U.S. Arts and Cultural Diplomacy: Post-Cold War Decline and the Twenty-First Century Debate

Abstract

Within the last years, the U.S. government significantly cut funding for cultural and arts diplomacy. While arts exchanges constitute a core component of public diplomacy in many countries, recently, the U.S. arts diplomacy has not been carried out properly by the government, nor by private or public sectors. Although the international image of the U.S. has shattered, the public is reluctant to urge the government to take a lead in arts diplomacy again. A unique perception of arts in American society, prevalence of democratic and “free market” principles, and dominance of international cultural trade policy keep the debate about the governmental role in arts diplomacy in progress.

KEYWORDS:

• arts diplomacy
• arts exchanges
• Cold War
• cultural diplomacy
• cultural relations

Notes

1. The term was used in the following publications: John Brown, “Arts Diplomacy: The Neglect Aspect of Cultural Diplomacy,” in America's Dialogue with the World (Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2006) 71–90; Constance DeVereaux and Martin Griffin, “International, Global, Transnational: Just a Matter of Words?,” Eurozine, October 2006, http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-10-11-devereauxgriffin-en.html; Margaret J. Wyszomirski, “International Cultural Relations: A Multi-Country Comparison,” Americans for the Arts, 2003: 1–67. http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/pmt/exhibits/1434/MCCpaper.pdf (accessed November 12, 2008).

2. The statement comes from a speech by Calvin Coolidge called “The Press Under a Free Government,” which was given before the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington, DC, on January 17, 1925. The real quote is: “After all, the chief business of the American people is business.” (Bittinger 2006)