Monday (8/1) on the NewMusicBox, Frank J. Oteri writes, “Last week, along with colleagues from other national arts service organizations, I had the honor of visiting the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C. for a meeting with the staff of the Cultural Programs Division. I also audited three sessions of a new advanced cultural diplomacy course for foreign affairs personnel offered at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. … There were a total of 11 diplomats attending the advanced cultural diplomacy course on the two days that I was permitted to audit sessions. Most had worked in the field between five and ten years. Pretty much every one of the participants was in agreement that performances by Americans in the countries in which they were stationed were an extremely effective means of sending out a positive message about the United States. … Of course it is extraordinarily difficult to quantify the impact of the arts. Ironically, its elusiveness is arguably what allows the arts to cross cultural boundaries that can often be otherwise impenetrable, but that same elusiveness is what makes the arts such an easy target for the bean counters. So getting out the message of why the arts are a viable cultural diplomacy investment is a never-ending job, both externally and internally.”
Posted August 3, 2011
