American Center to showcase how it spurs innovation to new, long-time visitors

The American Center here will host a day-long open house session on Saturday to showcase its range of programmes and how it spurs innovation to new and long-time visitors, officials said. The American Center Mela will run from 10 am to 5:30 pm and is free to the public, the US Embassy here said in a statement.

The Center is welcoming visitors this Saturday for an open house that will showcase the range of programs and services it offers. The goal of the event is to present for both new and longtime visitors how the Center enlightens, enriches, and spurs innovation, it said. "Many people think of the American Center as primarily a library, but it has really expanded into something much more than that," said Sarah Ziebell, the US Embassy's Regional Public Engagement Specialist.

The American Center is located on Kasturba Gandhi Marg near Connaught Place. "The American Center that people fell in love with years ago very much remains, but with an added focus on innovation and technology, among other things, it now offers more resources and programming that benefit an even larger segment of the local community. We're excited to showcase it and think there is something for everyone here," the embassy said.

In line with a greater emphasis on promoting innovation, the American Center with its programming partner MakersBox during the open house will feature an exposition on 'makerspaces' -- collaborative work spaces that use both high tech and no-tech tools and items to encourage creativity, team-based problem solving, and critical thinking, the statement said. The Center is also aiming to provide more hands-on learning opportunities, highlighted by this weekend's 'Internet of Things Hackathon', which will challenge 20 young programmers to experiment with the next-generation technologies of smart homes in order to build solutions to common problems.

Visitors will also have the chance to see Nexus, a programme emblematic of the American Center's drive towards more practical training. "The two-year old Nexus Start-up Hub is an entrepreneurship incubator that has provided free-of-cost training and development to 72 Indian and South Asian start-ups, which have gone on to raise USD 4.4 million in outside funding and close over 25 deals with prominent US and Indian companies," the statement said. "It is a 10-week programme that covers the basics of what a start-up needs to know in order to be sustainable," said Nexus Director Erik Azulay. "We cover marketing, procuring financing, intellectual property, and everything in between."

The American Center's expansion is an addition to its traditional offerings. The library – a mainstay since the Center's inception in 1951 – continues to offer a wide selection of books, periodicals, and films, as well as access to countless online resources. Cultural programmes from photo exhibits to 'Friday Flicks' movie screenings are a weekly fixture on the calendar of events. The Center's expanded presentation spaces frequently host US diplomats and other experts for talks on a range of topics.

(With inputs from agencies.)