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This week, we launched the U.S. Department of State’s Global Music Diplomacy Initiative to elevate music as a diplomatic tool to promote peace and democracy. Music has the potential to connect cultures and tell our story, the American story, around the world. It’s a powerful tool in our diplomatic toolkit.
Thank you to the talented artists – Jamie Barton, Gayle, Dave Grohl, Mickey Guyton, Herbie Hancock, Christopher Jackson, LADAMA, Aimee Mann, Rakim, Armani White, and the American Pops Orchestra – who performed during the launch of our initiative. And I couldn’t pass up tonight’s opportunity to combine music and diplomacy.
 Check out more photos from the event.
Music has stayed a connecting thread through my entire life, ever since I heard my parents play “A Hard Day’s Night” for the very first time, and it’s been love at first sight ever since.
Music is a way for all of us to show who we are, where we come from, what we love – and also to learn the same about other people. That’s true of people. It’s also true of countries. In the United States, our nation’s past echoes in how our people play, like in jazz and the blues – genres created mainly by black musicians who blended musical elements from the Americas, Europe, and Africa, including traditions that enslaved people brought to the United States.
But here’s the thing: You don’t have to know any history to connect the feelings behind the music. Because music at its core is about a bond rooted in our shared humanity.
In my own life, and now in my own travels in this job, I’ve seen how music can transcend the borders of geography and the barriers of language. Music gives us a space to express ourselves, to hear one another, to build a sense of community and understanding that helps us work together.
So for generations, U.S. diplomacy has worked to harness the power of music to actually build bridges, to foster collaboration between Americans and people around the world. Going back to the 1940s, the United States has helped American musicians travel around the world. That started with classical musicians, singers, and iconic jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. The tradition was carried on by pioneers like our very first and long-overdue hip-hop ambassador, Toni Blackman.
Together, they reflect every genre of American music – folk, indie, pop, rap, classical, rock and roll – you name it.
Now, we’re opening a new chapter of music diplomacy by launching the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative. This initiative will use music to support inclusive economic growth, to expand access to education, to build more resilient societies, and will start with three new efforts.
First, the State Department will begin a new partnership with the Recording Academy. Together we’ll start a mentorship program to bring producers, sound engineers, talent agents, festival promoters, other music professionals together with leading experts in those fields from the United States. We’ll also launch the Peace Through Music Award to celebrate Americans who are using music to support cultural exchange and grow mutual understanding between people across the planet.
Second, the State Department is formally incorporating music into the English language classes that we offer around the world. This is one of our most popular programs. So we’re going to include American songs and lyrics in the curriculum. We’ll share our diverse culture. We’ll help students improve their English fluency.
Finally, we’re creating a new Fulbright Award for an artist in residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. There we’ll have artists and scientists from other nations teaming up with Americans and exploring how to use art to benefit our people, our environment, and our societies.
In the months and years ahead, we’ll keep working with our partners to grow this initiative, to foster more collaboration between musicians and music lovers, to strengthen the ties that bind nations together. In music and in diplomacy, we always are able to accomplish so much more together than any one of us could do alone. Or as someone put it probably better: We get by with a little help from our friends.
I'm looking forward to staying connected in the months to come. And I'd love to hear your thoughts – please share them by writing to me and my team at EmailTeam@State.gov.
Sincerely,
 Secretary Antony J. Blinken
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