Cultural Diplomacy

“Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam,” the exhibition at the British Museum that has drawn more than 80,000 visitors since it opened in late January is a remarkable achievement

"It is the first time that this group of stars meets. It is a project of Cuban music and specifically of son", said Betancourt at a news conference...The idea of presenting Cuban traditional music from the 1940s and 1950s came from Dominique Roland, director of the Center for Arts, and was materialized thanks to Musicalia of Cuba and producer Carmen Mayans.

“Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam,” the exhibition at the British Museum that has drawn more than 80,000 visitors since it opened in late January is a remarkable achievement.

There’s a real spectrum of celebrity activity. George Clooney really stands out, along with Angelina Jolie and Bono -- you can disagree with some of the cases that they pick up, but they’re very conscientious, they’re advised well, they’re in it for the longer run.

Words without Borders tells us that "50 percent of all books in translation now published worldwide are translated from English, but only six percent are translated into English." "The conversation between the reading public in the United States and the rest of the world has become more like a monologue."

There is good reason to think that, whatever happens as a part of these expressive or performative opportunities, cultural diplomacy as display and for the creation of an audience is in fact not the best route to intercultural dialogue.

Big studios are trying to push further into China, where box office receipts rose more than a third last year to $2 billion. China represents one of the most attractive growth opportunities for the U.S. movie industry, which is facing declining North American theater revenue and slumping DVD sales.

March 20, 2012

For the students of diplomacy, the photographs detailing the early years of Asean are objects of nostalgia and politics. Established on August 8, 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

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