ABSTRACT
Like companies and institutions, national governments commission activities designed to improve relations with the public. If the governments’ targeted recipients are located offshore, these plans or activities become part of official international public relations or what is usually called ‘public diplomacy’.1 Cultural exchanges and promotional events such as trade shows, sporting engagements and major performing arts and visual arts events, as well as ‘quieter’ exchanges such as sponsored travel by arts practitioners and administrators, can all be part of public diplomacy. In recent years public diplomacy has become the subject of academic and public debate in Australia and overseas because of widespread concerns about globalisation and the consequent need to preserve and promote local, regional and diverse cultures.2
