Cultural Diplomacy

Retired NBA great Shaquille O’Neal […] will go to Havana in June as part of a sports envoy program focused on Cuban youth [...] Ballerinas in Havana will also welcome a prestigious guest this year. Misty Copeland, the first African-American female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, will go to Cuba in November to lead dance clinics for minority youth and hold inclusion workshops for coaches.

Every year, Americans with roots in Eurasian countries organize public festivals featuring music, dancing, and food to mark the Nowruz holidays. In cities from New York to Los Angeles, Chicago to Houston, Americans introduce and inspire others unfamiliar with Nowruz and its celebrations.

"Sport is the conquest of the revolution," reads the sign looming over the outfield of Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano, the island's main stadium and hallowed ground for Cuban baseball fans [...] The bare-bones stadium is the setting of one President Barack Obama's most anticipated events during his historic visit: taking in a baseball game between the Cuban National Team and the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.

A famous Belgian statue has become a symbol of defiance in the wake of the attacks in Brussels that took place Tuesday morning. The Manneken Pis is a well-known bronze sculpture in Brussels of a small child urinating into a fountain.

With instruments made of bamboo, plant-based face paints, and skirts woven from local fauna, groups at Guinea Bissau's Carnival dance competition displayed the biodiversity of their country […]"I think when you protect your culture, you are protecting the environment [...] There's a strong connection between the environment and the culture of this country" [...] said Rita Le, a spokeswoman for the carnival committee

Dr Barclay Ayakoroma, the Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation(NICO) says Nollywood movies should be used as a cultural diplomacy to foster mutual understanding with countries to enhance national development. Ayakoroma made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, in Abuja.

In a vast parking lot outside Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temples complex stands a new museum built by North Korea, part of a lucrative charm offensive by a hermit state exporting its monumental art to a handful of foreign allies.

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