Introduction

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements We want to thank Ann Galligan for inviting us to develop an issue on international cultural engagements for the Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society, our contributors for their expertise and commitment to the field, the New York Philharmonic for providing us with our cover photo, and extend a welcome to the new JAMAL publishers, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. A myriad of people have mentored us as we have become more informed about the history and practice of international cultural relations. Selectively, we want to thank the Aspen Institute for inviting us to participate in their remarkable Cultural Diplomacy Forums; the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy which enlarged our vision of international engagements; The Asia Society for our inclusion in their conference, Muslim Voices; the Howard Gilman Foundation and the 55 participants at our White Oak retreat; the Carnegie Corporation for providing seed money to fund the White Oak retreat; the foundation officers who indulged our commitment to the RCCE project; and to the numerous practitioners both here and across the globe who have underscored for us the vital importance of culture in reaching across divides to create a better and more stable world. Joni Maya Cherbo, Ph.D. sociologist, is an independent arts and cultural policy scholar and practitioner. She is the Executive Director of the Resource Center for Cultural Engagement. Frank Hodsoll is President of the Resource Center for Cultural Engagement and Chairman of the Culture and World Heritage committees of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. Hodsoll is also a management consultant with LMI and a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow (NAPA). Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society for the following supplemental resource: “A Chronology: The Art of Engagement: US Cultural and Public Diplomacy Timeline, October 1999-September 2009.”