REINVIGORATING PUBLIC DIPLOMACY CULTURAL AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 000277

SIPDIS

STATE FOR ECA, NEA/PPD, NEA/ELA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL JO
SUBJECT: REINVIGORATING PUBLIC DIPLOMACY CULTURAL AND
SPORTS PROGRAMS - RESPONSE FROM JORDAN

REF: STATE 222516


1. Amman strongly endorses Washington's wish to support
more cultural and sports programs. These are bridges of
communication that are extremely effective
notwithstanding the nature of political relations or
perceptions. Because of its popular appeal, basketball
has opened doors for the U.S. in Jordan in recent years.
The performing arts, while often associated exclusively
with elite audiences, can serve as a bridge to mutual
understanding with non-traditional audiences, especially
when youth in high schools/university settings are
targeted with appropriate programs. Even straightforward
discussions between Americans and Jordanians on various
topics can have a tremendous impact if broadcast on those
T.V. or radio outlets with high viewer/listener-ship.
Broadcast media are the most potent form of communication
in Jordan, and can become our most powerful tool if
twinned with mass-appeal U.S. culture and sports
content.


2. Amman recommends continued sports outreach and
untraditional cultural presentations such as street
theater or performance art. We encourage Washington to
consider funding an occasional extravaganza. If
carefully chosen, a tour of a grand show with popular
appeal would reflect through its originality and
creativity the freedom of American society. It would
have enormous impact in the region. The Blue Man Group,
a performance art group that combines comedy, multimedia
art, and audience participation, may fit the bill
perfectly. In the often hostile Middle Eastern setting,
we sometimes have to reaffirm Arabs' and Americans'
common humanity if we are to have any real chance of
maintaining local credibility in our support of homegrown
efforts aimed at transforming the region. Few things
achieve that as easily and quickly as arts and sports.
Blue Men would help open ears for when the time comes to
seek support for our official positions.


3. There are rare occasions when a cultural presentation
can carry a direct political message. Post is planning a
classical piano recital next July at the Radisson-SAS
Hotel. As a concert for the reopening of the
reconstructed ballroom of the Radisson-SAS hotel, it will
be an unmistakable message to those responsible for the
Amman bombings on November 9 that Jordanians and
Americans stand united against terrorism. We are hopeful
that local and/or regional TV stations will record and
broadcast this concert. Our RSO will work closely with
the Jordanian services to ensure the safety of the venue.


4. Whether programs such as the examples cited above or
others yet to be developed, Post will focus on ensuring
that cultural and sports programming occurs in a way
that supports the growth of the still nascent private
sector media in Jordan. Through granting exclusive
broadcast rights and offering appealing programming we
can stimulate the growing private TV and radio stations
serving Jordan.


5. In response to the questions posed in reftel:

Question A. Which of your mission objectives benefits
from cultural programs or could be better supported by
cultural programs, including sports programs?


A. Cultural and sports programming supports almost all of
our mission objectives. An important part of our Public
Affairs focus in recent years was to continue outreach to
groups that we do not normally engage with, specifically
young people, non-elite audiences, and communities
outside of the capital.

--Cultural Programming:
Certain cultural programs allow us access to audiences
that we would not normally reach, e.g. disadvantaged
youth, and women. We schedule a part of our cultural
programming in marginalized communities, in and outside
the capital Amman.

--Sports Programming:
This has allowed us to engage with youth with whom we do
not usually interact. In February we hosted two
Georgetown University basketball player-coaches as part
of the Culture Connect Cultural Envoys program. Working
closely with the Jordanian Basketball Federation (JBF),
the envoys held nine workout sessions with both young
boys and girl's basketball teams, interacting with both
the players and the coaches. Their activities received
wide media coverage, from the opening reception to the
practice sessions to the charity game. A relationship
with young people, basketball clubs and their coaches was
established that engendered warm feelings toward
Americans. The JBF has expressed eagerness to continue
working with the Embassy in bringing more expertise in
the form of players and coaches to Jordan. The visit
served as impetus for a charity basketball game involving
a Jordanian team and an international team made up of
international players, including the two Envoys. More
than 2000 young fans turned out. Later that summer one
of the two Georgetown player-coaches returned and served
on contract for eight weeks with the Federation,
conducting training all over Jordan.


