Advancing Cultural Diplomacy Through the Arts
CULTURAL DIPLOMACY THROUGH THE ARTS
The Canales Project harnesses the power of culture to strengthen communities, foster dialogue, and build understanding across borders.
Who Owns a Story? Culture, Identity & Belonging
Stories are among the most powerful ways we understand ourselves and one another. They carry family histories, preserve memory, cross borders, and help individuals and communities make sense of questions of identity and belonging. Yet storytelling also raises complicated questions of authorship, representation, cultural ownership, and authenticity. Who has the right to tell another community’s story? How do migration, diaspora, language, and family history shape the stories we tell about ourselves? Can we belong fully to more than one culture? And what happens when an artist’s individual voice becomes interpreted as representative of an entire people or cultural identity?
Thursday, November 5th, 2026, 4:30 - 6:00 PM ET
CURRENT WORK
A Few Things We Are Convening Now
A standing convening at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government on soft power and cultural strategy, in conversation with leaders in diplomacy and the arts.
The Zhi Yin Dialogue convenes cultural leaders from China and the United States, beginning with its first meeting in Shanghai, to advance mutual understanding, artistic collaboration, and cultural exchange.
OUR PURPOSE