TB Day 2008 at
Lake George, New York
 On
the occasion of World TB Day, the U.S. premiere of Icons
of Europe's “Chopin and The Nightingale” took place at
the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, Bolton Landing (Lake
George) in New York State on 25 and 27 July 2008.
>>
WHO news |
MORE |
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| Advocacy 2006-2007 |
- Editing of various Wikipedia
pages related to tuberculosis, so that the legacy of
TB victims such as Chopin, John Keats, Alexis de
Tocqueville, and the
Chinese emperor in the nightingale story of Hans
Christian Andersen would be better understood.
- Icons of Europe wrote a letter to the editor
of the International Herald Tribune on the editorial
"Extreme
tuberculosis" (14 September 2006) to comment on
its conclusion “Generosity is needed to fix it”.
We countered:
"It is not a matter of charity and a
patch-up, but about a global objective of investing in people and the security of nations."
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Icons
of Europe signed
The Call to Stop TB in early 2006. We continue to convey information
on this subject to a wide
audience.
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On 31 January 2006, the Stop TB Partnership named
Icons of Europe "PARTNER OF THE WEEK" and placed
information on our association at
Stoptb.org.
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| World TB Day 2005 at
Toronto |
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 Icons of Europe co-produced
pro bono and sponsored the musical drama "Chopin and
The Nightingale" and a Chopin / Bellini concert at
the Royal Museum of Ontario to promote
World TB Day 2005.
Several online essays researched by Icons of Europe and a TB &
the Arts display at ROM supported the events.
The "Chopin and The Swedish Nightingale" book, with an
inscription by the Director-General of the World Health
Organization, was given free to all VIP guests at the events.
The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto Public
Health of the City of Toronto, Stop TB Canada, the British High Commission to Canada,
the Embassy of Canada in Brussels, and the Fryderyk Chopin
Institute in Warsaw participated in this transatlantic initiative. >>
Poster
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WHO news |
 As a tribute to Poland and Canada, an essay
by Icons of Europe was published
in Chopin in the World on the fate of
Polish art treasures during
WW2. The conclusion of this essay refers to World TB Day 2005 and "the
dangerous global epidemic". |
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 "Did the emperor suffer from
tuberculosis?", 2005
An
essay on the occasion of World TB Day 2005
by
Cecilia Jorgensen,
Icons of Europe, related to The Nightingale story
by Hans Christian Andersen. |
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 Swedish Embassy, Warsaw, 2004
Following an expert roundtable and
press conference at the Philharmonic on 1 March 2004 (Chopin's birthday), the
Chopin / Jenny Lind musical
drama was performed at the Swedish Embassy in
Warsaw on 6
April 2004 for an international VIP audience to celebrate the new Europe. Rothschild
Europe was main sponsor of this event.
The Chopin biography with the
WHO/DG TB message
was given to all participants in the events. |
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| Premiere at Brussels,
2003
 The musical drama had its first
premiere near Brussels
in 2003. With patronage by six ambassadors, this event was sponsored by BP, Royal
Danish Embassy, LOT and Telefonica. The re-emergence
of TB was noted. |
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| Chopin biography,
2003
 The biography
Chopin and The Swedish Nightingale (2003),
written and published by the founders of Icons of Europe
call attention to how Chopin died of TB.
It conveys a TB message from the Director-General of
the World Health Organization, the late Dr J.W. Lee.
Book income is donated to the Icons of Europe TB Fund. |
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| Danes Worldwide, 2003
 The global TB threat, including the HIV/AIDS and MDR
risks, was noted in our general
programme folder and
in Danes Worldwide
(November 2003).
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- TB & the Arts
-
Fighting TB
-
WHO
/ our book
-
Musical drama
-
Stop TB Partnership
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Our listing as partner
Icons of Europe's
TB Fund / Donations welcome
 A good deal of the TB-related work
of Icons of Europe uses the life and music of Fryderyk
Chopin and Jenny Lind as a platform for advocacy, insight and
dialogue.
The work is funded by Icons of Europe (pro.bono),
and by contributions to the Icons of Europe TB Fund.
To propose a donation, please
contact us.
Chopin / Jenny Lind
Chopin suffered from tuberculosis. When Jenny Lind sang for him in 1848-1849, he
felt better and he called her "my nurse". Jenny Lind raised funds to fight
the disease.
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