The Demos Center at Deree – The American College of Greece is a part of the Institute for Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts. The Demos Center promotes democracy by fostering civic engagement, multiculturalism, and inclusivity through the practice of engaged and effective citizenship.
Interview to Zeta Tzioti
The new initiative of the American College of Greece, The Demos Center, located on Ipitrou Street in the heart of Athens, stands as a vibrant hub for art and culture under the auspices of the American College of Greece (ACG). This stunning facility reflects the vision and progressive leadership of Dr. David G. Horner, the President of ACG, whose commitment to innovation and excellence has transformed this historic building into a beacon of creativity and intellectual exchange.
The American College of Greece, a cornerstone of education in Greece, exemplifies the highest standards of academic excellence. Its state-of-the-art campus boasts advanced facilities, a well-equipped library, and a student-focused ethos that sets it apart as a leader in higher education.
At the helm of the Demos Center, is Dr. Mary Kardaras, its devoted founder and director with her impressive academic and professional background, shared her insights on her contribution to The Demos Center’s mission and the role of art in advancing knowledge and culture.
Her collaboration with Dr. Horner is marked by mutual respect and a shared enthusiasm for cultivating a space where art and culture thrive. Her dedication ensures that The Demos center fulfills its mission to serve as a dynamic platform for creative expression, academic exploration, and community engagement.
During our recent visit to the first Demos Center s exhibition, we had the opportunity to speak with the distinguished Dr. Mary Kardaras, who, stands as one of the most specialized figures in the field.
– Dr.Kardaras, you lived all your life in the U.S.A. How did you decide to come and live permanently in Athens?
-I was born in Athens, the daughter of an unwed mother who offered me for adoption. One of the 4,000 “lost children of Greece,” I was adopted from the central orphanage in the city by a Greek American couple who could not have children of their own. I grew up in Gary, Indiana, a steel-producing city, outside of Chicago. Educated in the United States, I was a journalist for most of my professional life, but became a college professor teaching journalism, documentary filmmaking and media and politics.
During a sabbatical, I decided to write a blueprint for what I called The Demos Center. It was an idea, a dream, to create a center dedicated to the practice of citizenship. I asked The American College of Greece if I could use its library and campus to write and study. The College administration welcomed me, and I wrote the plan. To my surprise, not only did they appreciate the plan, but asked me to “build” Demos as a member of the ACG family.
The President, Dr. David Horner, was the one who suggested our Plaka building as home to The Demos Center and, indeed, our beautiful building suits our mission and our overall zeitgeist.
As director, I just must be open to new ideas and partnerships, and to foster the growth of Demos in hopes that more people will discover what we are offering
– The Demos Center operates under the Institute for Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts (IHCLA) with Chief Consultant and Chair of the Advisory Board, Professor Haris Vlavianos.
How does the Demos Center intend to serve the IHCLA’s mission, which advocates that Hellenic culture provides the foundation for liberal arts education and serves as a model for successful democratic governance?
-Indeed, The Demos Center supports the mission of IHCLA. Demos is under its umbrella, but not necessarily of it. We operate independently and bring IHCLA’s programming to Demos, sometimes organizing with it.
For example, IHCLA is bringing a series of lectures to Demos beginning in January 2025 entitled Muhabbet: East Mediterranean Conversations. “Demos” is a gathering place for these kinds of discussions. Like the Paris solons or coffeehouses which originated in the Ottoman East Mediterranean, Demos is an intimate space for conversation and fellowship. Of course, our Deree faculty will play a major role here as they participate in exactly this kind of programming.
– What is the vision of The Demos Center, and what are its short- and long-term goals? How do you plan to utilize, support, and highlight Deree’s dynamic faculty and scholars in the humanities within The Demos Center?
-Demos is intended to be a “kipseli”, a place that attracts the public, literary, academic, and artistic communities to come together, to discuss problems, develop solutions to problems, celebrate achievements, be introduced to authors and ideas, to celebrate the arts of all kinds.
We are on Ipitou, a beautiful little street in Plaka that is also home to a lively crowd, including a high school, a college and four amazing bars. We are bringing our building alive and will infuse it with these activities. We have all kinds of partners from Ecogenia to the Athens Democracy and Culture Foundation, to Debate House to The Center for Excellence in Sustainability at ACG, to the Global Covenant of Mayors to Youth Initiative Greece to Refugee Week Athens to Youthmakers Hub to the new Columbia Global Center-Athens.
Demos develops programming with all these organizations. It has also developed a study abroad program called Gap Year Demos, which is aimed at attracting Greek diaspora youth and young adults from the United States, Australia, and Canada. We are putting the finishing touches on the program and hope to be promoting it soon.
We have also developed a summer program called Blue Sea Greece, which will be offered in June 2025, which is a course focused on the sustainability of our beautiful Greek waters. All these efforts stem from a desire to get people actively involved in their own community and with other communities.
