Excerpts from Web Memo #1234
10 October 2006

Ten years ago this month, the 24-person Arts America bureau within the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) got the budget ax--condemned as a Cold War relic. Now, the Bush Administration is wisely reviving it as the Global Cultural Initiative, which launched on September 25.

Spending U.S. tax dollars on fluff is never acceptable, but America's security can't rely exclusively on guns and fences. Cultural exchanges are part of our first line of defense, helping to bridge ideological gaps and policy disagreements with person-to-person contact and close-up views of the United States. Such programs helped end the Cold War and could have reduced costly complications for America in the global war on terror.

For about $3.5 million annually, the original Arts America program organized traveling American art exhibitions, sponsored tours for U.S. performing artists, and arranged subject matter expert exchanges for museum curators and residencies for theater directors. Often USIA officers were able to grab major artists making commercial appearances in world capitals and pull them aside to visit nearby lesser cities and developing nations, thereby spreading goodwill.

Now, the Global Cultural Initiative will link private art institutions with federal cultural agencies in coordinating artist exchanges and exhibitions in support of U.S. diplomatic efforts. The Initiative establishes international literary exchanges to attract writers from Russia, Mexico, Pakistan, and other key countries to the United States. The American Film Institute will bring in foreign filmmakers and send Americans abroad to participate in cinema workshops....

The complete text is available on the Heritage Foundation Web site.