Cultural Diplomacy
Next month New York’s David Geffen Hall will welcome a visiting orchestra, on a tour including other top venues in Los Angeles and San Francisco. But the guest orchestra is not the Berlin Philharmonic or one of Europe’s other esteemed ensembles. It is the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), which was founded in Beijing a mere 16 years ago.
A series of concerts entitled "So klingt Europa" (The Sound of Europe) organized by the country's treasury is aimed at showcasing the diversity of the eurozone through song and dance. Various performers from disparate parts of the EU have taken part in the event series, which was started three years ago, providing a platform for their respective cultural contributions to the European Union.
What is much less known about the Rockefeller’s is their philanthropic mission to pursue a cultural exchange between Asian and American artists. Wendy O’Neill, a fifth-generation Rockefeller, expressed her wishes to increase philanthropic support for Korean artists at a press briefing held in Namsan Art Center in Seoul, Monday.
A look at how various public diplomacy actors address and resolve crises.
South Korea and Albania held a series of cultural events in the Balkan country last week to mark a key anniversary in their bilateral ties, the Korean Embassy in Greece said Sunday. The two countries celebrated 25 years since establishing diplomatic relations with a host of cultural events in the Albanian capital of Tirana from Thursday through Saturday, according to the embassy, which oversees Albania affairs from Greece.
The Pakistani cinemas are all set to screen Iranian films after a ban on Indian content in the country. The move came in a bid to save the declining Pakistan film industry and restore its glory. The industry was previously functional with screening of Indian movies but after the imposition of the ban it is somewhat facing difficulties, IRNA reported.
To Nicholas Bonner, North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is not as isolated as most outsiders believe. Bonner, who runs Koryo Tours in Beijing and offers Westerners trips to North Korea, believes that engagement with North Koreans is an important way to connect the country with the rest of the world, through travel, sports, art and films.
This ongoing humanitarian crisis is also a crisis of cultural heritage [...] Amid such senseless destruction and despair, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has launched an encouraging and thought-provoking exhibition, Syria: A Living History, celebrating Syria’s “cultural diversity, historical continuity, resourcefulness, and resilience.”