Jazz as a Measure of Cultural Diplomacy

Jazz as a Measure

Of Cultural Diplomacy

-‐

A Case Study of “Jazz Futures”

Universität Leipzig

Institut für Amerikanistik

Beethovenstraße 15

04107 Leipzig

Supervisor: Anja Eifert

Co-‐Supervisor: Prof. Crister S. Garrett

Bachelor Thesis

Submitted by: Lennart Bastert

Student Id: 2290641

[email protected]

July 29, 2014

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Abstract

This work presents a research effort into the circumstances, the implementation, and the success of the cultural diplomacy program Jazz Futures of the American Embassy to Cyprus. Conducting an evaluative caste study, this thesis investigates how the program demonstrates the potential of cultural diplomacy to influence foreign audiences, promote American ideals, and induce change. The analysis of qualitative data obtained in cooperation with four key stakeholders of Jazz Futures forms the backbone of the inquiry. The research interest is specifically targeted at understanding the influences that led to the program’s success, in relation to the goals of cultural diplomacy. The analytic efforts illustrate three focus areas, which 1) reveal the Cypriot circumstances’ function as both a vital context and asset, 2) explore the instrumental factors of its implementation, and 3) outline the groundbreaking success it has had as a cultural diplomacy program and as a model of cooperation to Cyprus. The highly informative qualitative data yielded a complex understanding of the powerful features of jazz as a measure of cultural diplomacy, the influence of Jazz Futures on Cyprus and vice versa, and its merit as a cultural diplomacy program. The value of cooperation is engrained in all of these findings and the analysis will show how this constitutes a key component in demonstrating the potential of jazz as a measure of cultural diplomacy.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 4 Cultural Diplomacy 4 “Jazz Futures” 4

Historical Background 6 History of Cyprus & US-‐Cypriot Relations 6 An Overview of Jazz in Cultural Diplomacy 10 Methodology 12

Data evaluation & analysis 14 Overall evaluative remarks 14 Circumstances 17 Implementation 22 Success 30

Conclusion 37 Caveats revisited 37 Jazz diplomacy revisited 38

Works Cited 41 Appendix – Stakeholder Questionnaires 43 Affidavit / Eidesstattliche Erklärung 52

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Thank you This is for the Cypriot jazz musicians – You’re all grand. I owe you.

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Introduction

“…Jazz is […] a rare and valuable national American treasure

to which we should devote our attention, support and resources […].”

-‐ H. CON. RES. 57, 1987, passed by the 100th Congress of the USA – John Conyers Jr.

Cultural Diplomacy

Cultural diplomacy applies the best of what American artists, performers, and

thinkers have to offer to the goals of public-‐to-‐public diplomacy (public diplomacy),

seeking mutual understanding between peoples, organizations and individuals. As such,

cultural diplomacy initiatives present themselves in a multitude of shapes and forms,

each involving different stakeholders. Employing the pinnacles of American culture,

these initiatives routinely influence foreign publics on the same profound level that their

cultural assets emerge from. As the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy states:

“it is in its cultural activities that a nation’s idea of itself is best represented.” In that

sense, cultural diplomacy is deeply entwined with the desire for mutual understanding

and peaceful cooperation between the members of the international community. The

ideal of cooperation is an overarching theme that will underpin much of the research

questions and findings throughout this work.

“Jazz Futures”

As for this academic work, the cultural diplomacy program at hand is “Jazz

Futures”, a jazz concert and workshop program conducted by the American Embassy in

Nicosia, Cyprus. It was an initiative sponsored by the embassy’s Bicommunal Support

Program that ran successfully from June 2008 to October 2013. Jazz Futures is also

eponymous for the program’s core component, a joint-‐Cypriot Jazz quintet headed by

one of the island’s most-‐accomplished musicians in saxophonist Charis Ioannou. The

idea was to set up a series of workshops, jam sessions, and concerts in locations across

the northern and southern part of the island, all supported by a cast of professional

American jazz musicians and with the guidance and organizational input of the

American Embassy. Charis Ioannou and the embassy’s bicommunal support coordinator

met in Spring 2008, after Ioannou had spontaneously sat in at a goodwill concert, set up

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by the American Music Abroad program. Combining their resources efficiently, they

worked together to bring about the first week of Jazz Futures events just a few months

later. Ioannou brought in the contacts from both, Greek and Turkish Cypriot

communities, or the support of venues across the island such as the Academy 32 jazz

club or the Lidras Music School (both in Nicosia, yet separated by the Green Line).

