[Zoi Leoudaki]: With us today in the Voice of America studio in Washington is Artemis Zenetou, Executive Director of the Fulbright Foundation in Greece. Welcome to Washington and to the Voice of America. [Artemis Zenetou]: I’m glad to see you, and I must say that I’m happy to return to Washington, which was my home for almost 11 years. [Zoi Leoudaki]: You are here for a meeting of the Fulbright Foundations of Europe. How has the economic crisis affected your work? [Artemis Zenetou]: Since Fulbright essentially deals with education, primarily cultural and educational exchanges, if we consider education as the most important good and investment in the present and future of any country, Fulbright remains relevant after 65 years. Certainly, what has changed is the number of applications. [Zoi Leoudaki]: So, there has been an increase in applications? [Artemis Zenetou]: Yes. [Zoi Leoudaki]: How much of an increase? Do you have any percentages? [Artemis Zenetou]: I would definitely say about 15%, but I’m not ready to answer that. There is an increase. [Zoi Leoudaki]: And from America to Greece and from Greece to America? [Artemis Zenetou]: I would say more from Greece to America, but what is very important is that there has not been a decrease from the USA to Greece because there was a period of concern essentially due to events in Greece, university occupations, frequent strikes, and various other situations being reported in the press. Yet, I think we have managed, through our work and through the work of our scholars, to support that Greece has many different facets and is not necessarily only what we often see through newspapers and television. [Zoi Leoudaki]: Which is very important. [Artemis Zenetou]: The crisis has affected the Foundation as it has generally affected the country also in the matter of financing because something not widely known is that the Fulbright Foundation, specifically the Foundation in Greece, essentially has to find about 50% of its annual budget every year. The remaining 50% comes from the U.S. government, which is also subject to some reductions, and to a much lesser extent, there is funding from the Greek government. [Zoi Leoudaki]: And I think there is also an initiative, art in education. Tell us a little about that. [Artemis Zenetou]: We use art to support education, Fulbright Alumni Art Series. It is essentially a creative fundraising program through the sale of works of art. We are one of the few Fulbrights that offer scholarships to visual artists. So, the idea started to utilize our scholars’ base, in this case, our visual artists, and to invite those who want to participate in this initiative by creating limited edition artworks, whether photographs, lithographs, or even original works which are sold, and all the money from the sale of these works goes to the Scholarship Fund. [Zoi Leoudaki]: Are there any other initiatives that will take place within Fulbright by the end of 2013-2014? [Artemis Zenetou]: We have started programs for Greek educators, specifically I want to refer to a neighboring university since we are in Washington, at George Mason University which hosted about two years ago twenty Greek educators from all over Greece, who spent a period of about six weeks at the university, but also in classrooms of neighboring schools specifically in Fairfax County. As a result, this core group of twenty educators, upon returning to Greece, managed to train about another 180 educators from all over Greece. So, there is a very capable network, I would say, of educators who are essentially the first to sow in our students for the next generations. [Zoi Leoudaki]: Thank you very much for the interview and have a good stay in Washington. [Artemis Zenetou]: Thank you very much. [Zoi Leoudaki]: With us today in the Voice of America studio was Artemis Zenetou, Executive Director of the Fulbright Foundation in Greece. Friends, goodbye from Washington.