Meridian Blog

American Export: Hip Hop x Harmony

Posted under: MCCD By Danielle Najjar / December 5, 2022

Next Level is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Meridian International Center. Its mission is to use hip hop music, dance, and art to foster cross-cultural creative exchange in diverse communities. The program works to promote understanding and conflict transformation in these audiences, and support the professional development of artists in those communities. It also builds on the historic legacy of the Department of State’s Jazz Ambassadors, who first traveled the world in the 1950s to connect with people through music. On this episode of cultureXchanges, Next Level...

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ABC (American-Born Chinatowns): Exclusion x Inclusion

Posted under: MCCD By Danielle Najjar / December 5, 2022

Chinatowns have played an instrumental role in the urban landscape as centers of influx, community, economic activity, and cultural preservation. These communities formed out of necessity, and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 led to a boom in Chinese-owned businesses including restaurants. Today, there are more Chinese restaurants in the United States than there are McDonald’s, Pizza Huts, KFCs, Wendy’s, and Taco Bells, combined. On this episode of cultureXchanges, we speak to Lisa Mao and Penny Lee, whose documentary film A Tale of Three Chinatowns profiles Chinatowns in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Boston to look at the forces affecting...

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Reviving Authentic Sports Diplomacy

Posted under: MCCD By Danielle Najjar / December 2, 2022

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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President Macron’s State Visit – The U.S. – France Relationship beyond leadership

Posted under: Center for Diplomatic Engagement By Danielle Najjar / December 2, 2022

By Ambassador Stuart Holliday, CEO of Meridian International Center When President Biden welcomed President Macron of France for December’s State Visit, the United States recommitted to a key, foundational component of our approach to foreign policy: strengthening alliances. The visit is remarkable in the greater timeline of U.S. – France’s long relationship as it is the first state visit of the Biden-Harris administration — a return to the traditional diplomacy paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The state visit also marks the first time one French leader has been invited for two U.S. state visits, the last being in...

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“Foreign Ministry and Private Sector Approaches to Tech Diplomacy” A Transcript from the 2022 Meridian Summit

Posted under: Center for Diplomatic Engagement By Danielle Najjar / November 14, 2022

The following is a transcription of the panel, “Foreign Ministry and Private Sector Approaches to Tech Diplomacy” from the 2022 Meridian Global Leadership Summit. Speakers: Her Excellency Dame Karen Pierce, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States; Chris Sharrock, Vice President, UN Affairs and International Organizations, Microsoft; and Eugenio Vargas Garcia, Ph.D., Tech Diplomat, Brazil. Moderator: Bennett Richardson, President, Protocol Bennett Richardson (BR): We have a fascinating topic today to talk with you all about which I think is really foundational to today’s Summit which is, how technology is transforming diplomacy and how the dedicated craft...

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