As part of the Jazz Diplomacy Project, Natixis has provided support to the Foundation for the National Archives and the Newport Festivals Foundation. “Our hope is to encourage more people to become ‘Jazz Ambassadors’ by sharing the history of jazz and exploring the lessons the world has learned through the genre,” added Hailer. “BeanTown’s ‘Global Ambassador’ theme and ideals of using music as a tool for peace, intercultural dialogue, social change, and democracy tie in nicely to our year-long Jazz Diplomacy effort.”

State Department work doesn’t just involve diplomats and briefcases. U.S. cultural diplomacy sent “jazz ambassadors” such as Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong overseas at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s. The programs and cultural exchanges have only expanded since.

Very few American fans can see K-pop acts perform live. Some popular South Korean bands like Girls' Generation or 2NE1 have played showcases in major U.S. cities, and the girl group Crayon Pop just toured with Lady Gaga. Yet for most such acts, it's never made logistical or financial sense to play the States, despite a fervent fan subculture here. This year's KCON, the third installment of the annual K-pop festival in downtown L.A., might be changing that line of thinking.

The young men doing the serenading are part of the Mexico Boys Choir, which travels to Fort Worth every summer in a musical and cultural exchange with the Texas Girls’ Choir. In their homeland, the boys are known as the Estudiantina Guadalupana Potosina. The youngsters have been involved in the exchange for more than two decades. 

Every year, the State Department and nonprofit groups help send musical troupes, dance groups and teachers abroad to promote American culture and generate goodwill. It’s all part of cultural diplomacy, an idea that got its start with the “jazz ambassadors” at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s.

What do the U.S., Argentina, Afghanistan, and Myanmar have in common? This summer, two opportunities enabled me to explore this question from my perspective as an American violinist who recently moved to Argentina from Afghanistan.

"The Newport Jazz Festival is the finest celebration of jazz that the music world has to offer," said John Hailer, president and chief executive officer, Natixis Global Asset Management - The Americas and Asia. "In celebration of this year's anniversary, we launched the 2014 Jazz Diplomacy Project to share the history of jazz and explore the lessons the world has learned through the genre.