Members of Congress have urged China, which has set up 60 cultural centers in the United States, to allow more than the four American centers it says can operate in China. However, the State Department has no funds to match what China is spending on those projects, the officials say.

Recent public diplomacy reports and testimonies released by both congress and government policy makers in Washington indicate concerns over Iran's growing cultural influence. It was a year ago when Senate Foreign Relations Committee's report warned about the growing number of Islamic Republic's Cultural Centers.

Iranian and Turkish officials in a meeting in Tehran on Wednesday stressed expansion of bilateral relations in the field of media. The issue was raised in a meeting between Head of Turkey's state-run radio and TV (TRT) Ebrahim Shahin and his Iranian counterpart Ezzatollah Zarqami.

The women are a part of a one-of-a-kind orchestra from Egypt, visiting New Delhi for the first time to perform at the invitation of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations at the Kamani auditorium here early this week.

While the sunshine did not last, curiosity prevailed and audiences flocked to the theatre in search of new and innovative theatrical experiences from around the globe.

APDS Blogger: Miles Knowles

It's going to be a whole lot of singing and dancing on the stage: Broadway, all the way from Houston, Texas is in town. American Voices Foundation, an organization dedicated to cultural engagement in countries emerging from conflict, is putting together a Broadway show with a local caste this weekend.

When Romola Nijinsky first introduced American cultural figure Lincoln Kirstein to choreographer George Balanchine following a 1933 Les Ballets performance in London, the widow of famed ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky may have known exactly how significant the meeting of these two artistic forces were.