Piracy, the scourge of Hollywood, may have become one of America's powerful diplomatic tools – is it the new propaganda? [...] "The last thing they think is that it [pirated movies] represents a tool of cultural diplomacy, involving a foreign culture or government, and that its illegality could even make this mainstream fare more alluring than originally planned.”

Sino-Kenya cooperation in education, arts and culture has blossomed as evidenced by establishment of four Confucius institutes in the country.  The Counselor of Chinese Embassy to Kenya Yao Ming said cultural diplomacy is a critical component of a comprehensive cooperative partnership endorsed by President Xi Jinping and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013. “People to people exchanges have thrived due to establishment of Confucius Institutes in four Kenyan Universities. Understanding Chinese language and culture is an eye opener to Kenyan youth,” Yao remarked.

Only two years old, New Jersey-based MidAtlantic Opera is mounting an ambitious concert this Saturday night at Manhattan's august music temple, Carnegie Hall. Its modest goal: world peace. [...] "Music and diplomacy are interestingly tied together," says Tramm, "and the creative impulse that's necessary to make art and music is a similar — if not the same — creative impulse to communicate and try to get along. Music is a natural form of diplomacy."

Homeland […] has been subject to much criticism for its depictions of its Arab and Muslim characters. When, last summer, a group of Arab artists in Berlin were contacted by Homeland set designers to help make one of their sets […] look more authentic with Arabic anti-regime graffiti, they agree—but they splayed the walls with anti-Homeland graffiti instead, attempting, they said to “subvert” the show’s message.

Ahmad  Al Rayyan, a Syrian refugee who moved to Jordan’s capital city 2.5 years ago, is one of the many skaters who frequent 7Hills [...] The park opened last December, but the idea for it, Mohammed Zakaria, co-founder of 7Hills Skatepark says, was always there [...] Working with Make Life Skate Life, a nonprofit that builds skateparks in developing countries, they used an online campaign to fundraise for the park.

"The Fierce Wife,"[...] about a woman dealing with the aftermath of her husband’s infidelity, was seen as the best ambassador for Taiwanese culture. With a contested national identity, no formal relations with major powers and no membership in international organizations such as the United Nations, Taiwanese officials are testing a new strategy: soap opera diplomacy.

Recent research conducted by ScienceDaily shows that playing cooperative video games, as opposed to playing competitive or solo games, elicits a host of social benefits among players of different backgrounds. The evidence suggests that it encourages teammates to see helpful, collaborative behaviors as both valuable and commonplace.