Now On Display: Museums x Diplomacy

Museums Connect was a joint initiative between the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). This initiative partnered museums in the United States with museums abroad to help foster cross-cultural engagement and exchange. On this episode of cultureXchange, we speak with Dr. Richard J.W. Harker, author of Museum Diplomacy: Transnational Public History and the U.S. Department of State, about this program and the role it played in connecting transnational public history with international diplomacy.   Episode Transcript Hello and welcome to cultureXchanges, a podcast at the intersection of the humanities...

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Soviet Love Songs: Cliburn x Khrushchev

In 1958, at the age of 23, Texan pianist Van Cliburn won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow with his own arrangement of the beloved song “Moscow Nights.” Throughout his career, Cliburn continued to return to the Soviet Union for many televised performances and developed a lasting relationship with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. On this episode of cultureXchange, we speak with Maggie Estes, director of communication and digital content at the Cliburn Foundation on Cliburn’s legacy and how music plays a role in cultural diplomacy.   Episode Transcript Hello and welcome to cultureXchanges, a podcast at the intersection...

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Strut that Tut: Treasures x Treaties

Treasures of Tutankhamun was one of the first international blockbuster exhibitions, but its success started with an act of cultural diplomacy that initiated the immense cooperation necessary to implement the international phenomenon. The exhibition began as a clause in an agreement between the United States and Egypt dedicated to cultural exchange; Egypt agreed to send Treasures of Tutankhamun on an American tour while the U.S. aided in the reconstruction of Cairo’s opera house. On this episode of cultureXchange, we speak to Professor of Egyptology Dr. Aidan Dodson and Dr. Fatma Ismail, Director of U.S. Outreach and Programs at the...

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Reviving Authentic Sports Diplomacy

By Ambassador Stuart Holliday, CEO of Meridian International Center While the world was preparing for the quadrennial spectacle that would be the World Cup, a crowd at the Allianz Area in Munich broke out into John Denver’s, ‘Country Roads.’ On Sunday, November 13, the National Football League (NFL) had a historic, first-ever regular-season game in Germany as part of their NFL International Series (a series of American football played outside the United States) and returned to Mexico City for the San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals on November 21 as part of the first regular-season game of the year...

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