For the past 10 years, the Building Bridges Art Exchange at the Bergamot Station Art Center in Santa Monica has been working to connect artists across the globe to exchange ideas and share creative breakthroughs. [...] The main gallery space hosts international artist Franco Marrocco’s “The Red Studio & Other Works,” and concurrently in the project room Venice-based artist J.J. L’Heureux is showcasing her collage work in “Etichette.”

The United States spends more on international aid than any other nation — more than $32 billion a year. Yet it has come in near the bottom of a newly released ranking that scores the wealthiest nations according to how much they help the world's poorest people […] What gives?

Since March, Obama has travelled to countries including Britain, Japan, Cambodia and Qatar to promote Let Girls Learn, an initiative to help some of the more than 30 million adolescent girls who lack access to education. Embracing a network of 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers, it will seek community-led solutions to lower the barriers that prevent girls from getting secondary schooling.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held the Okinawa International Cooperation and Exchange Festival 2015 at the Okinawa International Center in Maeda, Urasoe. JICA’s interns, learning about technology from all over the world, and about 30 international cooperation and exchange associations in Okinawa ran booths.

Cameroon exchange student Nouredine Mama was given two days’ notice before he was flown to Alaska this fall. The 16-year-old was already settled in Washington, D.C., and had started school when the exchange program he was with found him a host family. Two days later, he moved across the country and started school at Homer High School.

I've been in the Peace Corps since October 2014, stationed in Ghana's Northern Region. On Thursday, I'll spend the day in northern Ghana with three [Peace Corps] friends […] Living in a village without running water or electricity for the last year has made me realize the vast privileges so many of us take for granted […] And I've also learned that even when you don't have a lot, you can still share what little you have.

The perversion of Islam that IS represents must be addressed primarily by Muslims themselves, but such efforts should be supported by public diplomacy emanating from non-Muslim countries. There is no sure-fire fix, but among the most effective long-term programs for redirecting youthful energies are educational exchanges.