Please Welcome Biot to Tacoma
Later this week Tacoma will be receiving some special guests from France. The mayor of Biot, France, will be in town for a few days to meet with Tacoma officials, visit the Museum of Glass, and generally begin to explore and expand the relationship between the two countries.
The French delegation arriving this Wednesday, October 3 will include the Mayor of Biot, Jean-Pierre Dermit, a Biot city council member and Sister Cities coordinator for the town, the director of cultural events for Biot, members of the print and television press, and world renowned glass artists Jean-Claude Novaro and Antoine Pierini. The group will be in town through Sunday, and will make a number of stops, including a visit with the Hilltop Artists, and a glass-blowing session for Novaro and Pierini in the Museum of Glass Hot Shop.
Sister city volunteers in Tacoma and and France have been working hard over the last few months to organize and fund this visit.
In case you’re not familiar with Biot, Exit133’s foreign correspondents happened to be in the area shortly after the sister city relationship was confirmed in April, and a visit seemed to be in order, so we’ve got a brief summary of a trip to Tacoma’s newest sister city.
First things first: the French Riviera is beautiful, and Biot is no exception. Although the city lacks the flash nearby of Monaco or Cannes, it is situated in a charming little valley, and the old town area is lifted right out of a movie set.
In our short time there, we met and had lunch with the mayor and were treated to a thorough tour of La Verrerie de Biot, one of the oldest glass factories in the area.
Lunch with the Mayor
Mayor Dermit is enthusiastic for a relationship between his city and Tacoma. We went into our meeting with questions on both sides of the table about what it was that our two cities could get out of the new relationship, and some areas of common interest emerged. There is, of course, the glass connection – the most obvious similarity between the two cities, but more on that later. Aside from glass, technology and education emerged as common interests.
While the historic old town sits up on the hill, a booming tech sector is growing in the valley. This industry cluster is shared by several towns in the area and is a tremendous source of infrastructure investment, people, and growth. The challenge for Biot is to differentiate itself from the other towns. Biot is home to a young university, like Tacoma, built to support the local tech sector and the mayor was very interested in trying to leverage this asset for his community.
La Verrerie de Biot
And then there’s the glass.
We met with Serge Lechaczynski of Galerie Internationale Due Verre and La Verrereie de Biot, and were treated to a passionate conversation about glass that certainly raised some questions, and illuminated potential connections between the two centers of glass art.
The relationship between Tacoma and Biot is only just beginning, and we see several potentially strong connections between the two cities. This week representatives of Biot will have the chance to form their own impressions of our city. We hope that they find Tacoma as welcoming as we found Biot.
Our visit was brief, we could only spend the day there, but it’s certainly on our list of places to return to for a longer stay.
Visitors to La Verrarie de Biot can watch the masters at work up close.
The trademark Biot glass bubbles come from this machine.
Old town Biot is full of little galleries and shops of local art.
The nearby French Riviera is beautiful too.
Here’s a short clip of glass artist Novaro talking about his hometown of Biot and his art. There are some good shots of the town in here as well.
Filed under: City Projects, Sister Cities
11 comments
J Jesse October 1, 2012
But are they bringing French wine and cheeses? That’s the real question…
Otherwise, really cool.
H Huguette Marsicano October 2, 2012
I’m so happy that my dream of last summer to twin Biot and Tacoma became reality! It was obvious for me to try to link two cities that share the same passion for glass and two regions of the world that are dear to my heart. The delegation is very excited, we are flying tomorrow!!
Huguette Marsicano
A agnes jensen October 2, 2012
Merci Derek, beautiful photos of Biot!
We are ready to welcome the french delegation in Tacoma tomorrow!
D Deborah J. Anderson October 2, 2012
The arrival of the delegation from France marks the culmination of months of hard work on the part of volunteers from both cities. It also officially marks the opening of doors, hearts, minds and talent between Biot and Tacoma. It is above all a celebration of people and of the thriving arts, technology and education scenes in our two regions.
F fred davie October 2, 2012
No offense to the fine people of Biot, France, but why doesn’t Tacoma look for a NEW sister city, not one with attributes just like Tacoma, but rather with attributes that we aspire to… like a balanced budget?
T tacoma_1 October 2, 2012
Bienvenue Monsieur Marsicano. Please enjoy our city. Be sure to explore Pt Defiance Park while your here. And try some of our seafood too. Moules frites at Harbor lights (have them make the fresh cut fries) never disappoints.
T Tony Anderson October 2, 2012
This is another great day in Tacoma. This relationship will continue the International flavor of the City of Destiny and allow us to share the wonderful art of glass blowing. Our students will enjoy the future exchanges and the relationships they will form and hopefully some economic development can take place between our two great communities. Sister Cities is alive and well in Tacoma because we are truly an International City also because we have a 56 year history with Sister Cities International. Way to go Tacoma & Biot!!!
Ciao
Tony Anderson
Sister Cities International
Honorary Board
J John October 2, 2012
We’d like to welcome the representatives of Biot to Tacoma. We hope you enjoy our city and its people. The vast majority of us are excited to expand our horizons, and share the things we have in common and learn new things from our guests.
For those of you who are only interested in slashing the budget at the expense of everything else, I suggest you partake in an diplomatic/exploratory mission to a place like Mogadishu, Somalia. As a sister city, it would seem to fit all the criteria you require in a municipality: crumbling infrastructure, dirt-cheap, non-union labor costs, minimal building codes, and most importantly of all, a low tax rate.
F fred davie October 2, 2012
John, nobody suggested “slashing the budget at the expense of everything else.” That’s a strawman argument.
I suggested teaming up with a better run city in effort to learn how to improve the operations of our OWN city. That’s a primary purpose of the sister city program… as I understand it.
B Bill Evans October 8, 2012
Bienvenue! Bienvenue!…..and thank you for coming to Tacoma. It is an honor to have Biot as our 12th Sister City. We look forward to Biot’s participation in Tacoma’s 11th Annual Sister Cities International Film Festival in February, March and April, 2013 at the Blue Mouse Theater in the Proctor district. Our visitors AND their glass were extraordinary. We look forward to many more exchanges in the future. I can’t think of anything more important in the context of international community building than welcoming foreign nationals to our international city. Merci!
C Chalky White October 9, 2012
Congrats to Tacoma and Biot. The TNT article showing the French artist with the students at Jason Lee was inspiring. These sister city relationships are important to the cultural and educational progress of Tacoma and help expand our horizons.