The conditions have been set and it’s now time to use the arts and cultural engagement at ground and grassroots level to further enhance cultural diplomacy and effectiveness of military security cooperation operations.

The revival of Cambodia’s rich and unique cultural heritage has fueled the country’s impressive recovery from the Khmer Rouge’s genocide of 1975-79. This message rang unmistakably true as the Season of Cambodia (SOC) has dazzled New York audiences in museums, universities, galleries, and performing arts centers over the past month.

The revival of Cambodia’s rich and unique cultural heritage has fueled the country’s impressive recovery from the Khmer Rouge’s genocide of 1975-79. This message rang unmistakably true as the Season of Cambodia (SOC) has dazzled New York audiences in museums, universities, galleries, and performing arts centers over the past month. Both the US and the Cambodian governments stand to learn from this game-changing lesson for post-conflict development strategy, but neither government seems to have noticed.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa recently announced thatglobalFEST (globalfest.org) is one of 817 nonprofit organizations nationwide recommended to receive an NEA Art Works grant. This is the first NEA grant to globalFEST and will support 11th edition of the organization's annual flagship festival in New York City in January, 2014.

A 1969 Logansport High School graduate has recently returned to her Blackford County home as the first non-Chinese artist to exhibit work in the prominent LiRen Gallery in Anshan, China. A retired elementary and middle school art teacher, Leslie Newton is currently the staff visual artist and curator of Arts Place in Portland. Throughout her career in the Jay School Corp., she was involved in the educational exchange program that sent herself, other teachers and students to China.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum announced that it will join the US Embassy in Buenos Aires to create an educational program highlighting the works of Georgia O’Keeffe. The program is part of the Embassy’s public policy initiative called ¡Exprésate! designed to teach English to Argentinean students with a concentration on American culture and history.

The Indian embassy in Cairo was quick to spot the rising fame and popularity of Gandhi among young Egyptians during and after the Egyptian revolution that overthrew former president Hosni Mubarak's long-time rule in 2011.

Diplomats, members of Congress and Italian-American community leaders gathered at the National Gallery of Art in December for the unveiling of the “David-Apollo,” a nearly 500-year-old Michelangelo masterpiece on loan from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy.