A diverse crowd of more than 500 lovers of art, culture, and intercultural exchange converged on Monday evening at ADC Contemporary & BUILDING BRIDGES International Art Exchange at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. The evening celebrated common bonds between Los Angeles and Qatar.

Qatar, the smallest Gulf monarchy, has become a global brand. Securing the 2022 World Cup was a PR triumph. It plans to compete to host the 2024 Olympics. It has a glittering portfolio: Harrods, the Shard, Paris St-Germain football club. Doha's Islamic art museum is a brilliant example of money in the service of high culture.

At the official launch of the Qatar UK 2013 cultural programme in December, the talk was of mutual understanding of Arab Islamic and Anglo-Saxon cultures, building bridges between the two nations, and aims of long-term partnerships in the fields of education, sport, science and the creative industries.

Qatar Museums Authority chairperson HE Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said: “We believe that culture is a powerful tool, and the Qatar-UK Year of Culture 2013, as part of the QMA Cultural Diplomacy Programme, is giving us the opportunity to further promote cultural dialogue and build bridges between societies and communities in both countries.”

A collection of valuable books was donated to the Qatar National Library’s Heritage Collection Building, by Carmen De La Peٌa, Spain’s Ambassador, recently. It was presented in collaboration with the Islamic Library of the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and Development (AECID) and Casa Arabe, a Spanish public diplomacy institution focused on relations with the Arab world.

Qatar made unsuccessful bids for both the 2016 and 2020 Games, and will no doubt make another one in the years to come. If it is serious about respecting the tradition of the event, let alone becoming a global centre for genuine cultural inquiry, it needs to get over its inhibitions.

State-owned Qatari television network Al Jazeera is exploring the acquisition of Spain’s La Liga premier soccer league rights in a bid to expand its budding global sports franchise, tweak its business model in a world in which pan-Arab television is on the decline and compensate for mounting criticism of its coverage of popular revolts in the Middle East and North Africa.

It's not just about building stadiums or sponsoring training programs and competitions. The government is using the soft power of culture to change the public perception of women athletes. One example is "Hey'Ya Arab Women in Sport," the brilliant exhibit by photographer and frequent Condé Nast Traveler contributor Brigitte Lacombe which runs at the Katara Cultural Village through June 13.