University of New Mexico students from International Business Students Global (IBSG) participated in The Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) conference in San Francisco recently to gain support for their World Folk Art Movement Project.

IBSG’s Commitment to Action is to bring folk art to the Olympic Games to share the stage of excellence and global culture. CGI U provided an opportunity for UNM students involved in the World Folk Art Movement Project to reach out to leaders of business and society to support their initiative. IBSG’s objective is to promote the folk art as a driver of cultural preservation and economic and social development. Holding a folk art market at the Olympic Games would provide opportunities for artists to share their stories and market their products. The folk art market would additionally showcase the direct parallels between art and athletics’ abilities to transcend national borders.  

CGI U is committed to helping students turn their idea of launching a Folk Art Market at future Olympic Games into action. UNM students were exposed to working sessions and multiple lectures by top business leaders that can help the project come to fruition in Brazil, South Korea and Japan. Furthermore, the conference introduced students to people from the business, government and the nonprofit sector. These connections can provide the project with future sponsorship and funding opportunities as well as important advice and support. 

UNM participant Audriana Stark captured the conference best by saying it gave her hope.  

“CGI U instilled in me a great hope for the future of humanity, the environment, and the global political economy,” said Stark. “Over a thousand young change makers connected with one another and socially-minded leaders to share, to learn, to dream, and to plan their commitments to build a better world. As we move forward in our commitment to foster folk art markets at the Olympic Games as a means for cultural preservation and economic development, we will carry with us the lessons, inspiration, support, and network that was generated during the conference.”

IBSG is looking for people with an interest in folk art, marketing, social impact, or international relations to get involved in this exciting project. For more information, visit IBSG.

IBSG is a group of global and international professionals comprised of the highest caliber students at the University of New Mexico interested in questions of international management, corporate citizenship, and the global political economy. 

The faculty advisor for IBSG is Manual Montoya, a professor of global structures at UNM’s Anderson School of Management, an interdisciplinary scholar of globalization and the factors that produce a global political economy.

CGI U was founded in 2007 by President Clinton with the focus on engaging the next generation of leaders on college campuses around the world. More then 1,200 students came together for CGI U 2016 at the University of California Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area from April 1-3, 2016 to concentrate on making a difference in CGI U's five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.