Instagram is taking its photographs from phone screens to gallery walls, with its first-ever photography exhibition in India. Being held in Kolkata from Jan. 7 to 9, Bengal's Diversity in Pictures captures stories from the eastern Indian state through the lenses of local Instagrammers.

Following a dizzying sequence of events, including the Saudi execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr together with 46 others, the storming of the Saudi Embassy and the breakdown of diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia and Iran have expanded their fight to the soccer pitch. Several Saudi clubs […] issued statements [...] demanding that they play Asian championship matches against Iranian squads at neutral venues.

In her examination of cultural diplomacy, Von Maltzahn looks briefly at its relationship with ‘soft power’, with the Europeans developing structured programmes between the world wars, followed lately by China, but with few Arab countries taking the practice seriously, other than recently through satellite television channels.  Compared to Iran, Syria has had little desire to propagate its culture abroad. 

The Parliamentary and Government taxpayer-funded art collections hold a combined 22,000 artworks, which are intended to promote British art and cultural diplomacy. But only a few of the pieces can be viewed for a fee by tourists visiting the House of Parliament, Sarah Cascone reports for artnet News. 

The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) [will] provide "permanent works of American art for U.S. embassies worldwide, contributing to the U.S. Department of State's mission of cultural diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding within the diplomatic community and the international public […] Exciting cultural diplomacy initiatives can be seen through their site-specific commissions.

When fighting terrorism with military force, the United States, if it so chooses, is unmatched in both innovation and prowess. But when the terrorism battle is confined to the media and communications sphere, U.S. capabilities are lagging.

Photography artist Rıza Erdeğirmenci traveled around Turkey for two years for his latest book ‘Lokanta.' He spent days at tradesmen restaurants and observed culinary culture. [...] Erdeğirmenci believes that food is where our culture shows. 

The Chief promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation, Otunba Gani Adams said: “I must confess that this is the first heart cheering and soul lifting policy statement concerning cultural tourism which ever emanated from this government and communicated to the people via a cultural event [...]  It seems there is now a clear vision and direction for cultural tourism promotion of Nigeria not only as an entertainment factor but as an employment generating machine, wealth mobilizer and poverty extinguisher.