Cultural Diplomacy Program at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jointly organized by the Council and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), this half-day visit introduces your student diplomats to “a world of cultures” with an emphasis on understanding how cultures differ in terms of lifestyles, religions and belief systems.

The day opens with an assembly about cultural diplomacy, led by Council staff members. During this assembly, students begin exploring key issues related to world cultures, including how their personal cultures affect both their beliefs and actions and influence their understanding of other people’s cultures and actions. The program continues with a tour of the PMA’s Asian, European and Middle Eastern galleries, led by museum educators. During the tour, students will learn how works of art—such as a Japanese teahouse or an ancient Indian temple—express key cultural elements, including history, religion and belief systems. The visit concludes with a closing session in which students discuss how to apply what they have learned at the PMA to the study of their assigned countries.

Once your school has been accepted into the student diplomat program and your students have received their country assignments, it’s time to begin preparing them for their trip to the PMA. As preparation, they should: 1) divide into country groups (four students per group); 2) research their assigned countries; and 3) begin exploring how personal cultural backgrounds influence them and their perceptions of others.

We recommend that your students research their assigned countries through completing the Country and Culture Profile worksheet. This exercise will help them learn as much as possible about their countries, ranging from official languages, populations and literacy rates to infant mortality rates, forms of government and major exports/imports.

Before their visit to the PMA, students should also complete the Everyone Has a Culture worksheet to help students begin thinking about how their cultural backgrounds influence them and their perceptions of others. This worksheet asks students to consider everything from the foods they eat at home and how often they see their extended families to the types of behaviors that are considered polite or rude. For many of your students, this may be the first time that they have answered these types of questions, and the experience can lead to some very spirited discussions about cultural differences.

Finally, you may find it helpful to use the Defining Basic Concepts in Cultural Diplomacy exercise, which can be found in the Student Diplomat Program: Handbook for Teachers, to introduce your students to the concepts of diplomacy, culture and cultural diplomacy. In this exercise, students break into smaller groups to examine key issues (for example, What does it mean to be diplomatic? What challenges may arise when people from different cultures interact?) and then report their ideas during a class-wide discussion.

In order to maximize your students’ involvement in this first stage of the program, we recommend that you begin working with them approximately six weeks before the PMA trip. One or two hours per week should be more than enough time to complete this preparation.

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