Dayton Sister Cities committee outlines student exchanges, cultural events and 60th-anniversary activities

The Dayton Sister Cities Committee provided an update on programs and travel scheduled with multiple sister cities, including student exchanges, artist collaborations, public events and a multi-city commemoration tied to the Dayton Peace Accords.

Kevin Lighty, chair of the Dayton Sister City Committee, told the commission the committee maintains relationships with seven sister cities and highlighted several near-term items. He said Augsburg, Germany, will send roughly 18 students and teachers to Dayton for a nine-day homestay as part of a yearlong 60th-anniversary celebration of the Augsburg relationship. Lighty said an Augsburg delegation including the mayor is expected to visit Dayton in August.

Lighty said Dayton will host visiting students and ceramic artists from Oiso, Japan, with three students and two ceramic artists scheduled to travel; the artists will collaborate with host artists and have work displayed at festivals and potentially at the Dayton Art Institute. He also said Dayton will be represented at the U.S.–Japan Summit and the World Expo in Osaka later this year.

Updates included work with Monrovia, Liberia — committee members visited Monrovia and met with the mayor, U.S. Embassy contacts and local schools to discuss exchanges and library projects — and an ongoing virtual collaboration with Holon, Israel, that has included presentations from local institutions such as the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. The committee is preparing events to mark the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords in November and is planning youth leadership exchanges connected to that programming.

Lighty identified two public events planned in August: a broader commemoration of the end of World War II (scheduled for Aug. 5 at the Dayton International Peace Museum) and a planned performance in collaboration with the Levitt Pavilion by a multi-language music group from Holon that mixes Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Yiddish, Aramaic and English in performances promoting reconciliation. Lighty said the group’s visa process is underway.

Commissioners praised the committee’s volunteer work and asked that the calendar and event particulars be made available on the city website. Commissioner Slaus asked that the committee’s two-year calendar be posted; Lighty said the calendar is already linked from the city website to the Sister Cities page. Commissioner Fairchild noted the potential for citizen-to-citizen diplomacy given Dayton’s sister-city relationships in both Israel and Palestine, and other commissioners thanked the committee for its work.

Lighty closed by saying the committee’s multi-year calendar is tentative and that many activities are volunteer-run.