Over the years, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations has sent me to many countries to perform. Unlike professional engagements...the ICCR tours usually put you directly in the hands of Indian ambassadors in various countries, who then use you as best they think, besides having certain fixed arrangements at festivals.

A group of eight Hollywood TV and film stars completed a week-long tour of Israel Sunday as guests of the Tourism Ministry and the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry. The group of actors was led by Rabbi Irwin Katsof, the director of America's Voices in Israel (AVI), which is part of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

If we do not highlight it often enough, cultural diplomacy promotes the creation of transnational social spaces of engagement and interaction. And, even as they are often identified with particular cultures or countries, cultural diplomatic interventions are also unavoidably cosmopolitan in nature, insofar as they move between, confront, and conjoin multiple social worlds. In this way and even when carried away by the worst excesses of national chauvinisms, cultural diplomacy is inherently a transnationalist project of sorts.

Turkey and the Netherlands are celebrating 400 years of diplomatic ties with a yearlong series of events, including an exhibition that draws parallels between the Dutch of the 17th century and the Turks of today...“We also tried to show the bridge between Dutch culture and Ottoman culture in the 17th century.”

The festival, now in its second year, is a joint production of the Indian Embassy in Israel and Teamwork Productions, an event management and entertainment company with offices in Delhi, Hong Kong, Singapore and London. In its sophomore year, the festival is marking a special milestone: 20 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel. With events in art, culture, music, film and food, the festival’s producers hope to nurture the two nations’ evolving friendship, aiding the Indian Embassy in Israel in what Ila Gupta of Teamwork calls “soft diplomacy.”

Since the beginning of the year palpable change is in the air. It is readily apparent to me that a critical mass has been reached and that China's long-time inability to master the art of soft power and cultural diplomacy is finally changing. The few popular long-time staples of Chinese cultural diplomacy like kung fu fighters and acrobats, together with a few memorable highbrow museum shows, now have more and more company.

The Korean embassy began Tuesday night, a week of activities at the embassy to introduce authentic Korean culture to Kuwait. “Recently, I have realized that there has been an increasing interest in Korea among Kuwaiti people,” said Kyungsik Kim, the ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Kuwait, adding” I think cultural exchange is very important to strengthen bilateral relationships.”