Brigitte von Bulow, Chairman

Brigitte Graefin von Bulow was born in western Europe and became an Australian at the end of the 1970's. She has since given her heart and work to the country she made her own : Australia. 

Educated in the Netherlands (Lyceum), Bombay (International School), Lausanne (Boarding School), and three Universities, she became very interested in all that is happening in the world at a very young age. She attended classes in ballet, piano, yoga, French, horse-riding, arts, is fluent in 5 languages and is studying at present Tibetan. She is a Mensa member since 1984.

In Australia, Brigitte worked for Ansett (appointed by Sir Peter Abeles himself) as Director of the VIP lounges of that airline, was called back from overseas (she was in Germany) to help run the Deutsches Haus during the Olympics in Sydney for the International media, VIPS, athletes and Diplomats, and was ( still is) very involved with the Liberal Party (returning to Australia during the last Election just so that she could man one of their booths is not something many people would do).

With her PhD in Neuro-Psychology (majoring in Buddhism), she did much work for the underprivileged and was to be found at odd hours consulting people at Drugs/Suicide help lines in centers like the Wayside Chapel. She also volunteered in big yearly events such as Clean up the World, and organized one of these events a few years ago in Ft Lauderdale, which she called “a real challenge but fun to do anyway. As a child in Bombay, she could be found often in the very poor slums, playing baseball and cricket with the kids and one by one giving all her possessions away, including her watch she got as a 9 year old for her birthday and her guitar. Her father told her he would not give her anymore gifts if she would keep on giving them away but was smiling whilst saying those words. But indeed she did not have another watch till she turned 15!

As a Tibetan Buddhist, (her name Tenzin Lhamo, given by the Monks of the Monastery of the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala), Brigitte is also actively supporting the Free Tibet worldwide movements,, writes music for Buddhist poems (one of which is called *Freedom* ) (she is an accomplished Classical and New Age pianist and composer), ( http://cdbaby.com/vonbulow ), was involved as a fundraiser for the Tibetans living in exile and financially supports several Tibetan children in India and one boy in Nigeria. She also has great admiration for the Aborigines in Australia and counts many of them amongst her best friends. She wrote a poem called *Uluru, my child, my dream*, that was published in several magazines, a poem with a powerful cry for help and love for the Aborigines, their culture and 40.000 years of history.

Being a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, she is fully aware of the state of the world (with Global warming et al) and is therefore a very involved environmentalist, supports Greenpeace, Earth Watch and others and promotes where ever and whenever she finds a moment, the Australian Clean up the World organization which is based in Sydney. (and not just talks about the Environment but lives it: recycling, no plastic bags, bicycling as much as possible instead of driving the car, organic foods etc.)

She is a vegetarian since she is 11 years old, the day she, her brother and parents, were waiting for dinner in a restaurant in Bombay (now Mumbai) and a lobster came running out of the kitchen with the cook, holding a big knife, running behind it. The cook apologized, grabbed the lobster, and 20 minutes later that poor creature was cooked and well on the table for dinner. There and then Brigitte vowed she would never eat anything anymore that could fly, walk or swim. A promise she has been able to hold much better later on, when she did not have to obey her concerned mother any longer who was convinced she would not be healthy if she would not eat *lots of proteins* and thus did not share the vegetarian view.

Now living in Miami, Florida, she is happily married to Franco, her American husband and is the proud mom of Paul, her beautiful darling son, who lives in Australia, having finished his 6 years of University education and now studying Buddhism in Western Australia.

She loves reading, playing the piano and comparing music with her friend in Australia, the composer Ken Davis, meditating, cooking Italian dishes and simply pottering around in her garden that resembles a rainforest.

The Australian Festival is greatly pleased and honoured that Brigitte has joined the Festival in October of 2006 as our Chairman. With her history of humanitarian, organizational skills and involvement, the Festival looks forward to a very successful continuation of an already magnificent ten prior Festival years. A Festival that has found its new home in Broward County!