On May 17, 2004, over 400 individuals representing the worlds of art, culture and public policy assembled at the Department of State in Washington, DC, to recognize the 40th anniversary of one of the U.S. government’s most established and successful public diplomacy efforts: the State Department’s ART in Embassies Program.

As part of this celebration, the ART in Embassies Program and the Center for Arts & Culture -- a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan, cultural policy think tank -- organized a panel discussion, Art as Diplomacy: 21st Century Challenges, which addressed the impacts of cultural exchange and how to effectively incorporate the arts and culture in current U.S. government public diplomacy efforts.

"......the ART in Embassies Program and the Center for Arts & Culture -- a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan, cultural policy think tank -- organized a panel discussion, Art as Diplomacy: 21st Century Challenges, which addressed the impacts of cultural exchange and how to effectively incorporate the arts and culture in current U.S. government public diplomacy efforts." [p. 2]