In conversation with Cynthia Schneider

Synopsis:
Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider will discuss the 2024 US presidential elections and how the results might impact US cultural relations with Asia.

Attendees are encouraged to refer to here and here for two of Cynthia’s recent pieces to help set up the discussion.

About the speaker

Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider PhD teaches, publishes, and speaks about the importance of culture in diplomacy and international affairs, while putting these ideas into practice everywhere from war zones to Hollywood writers’ rooms.

At Georgetown University she teaches courses in Diplomacy and Culture and co-directs the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, a joint signature initiative between Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and College of Arts and Sciences, with the mission of humanising global politics through the power of performance.

Before becoming an Ambassador and focusing on cultural diplomacy, Dr Schneider taught art history at Georgetown, and published and organised exhibitions (National Gallery of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Metropolitan Museum of Art) on seventeenth century Dutch art and Rembrandt.

Professor Schneider also co-directs the Timbuktu Renaissance, a Mali-based platform for countering extremism and promoting peace and development through a focus on culture.

Dr Schneider publishes and speaks frequently on topics related to arts, culture, and media and international affairs. Her writings range from articles for the Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, TIME, and Foreign Policy to policy papers for the Brookings Institution. She has spoken at TED and TEDx, as well as at universities, conferences, and festivals around the world. Her current book in progress is Why Culture Matters: Re-Imagining Diplomacy, to be published by Georgetown University Press.

From 1998 to 2001, she served as US Ambassador to the Netherlands, during which time she led initiatives in cultural diplomacy, biotechnology, cyber security, environment and education. For example, Dr. Schneider hosted the American delegation to COP6, held in November 2000 in The Hague; initiated the North Sea Jazz Jam Sessions, hosted by the US Embassy; developed the Dutch-American World War II memories project “Remember the Past; Imagine the Future”; co-hosted with the Rand Corporation a cyber security conference, featuring Esther Dyson; .and was invited to deliver the keynote speech, in Dutch, to the Queen, the Cabinet, and Parliament on 5 May 2000, commemorating the end of World War II.

Professor Schneider has BA and PhD from Harvard University.