– The Demos Center appears to be open to collaborations with the broader community in arts and culture, locally, nationally, and internationally.
Are you hoping for this extended community to be physically present in the center or to engage through its digital platform?
-In terms of art, I must credit ACG’s art curator, Ioanna Papapavlou, who has actually made the Plaka building itself a work of art. The College owns 4,000 pieces of art which beautifies the campus, our offices there and now Demos at the Plaka building. Ioanna is responsible for the use of the art. She went to the Dean of the Frances Rich School of the Fine and Performing Arts at ACG, Dr. Helena Maragou, to explore with her the possibility of bringing art exhibitions to Demos. She is an inspiration and showed me what is possible here, which began with a transformation of the space at the ground level to bring the Mama Klorin exhibition to The Demos.
At the opening we had over 200 people come through the exhibition and to celebrate artist Doreida Xhou during a reception on our events floor. This happened because of Ioanna, her co-curator for this exhibition, Pati Vardhami, and Dean Maragou.
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The Demos Center s first exhibition
-The inaugural exhibition “Mama Klorin” by Doreid Xhogu, curated by Pati Vardhami and Ioanna Papapavlou, successfully introduced the space and its dynamic to the Athenian community. How is this exhibition aligned with the mission of The Demos Center?
-Ai Weiwei recently said that “you cannot have a democracy without a flourishing arts community.” He is 100 percent correct. That is completely in alignment with the mission of The Demos Center. Artists bring a special kind of expression to society. They make us think, they make us think differently, they open our eyes to beauty and pain and struggle. They are a reflection not only of our reality, but of our dreams for society. How to make it better. More equitable. More inclusive. Afterall, art is the great equalizer. I hope that we will maintain and sustain our ground floor as a permanent art gallery with emerging artists coming and going, to help us develop an art hub, which the artistic community can depend on for cutting edge programming. Again, a “kipseli.”
My hope is that the Mama Klorin exhibition is just the beginning. I hope to bring live music to the building, to Ipitou, to our parking lot across the road, which brings both the curious, casual passerby and the passionate who are looking to be further engaged.
The Demos Center s role as a cultural connection
-The location is ideal for the formation of an art hub, which has been missing from Deree, The American College of Greece where artists, writers, scholars, and researchers could meet under one roof.
-The American College of Greece brings its energy to its Plaka location in The Demos Center. Yes, this is meant to provide a cultural connection for artists, writers, scholars, and researchers. We all want to practice citizenship with each of us bringing their own individual expertise to the fore. This is a kinetic place, which is developing its own personality.
As director, I just must be open to new ideas and partnerships, and to foster the growth of Demos in hopes that more people will discover what we are offering. I am eternally grateful for the trust and faith of ACG President Dr. David Horner, Dr. Jay Samons, and Dean Helena Maragou for trusting me to breathe life into the building and for supporting me in developing a variety of programming at Demos. May it all continue.
I am open to people’s ideas and welcome their participation and contributions to what is happening here
– People respond to your magnetic aura and charisma, qualities that cannot be taught. What are some of the leadership qualities you have acquired as a woman over the years, and how do you envision guiding this institution to its full potential?
-I am an eternal optimist and, I hope, exude positivity. I have an inordinate amount of energy. I love people and most enjoy making deep and meaningful personal connections. I am open to people’s ideas and welcome their participation and contributions to what is happening here.
I can also say that I had a productive career in the United States but was given this opportunity to contribute to the college, to Athens and to the country through The Demos Center. It is truly a gift and when you are given a gift like this, you try to rise to the occasion with an open heart and spirit. I am grateful I was born Greek.
I am grateful to this culture and to this country. I believe in Greece and am confident it can be a leader in the world, an example to follow on many fronts. It has such potential. You can feel it. I hope my confidence and personal happiness is infectious. That’s my hope. The Demos Center is my way of practicing my own citizenship and to encourage others to do the same. Our motto at The Demos Center is “devote the rest of your life to making progress.” That is exactly what we will are doing and what Demos hopes to inspire in others, especially youth and young people.
Who is who
Mary Kardaras is the Founder and Director of The Demos Center at The American College of Greece. She is a writer, EMMY award winning journalist and documentary filmmaker who holds a PhD in Public and International Affairs from Northeastern University in Boston. She has been teaching university students since 1991 and is interested in their development as active, interested, curious citizens of their communities and of the world. The Demos Center is the culmination of her dedication to government and public policy that serves people, journalism that shines a light in the dark corners of the world, and in a flourishing, vibrant arts community, which are the hallmarks of all free and healthy societies.
Kardaras is a Greek-born adoptee and fights for the restoration of Greek citizenship for some 4,000 Greek children, “the lost children of Greece.” She launched a campaign which now has over 75,000 signatures to that end, Nostos for Greek Born Adoptees.