Diplomacy Studio
Welcome to Diplomacy Studio
The arts can be an example of freedom of expression in action. How can we foster mutual understanding through intercultural collaboration - and engage art to build sustainable global partnerships collaboration across borders? How can we foster global cultural exchange and engage artists, musicians and performers from different cultures to explore creative solutions? How can universities in the US and overseas build programs that build these experiences in students? And how can we encourage cross-cultural understanding and collaboration by sharing our rich artistic traditions?
Collaboration engages and aligns our intellectual and creative problem solving capacities into ever more complex systems. Cultural Diplomacy is a collaborative process enabling us to respond to the new complexities of an increasingly interconnected world. As US Ambassador Schneider writes, art humanizes our relationships (Cultural Diplomacy: Hard to Define, but You'd Know It If You Saw It, 2006, Brown Journal of World Affairs).
Diplomacy.Studio is an ongoing Public Diplomacy project initiated by American artist Les Joynes. Diplomacy.Studio creates platforms for artists from different cultures to share our diverse perceptions, build new forms of hybrid knowledge and foster mutual understanding. Working across the arts, music, and performance Diplomacy.Studio also supports academic freedom.
Arts Across Borders: Diplomacy.Studio curates cross-cultural collaborations in museums, schools, public spaces, galleries and even on the Great Wall of China. Challenging the notion of the passive museum Diplomacy.Studio travels to where it is needed to engage new public in local communities.
US Public Diplomacy Performances Zanabazar National Museum of Art Mongolia (2014)
Fulbright Hays US Public Diplomacy Installation in Mongolia at Zanabazar Museum of Fine Art, Ulaanbataar.
Improvising a new sport on the Great Wall (2017) Fulbright Hays US Public Diplomacy Mission China Award (IOAM Museum, Beijing).
“Globe, Balance” (2017) Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Mission China Award USA-China performances on the Great Wall.
US-Mongolian performances Northern Mongolia, Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Award, Mongolia
Fulbright research on communities in Kolkata who create Durga Puja sculptures (2022)
US-India in Dialogue. Fulbright lecture on engaging students in Bharatnatyam communities in Chennai (2022)
US-Brazilian performances in Brazil exploring ritual and magic (2012)
Artist rendering of a museum exhibits which is geotagged in neighborhoods.
Research on public spectacle in Kerala, India (2022)
Fulbright Hays US Public Diplomacy in China: USA-China performances on the Great Wall (IOAM Museum, Beijing). .
US-Brazilian performance collaboration using ritual objects at the Museum of Brazilian Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil
US-Brazilian performance space at the Museum of Brazilian Sculpture, Sao Paulo, Brazil
US-South Korean performances up cycling plastics at the Seoul Foundation for Art and Culture, South Korea.
Covid Demon Idol. Fulbright research on communities in Kolkata who create Durga Puja sculptures (2022)
US-Singapore collaborations. Performing disappearing cities in Singapore, a research project supported by the Bauhaus Foundation, Germany (2009).
US-Mongolian performances, Fulbright Hays Mongolia (2014)
US-Sri Lanka performance discussion, US SCA-RTP Grant (2022)
Les Joynes, PhD
Fulbright Nehru Senior Scholar India 2022; SCA-RTP Grant Sri Lanka (2022); ECA American Arts Incubator ZERO1 (2018); Fulbright Hays US Public Diplomacy Award, Mongolia (2014) and China (2017), CEC ArtsLink Grant, Russia (2017); Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Scholar (2016); CAORC/ACMS Research Fellow, Mongolia (2016); Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture Scholar (MeXT/ Monbusho) (1998-2001).
About Les Joynes
Les Joynes (b. Santa Barbara, California) initiated Diplomacy Studio as a platform for arts and culture projects to build mutual understanding between nations. Educated in the US, UK and Japan, he has shared his time between the US, France, Belgium, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China. He is recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Professional and Academic Excellence Award (2022) to explore intercultural collaboration as a Senior Scholar at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, India. He is recipient of Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Awards for Mongolia (2014) and China (2017) and a Fulbright Senior Scholar in India leading research in Kerala, Rajasthan, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Nagaland that explores India’s vibrant and diverse cultural traditions. Fostering intercultural collaboration across cultures, he transforms museums into spaces of intercultural dialogue between artists and with audiences fostering collaboration, mutual understanding and creating new knowledge of art making and art appreciation.
[education] Les completed his BA (cum laude) in History and M.Sc in international management at Boston University and MBA from California State University where he researched and published on models for transnational technology transfer (Shani & Joynes, 1990). Based in Brussels, Frankfurt and Tokyo he was strategic advisor to international clients 3M, Du Pont, General Electric, Dow Chemical, General Motors and Bayer. Also a consummate artist and writer he received his BA (Hons) Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art, London, MA Fine Art at Goldsmiths, London, Masters in Fine Art at Musashino Art University, Tokyo, PhD at Leeds Metropolitan University and Post-Doctorate in art and communications at University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He is currently researching new models for inter-cultural leadership in education at Columbia University.
[grants and awards] Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award India (2022); SCA-RTP Grant Sri Lanka (2022), US Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs Grant for Colombia (2020), Fulbright Hays US Public Diplomacy Award, Mongolia (2014) and China (2017), CEC ArtsLink Grant, Russia (2017), Renmin University of China Merit Award for Teaching, Beijing (2017), Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Language Scholar (2016); CAORC/ACMS Research Fellow, Mongolia (2016), Research Fellow, Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN) University of the Arts London (2015), Fellow, Nordic Artists Center, Sunnfjord, Norway (2008), Bauhaus Fellow, Dessau, Germany (2009), Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture Scholar (MeXT/ Monbusho) (1998-2001). Awarded the ECA American Arts Incubator ZERO1 Award “a creative exchange program that utilizes community-driven digital and new media art projects to instigate dialogue, build communities, bolster local economies, and further social innovation.” (AAI website).
Les now is preparing the Inclusive biennial (www.inclusivebiennial.com), which will be sited in different world communities in the Americas, EMEA and Asia. Les is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) and the Royal Anthropological Society (RGS) and founder of the US-Bhutan Arts Association.
Images from projects in India, South Korea, Mongolia, Brazil and China.
Image: Still from performance of Shapeshifter at the Mongolian border region with Siberia 2014 - Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Award.