Briefly, opening with “I got a hold of your show on the web and I was so impressed with the heart of it,” Jon Stewart began his interview with Kambiz Hosseini and Saman Arbabi, two U.S. Government employees – and U.S. public diplomats – behind “Parazit”, a Voice of America program aimed at Iran.

From the mid-1950s through the 1970s, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and other jazz greats served as cultural diplomats, touring the globe on behalf of the U.S. State Department... a collection of photographs and documents chronicling these tours will be on display at the Fowler Museum at UCLA from March 20 through Aug. 14.

Last Sunday, on the charter plane returning from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s six-city tour of Florida, music director Peter Oundjian took some time to reflect on the meaning of the orchestra’s visit to the Sunshine State. "...it was hugely important. The morale in this orchestra is good, but it is enhanced in countless ways by touring...by taking pride in representing Toronto and Canada to the outside world."

If I were able to travel back in time and tell my teenage self that I would one day be enthusiastically welcomed in Manhattan as a lecturer on Japanese anime, fashion and music, the younger me--a fan of films set in the Big Apple--would never believe it. But in October I did indeed speak as an invited guest at the New York Anime Festival.

Glitz, glamour and the biggest stars from India's movie industry will converge on Canada's largest city this summer in what is being pegged as Bollywood's most highly anticipated event of the year. "Toronto will be Bollywod central," proclaimed film star Anil Kapoor at the official launch Wednesday for the 12th International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA).

President Obama may have brought business deals and jobs from India, but what is in evidence everywhere is the Indian smart power. It is palpable not only in the traditional 'Little Indias' in different cities, but in mainstream newspapers, Ivy League universities, and the boardrooms of American companies.

Moviegoers in Jakarta will be treated to a taste of Australian cinema at the city’s first film festival of 2011, kicking off next week. Building on the success of the Australian Indigenous Cultural Festival in 2009, the Australian embassy will host “Australia on Screen 2011” at the Blitzmegaplex theater in Jakarta’s Grand Indonesia mall.

Today, the first lady Michelle Obama will speak about the initiative to increase the number of American students studying abroad in China. It is specifically designed to train students and the next generation of professionals on how to orchestrate and communicate in U.S.-China relations in the future decades.