PCAH Chairman Adair Margo Joins First Lady Laura Bush in Announcing Global Cultural Initiative

Adair Margo, Chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), joined First Lady Laura Bush and Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes at the White House to announce the Global Cultural Initiative on September 25. This U.S. State Department initiative will build upon and mobilize the vast talents and resources of America's important cultural institutions to support a broad reaching international cultural diplomacy effort characterized by partnerships with U.S. government and private sector cultural agencies and institutions. One of the elements of this cultural diplomacy effort will be AFI Project: 20/20, which under the auspices of the President's Committee, the Department of State and the American Film Institute is an exchange of foreign and American filmmakers, who will share their films with audiences here and abroad with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Director and actor Andy Garcia spoke to the power of media to further cultural understanding at PCAH’s Symposium on Film, Television, Digital Media, and Popular Culture, helping catalyze AFI Project 20-20

“There is no better way for people to know one another than by sharing their personal stories. AFI Project: 20/20 allows filmmakers to know one another on a personal basis and to share their work with audiences here and abroad. Our recent Symposium on Film, Television, Digital Media, and Popular Culture in Los Angeles bore fruit and AFI Project: 20/20 is it,” says Adair Wakefield Margo, Chairman, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

AFI Project: 20/20 will premiere at AFI FEST in Los Angeles in November. AFI FEST spans 11 days and features international competitions of brand new films from emerging filmmakers, global showcases of the latest work from the great film masters and gala premieres. The President's Committee will bring together the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services with the Department of State and AFI in an unprecedented public private-partnership that will use AFI Project: 20/20 to foster cross-cultural understanding and nurture filmmaking excellence—all with the goal of developing ways in which these artists and their films can help promote cultural awareness and understanding.

Learn more about the President's Committee's international activities and initiatives