
Hannah Jacobson
Backyard Diplomacy: International Cultural Engagement & Local Arts Agencies (from Arts Watch)
Posted by Jan 11, 2012

Hannah Jacobson
Quick -- point to Dublin, OH on a map.
How about Clinton County, MI; Douglasville, GA; or Missoula, MT? (Zero points if one of those cities is your hometown).
For those of us with a few years between elementary school geography and the present, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if these seemingly arbitrary locations elude us.
Some residents of Taiwan, however, might find Dublin as easily as they would their own hometowns. It’s a similar story for students in Shiga, Japan with Clinton County; Denmark with Douglasville; and Neckargemün, Germany with Missoula.
In Americans for the Arts’ December webinar, produced in tandem with the special report entitled Backyard Diplomacy, we found out that cultural exchange—taking various forms of art that are from, inspired by, or headed to a distinctly foreign locale—is happening every day, in cities small and large, through local arts agencies (LAAs).
The major lesson? LAAs of any size and shape can and should feel empowered to take a field trip around the world.
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