YES Academy is America’s free performing arts training program for youth around the world. The YES — Youth Excellence on Stage — program was established in 2007 on the Middle East nations of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait and has recently expanded to the Asian nations of Thailand, Afghanistan and now MALAYSIA!

The People’s Republic of China’s Government of Guizhou Province and New Zealand’s Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Development) have launched an international agricultural exchange programme. The programme recognises that investing in the education of young people is a vital way to boost development in rural areas.

Painting pandas on central London taxies is the latest campaign to raise awareness of the endangered Chinese animal. The campaign is jointly run by London Taxi Advertising and the Chengdu Association for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries in Chengdu, Sichuan province, which is home to more than 80 percent of the world's panda population.

The U.S. Department of State has overstepped its authority in issuing a policy against the use of paid recruiters for overseas students. That was the charge made during a panel discussion on Friday, the final day of the annual meeting of Nafsa: Association of International Educators. Mitch Leventhal is a founder of the American International Recruitment Council, or Airc, a group that develops standards of ethical practices and a system for certifying overseas recruiters.

In cooperation with Fredrikstad municipality in Norway, the Hong Kong based Theatre Studio and the Norwegian theatre lab Studium Actoris have initiated a three-year long cultural exchange program which is to culminate in a theatre production celebrating the 150 years jubilee of Norway and China’s most famous painters, Edward Munch and Qi Bashi.

Thriving on creative exchange and operating in non-traditional ways, Istanbul’74 hosts everything from cultural events, festivals, workshops, panel discussions, exhibitions and artistic collaborations which bring together the leading personalities in art, fashion, literature, film and design from all over the world.

Today, the U.S. Department of State announced it will raise the curtain June 19 on its groundbreaking cultural diplomacy initiative, Center Stage, which brings performing artists from Haiti, Indonesia, and Pakistan to the United States to engage American audiences in 60 medium- and small-sized towns and cities.