Post by icdpress on Jun 4, 2013 3:58:46 GMT -5
Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA
“US Cultural Diplomacy: The Use of the Arts in Promoting Dialogue, Fostering Peace, and Initiating Mutual Understanding amongst World Cultures and Civilizations” (Washington D.C. & New York City; June 24th - 28th, 2013)
Since the events of the Cold War, history has proven that each time US governmental agencies turned and used cultural diplomacy applications; they were successful and enabled better results in a one-of-a-kind, cost effective manner. It is not always easy to practice cultural diplomacy, especially at times of conflict where emotions are high and the level of dangers and risks often demand fast results and solutions. Despite that, and even in times of great urgency, however, cultural diplomacy and soft power practices are proven successful in enabling a more sustainable reality to be established. In the last decade we have seen tremendous progress and an evolution, where US Foreign and Defense agencies have acknowledged the unique nature of this approach and are practicing it more and more often. These efforts need to be increased in magnitude and frequency in the future.
The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy is making great efforts to promote cultural diplomacy amongst US Foreign and Defense agencies and has initiated and dedicated this Symposium to exploring the successful applications, best practices and the overall importance of cultural diplomacy by these agencies. The Symposium on cultural Diplomacy in the USA 2013 will outline past achievements, highlight current programs and offer future solutions and best practices for the USA to use cultural diplomacy and soft power in a more effective way and more often, in order to continue contributing to a harmonic interdependent world. The Symposium will present specifically a thesis that “the return on investment” of the application of cultural diplomacy is both high and sustainable and its cost effective contributions to the work of US governmental institutions are both irreplaceable and much more efficient than its alternatives. The symposium will prove that when effective cultural diplomacy and soft power are practiced it is much cheaper and easier to maintain over the long-term, than if it comes only after a hard power foreign policy has been implemented alone.
Conference Location
The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA will take place in two major American cities: the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. and the nation's cultural hub in New York City. The conference will be hosted at a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the two cities, and will consist of excursions to the country's top artistic institutions. Featured locations during the Conference will include: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, NPR Headquarters, Smithsonian Institution, Johns Hopkins University, the United Nations, Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Broadway and Times Square, Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, in addition to various foreign embassies and governmental institutions.
Conference Speakers
Speakers during the Conference will include artists, musicians, academics, authors, museum curators, human rights activists, dignitaries, politicians, and heads of state, as well as leading figures and experts in the arts, international affairs, the diplomatic community, and civil society from across the world. These speakers will include a large number of individuals from the ICD Advisory Board.
Conference Participants
Participation in the conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, young professionals and students as well as other interested individuals from across the world.
To apply please visit:
www.culturaldiplomacy.de/index.php?en_iscd-2013
For more information please visit:
www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_2013-iscd-usa