Cultural Diplomacy & Denmark’s International Cultural Exchange in the US

The Embassy of Denmark in Washington D.C. and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York work together to disseminate the knowledge and presentation of Danish arts and culture in the United States, as well as facilitate direct cultural exchanges and collaboration projects between Danish and US artists, cultural institutions and stakeholders. 

Our joint goal is to ensure the highest possible quality and best visibility for Danish arts and culture in the US, including securing long-term, sustainable partnerships with US cultural institutions and artistic collaborators.  

In the field of cultural diplomacy, our two diplomatic representations cover the United States according to the following geographical division:

What we do

• Advice about general guidelines for Denmark’s international Cultural Exchange programs, as well as counselling on select projects in regards to specific DK-US cultural collaborations and exchange projects.
• Advice about the local US art scenes, as well as professional networks and match-making between DK and US artists and cultural stakeholders.
• Advice about public and private funding opportunities.
• Advice about artist residency opportunities for Danish artists and curators in the US, and for US artists and curators in Denmark. 
• Visiting programs to Denmark for US press and cultural stakeholders (e.g. museum curators, festival directors and programmers, journalists and bloggers, etc.), including opportunities for financial travel support. NB! Visiting programs are by personal invitation only. 
• Press outreach, social media publicity and media relations for cultural projects. NB! Available for select projects only. 
• Cultural grants and financial support on a modest scale in the form of “seed money” for initiation of new cultural partnerships and collaborations. NB! Available for professional artists and cultural stakeholders only.  

What we don't

• Serve as Agents or Art Management Bureaus for individual artist and performers.
  As a general rule, we do not book concerts, performances, exhibition, film screenings or tours on behalf of individual artists unless these are part of a larger project or strategic focus area where the diplomatic representations and/or cultural government agencies and institutions in Denmark are directly involved either as hosts or sponsors.
  
  
• Program or curate our own cultural events. 
  As neither the Embassy nor The Consulate General are “presenting partners hosting our own cultural programs,” we rarely claim project ownership to cultural events or specific activities. Exceptions to this general rule are projects that form part of a larger strategic focus area where the diplomatic representations and/or cultural government agencies and institutions in Denmark are directly involved either as hosts or sponsors, or in connection with official visits from Denmark.
   
• Offer full financial support for cultural projects, productions and collaborations. 
  As a general rule, cultural grants and other financial support from the Embassy or Consulate General will take the form of “seed funding,” and must to be supplemented by local funding sources and/or other public or private funding sources from Denmark. For a comprehensive overview of government arts funding possibilities in Denmark, please see www.kunst.dk. 
  
  
• Offer comprehensive-scale publicity, press and promotional support for individual cultural projects.
  Due to limited time and resources, we are not in a position to offer full-package press and PR support for cultural projects. Rather, our advice in this area is based on specific needs and select media outreach, or may involve referrals to professional publicity bureaus locally. 
   
• Advise on US visa-related matters. All US immigration-related questions fall outside of our general mandate and jurisdiction. For questions on artists visas to the US, please contact the U.S. Embassy in Denmark.
   
• Organize full visiting programs to US destinations for Danish cultural, media or educational institutions or non-governmental stakeholders. Select advice, contacts and services within this area may be available upon request or available through our commercial department according to a fee-based agreement.

What to expect from our Cultural Diplomacy advising