Question B. What kind of specific cultural or sports
programs or initiatives are or would be most effective in
supporting those objectives?


A. We plan to use the American Corners, of which there
will soon be three, as a venue for cultural activity.
Two of the Corners, one at the University of Jordan in
Amman, Jordan's largest university, and the other at the
Hashemiya University in Zarqa, have begun to do their own
programming, primarily using on-campus speakers. As the
Corners become more established, they will increase their
cultural offerings. For instance, the Corner at the
University of Jordan is planning a film series beginning
in January. The Embassy is planning musical performances
in the spring and summer, and hopes to use these venues
to reach wider audiences.

We have high hopes that the Opus Akoben Hip Hop jazz
group, which comes here in February, will appeal to young
Jordanian audiences.

There are four other developments worth noting:


1. We are considering a series of sponsored televised
debates between American and Jordanian/Arab youth as a
means of promoting the transformation agenda. This series
would bring together American and Arab youth who have
shared a common experience. For instance, a group of Arab
students studying in the U.S. could interact with
American students studying in various Arab countries.
Each group would carry out a series of open discussions
(in focus group fashion) about their expectations from
their experiences, and the changes in perceptions, if
any, as well as points of commonality and differences.
We would seek out sponsorship from one of the popular
satellite TV stations - Al-Jazeera or Al-Arabiya, with
their large audience share. Ideally, a major American
network or cable channel would run the program
concurrently, both educating the American public and
sending a strong message to Arab audiences that the U.S.
public is interested in hearing what the Arab community
is saying.


2. Young film-makers are becoming very active. The cost
of videography being so much lower than film, much
documentary and fictional material is being produced.
There are avenues for collaboration with the growing pool
of talented young Jordanian filmmakers organized in the
Amman Film-makers Cooperative. We also work with the
Royal Film Commission, and would like to bring in a
specialist for technical training for these young film-
makers. This should help private T.V. stations, once they
get up and running, to obtain locally made content.


3. We will repeat successful High School Summer Arts
Camps organized with AMIDEAST. This exchange received
rave reviews from the participants. The plan is again to
choose 10 students and two instructors to participate in
a two-week summer program in the arts for talented
students. The program is geared towards underprivileged
youth. It has to be said that the cultural gap is harder
to bridge, but when the program succeeds, it has a
lifetime effect.


4. Theater and Drama in Education. We would like to
support the production of a play that can be performed in
classrooms at private and public schools in Jordan. The
idea is to bring an American playwright and later a
producer and a couple of actors to Jordan to work with
the Performing Arts Center. The parties would jointly
produce a play that addresses cultural and family values
in both societies. We envision that the play will
provide understanding of American society and values.
Performances, especially if broadcast on T.V., will have
a multiplier effect both on the Jordanian actors as well
as the general youth audiences. The American artists
will have the chance to learn about this part of the
world which will be reflected in their future work.

Question C. What constraints does your mission face in
effectively utilizing cultural, arts and sports programs?


A. There are serious monetary constraints as well as PAS
staffing constraints. Jordanian institutions with which
we co-sponsor events suffer from a want of organizational
expertise; they rely on the PAS staff to help implement
their end of the program.

Time is another constraint at our busy post. In order to
reach non-elite audiences we should get out of the
capital. Organizing an event far from Amman and taking
American visitors there is not always feasible, even if
everything else falls into place.

Question D. How have you been able to partner with the
private sector in your country to sponsor cultural/sports
events, or to overcome resource (staff and funding)
constraints?

A. In terms of cultural events we cannot boast of having
overcome these constraints: There is not a long
tradition of private sector support for the arts. The
number of companies that do support the arts is small.
We will have to invest a lot of careful work to secure
sponsorship for events. The same can be said of sports
activities; only a small number of companies are
involved. The assumption is that the United States
Embassy makes grants rather than requesting them. We
have found a public entity, the office of the mayor of
Amman, an exception to the rule: City Hall often comes
through with substantial in-kind support, and the staff
really does its organizational share of co-sponsored
events.

Hale