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Carola Lentz elected new President of the Goethe-Institut
In a special meeting held in Berlin on Friday (27 September), the Board of Trustees of the Goethe-Institut elected Professor Carola Lentz as the new President of the Goethe-Institut. She will take over from Professor Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, whose term in office ends on 18 November 2020.
Foreign Minister issued the following statement in Berlin today (30 September) on Professor Lentz’s election:
The Goethe-Institut is a key part of our cultural relations and education policy. In electing Professor Lentz as its new President, the Goethe-Institut will once again have a woman at its helm – and moreover an expert on Africa. This decision means that the Goethe-Institut is also focusing on a topic of great importance to us. I am particularly looking forward to working together on the topic of Africa, as well as on other issues. I congratulate the Goethe-Institut on this decision and Professor Lentz on her election.
Professor Lehmann has had a profound impact on the Goethe-Institut thanks to his outstanding expertise and personal warmth. It is largely thanks to him that ‘the Goethe’ now stands worldwide for cultural work that opens new doors to education and culture and strengthens civil society. I am very grateful indeed to him for that.
Background information:
The Goethe-Institut, which was founded in 1951, is the largest intermediary organisation in the field of cultural relations and education policy. In total, the Federal Foreign Office will provide it with 271.3 million euros in funding in 2019.
The framework agreement of 2004 provides the basis for this cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office. Under this agreement, the Goethe-Institut is responsible for promoting the German language abroad, dealing with international cultural collaboration, and conveying an up-to-date and wide-ranging image of Germany. Professor Klaus-Dieter Lehmann has served as President of the Goethe-Institut since 2008.
He will be succeeded by Professor Carola Lentz on 19 November 2019. She is currently Vice-President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a Professor of Ethnology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.