Cultures in Harmony

DIP recently participated in a fascinating cultural diplomacy conference hosted by the Gilman Foundation at White Oak Plantation. The purpose was to discuss the creation of a Resource Center for Cultural Engagement. We met with many policymakers, luminaries, artists, creatives, and fellow cultural entrepreneurs throughout the three-day retreat. While we haven't yet had time to blog about our reflections, our new friend William Harvey, who runs the non-profit Cultures In Harmony has. Here are some excerpts from his thorough blogpost:

Christopher Mackie, an Associate Program Officer for Research in Information Technology at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, spoke of the extraordinary audience for RIT software, which has 10 to 30 million users and which is available on all seven continents and in outer space. He outlined the challenge facing the conference by giving the example of a website designed to attack the cultural portal of the New Zealand government. The attack site has fifty times as much traffic as the cultural portal.

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Richard Kurin, Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution, gave a fascinating presentation. The Smithsonian has always studied cultural engagement, and enjoys a unique ability to engage huge numbers of people. The Folklife Festival draws one to two million people to the National Mall and celebrates various cultures from around the world. The museum has 137 million items in their collection, draws 25 million visitors annually, has 6,000 staff members, and enjoys a website audience that will grow to three billion annually in ten years.

Recently, the Smithsonian was forced into the culturally sensitive yet oddly humorous choice of whether to bring the Dalai Lama to the National Mall or a giant panda to the National Zoo. Since the Dalai Lama promised not to declare independence for Tibet, the Smithsonian was able to bring him to the Mall, and the zoo got their panda without irritating the Chinese government too much.

When they highlighted the Muslims of central Asia through a project featuring Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road ensemble, they juxtaposed enormous replicas of the domes of Samarkand with the Capitol Dome, to highlight the architectural connection between cultures. Mr. Kurin then shared the anecdote that drew the biggest laughter of the conference: when Malian builders were asked how they managed to build a traditional gate on the National Mall in the rain, they responded mournfully: "We come from the Sahara desert. We know a hundred prayers to make it rain. We don’t know any to make it stop."

A festival about Northern Ireland was instrumental in proving to people back in Ireland that cooperation and peace were possible. An event that brought together Bhutanese astronomers with NASA astrophysicists proved incredibly meaningful for all concerned.

Rita King, CEO and Executive Director of Dancing Ink Productions, gave a mind-blowing presentation about the relationship between the virtual networking platform, Second Life, and cultural diplomacy. A group of architects has painstakingly worked to re-create ancient Mesopotamia on Second Life, and a young Muslim woman built a mosque there. This excellent film offers a glimpse of the ability of Second Life to improve our understanding of Islam. After her presentation, I concluded that Cultures in Harmony should build and maintain an office in Second Life.

Thanks William!