The American delegation of musicians was headed by NYC based saxophonist and

composer Chris Byars and bassist Ari Roland. With them came the Ari Roland Sextet,

consisting of a varying supporting cast. Byars and Roland are established American

cultural ambassadors, having worked abroad as performers and educators for the State

Department more than 40 times. The international experience and professionalism

these musicians bring to the table, coupled with their sensitivity for the circumstances

they became involved in, proved to be a driving force behind the program’s success and

in 2012 elicited Byars’ observation of a Cypriot identity emanating from the classes, the

concerts, and the music (Notes & Time 2012). As mentioned above, the ideal of

cooperation is crucial in the context of this research project; even more so with the

island’s history as it is today. The Cypriot environment -‐ in particular the political

situation on the island -‐ invariably shaped “Jazz Futures”. Therefore, as with most

anything touching on the socio-‐political in Cyprus, a sound and comprehensive

understanding of the island’s history is vital.

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Historical Background

“The role of Cyprus is changing irreversibly,

and the events that transpired now

impact our people in fundamental ways.”

-‐ Former Cypriot ambassador to the US, Euripides L. Evriviades comments on recent Cypriot history

History of Cyprus & US-‐Cypriot Relations

Throughout its history, those inhabiting, and particularly those governing it have

continuously left their mark on the island of Cyprus. Since ancient times, the island has

been conquered, sold, conquered again, loaned, annexed, colonized and partly occupied

by a plethora of ruling powers, such as the Hellenic, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and

Ottoman empires. The influences visible on the island range from traces of Richard the

Lionheart’s conquest in the Limassol harbor, Venetian architectural imprints still

shaping the capital Nicosia, to the British military bases as part of an Anglo-‐Saxon

bulwark against the Middle East in the 1940s and ‘50s. These influences can be seen and

felt all over the island and they form part of a rich heritage that makes for one of the

most intriguing geopolitical cases internationally. The most important developments

and concepts to understand and reflect upon the situation as it is today are those leading

up to the Republic of Cyprus’ independence in 1960, the Turkish invasion in 1974 and

the country´s accession to the European Union in 2004.

Towards the end of the 1950s, discontent over British colonial rule had been

building on the island for over a decade, since the British had not given the population –

then 77% Greek Cypriots, 18% Turkish Cypriots, and 5% other nationalities, including

Armenians and Maronites – any indication of support for the proposed idea of Enosis

(accession to the Greek motherland) and instead were planning on keeping Cyprus as a

hub of influence on the Eastern-‐Mediterranean (Mallinson 66). Militant Greek Cypriots

formed the EOKA (‘Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπριών Αγωνιστών – National Organization of

Cypriot Fighters) and attacked British posts and personnel, killing over 400 Britons in

their campaigns between 1955 and 1959. British diplomacy exacerbated the division

between the two Cypriot communities, encouraging the Turkish Cypriots to demand

taksim (partition) and eventual double-‐ascension to Greece and Turkey. This pushed the

(official) Greek Cypriot position to change from enosis to independence. The EOKA’s

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political leader, Archbishop Makarios III, negotiated the island’s independence, settled in

the 1958 and ‘59 Zurich and London Agreements. The political partitions specified in

these agreements and especially Greece, Turkey and Britain’s guarantor nation status

can be considered an enabling factor in the escalation of the Cyprus issue in the

following decade.

After Makarios had abandoned the idea of Enosis in favor of a robust Cypriot

independence, intercommunal violence continued to erupt massively, leading to the

establishment of the now longest-‐standing UN peacekeeping mission, UNFICYP (UN

Peace-‐keeping Force in Cyprus), in 1964. The remaining, pro-‐enosis EOKA B (a militant

split from the now more moderate EOKA party) held ties to the military junta in Greece,

which had risen to power in 1967. Then-‐US-‐National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger,

along with President Nixon and the CIA, held close diplomatic and intelligence relations

to that regime and their involvement in the escalation of the 1974 crisis on the island is a

critical issue in Cypriot-‐American relations. In meeting their strategy for Cyprus as a

staging area for the Middle East, the US supported the junta in Greece and indirectly

conspired against Cypriot leader Makarios, because he, in turn, had been opening up

more to the Soviet Union since 1964 (Hahn 65). After numerous assassination attempts

during his presidency, Makarios was overthrown and exiled in July 1974 by the Cypriot

National Guard, which had been backed by the Greek regime. This opened the door for

the Turkish invasion, since, as a guarantor nation, Turkey had the power to reestablish

the Cypriot constitution with the use of force1 and they used that power to protect the

Turkish-‐Cypriot citizens from the pro-‐enosis, Greece-‐backed transition government,

with the first wave of the invasion on July 20th, 1974.

From the memory of the Americans’ conflicting relationships during those years,

it took an arduous rebuilding process to arrive at the strong relations the US and Cyprus

hold today and especially since the country’s accession into the ranks of the EU. Since

establishing diplomatic relations with Cyprus in 1960, the Greek Cypriot community had

suspected the American administrations to favor Turkey in the swelling Cyprus conflict

because of Turkey’s strategic role as a bulwark against the USSR. Failure by the

Americans to prevent the coup against Makarios and subsequently the Turkish invasion,

despite close relationships with the Greek junta was attributed to fear of Soviet influence

in a Makarios-‐led Cyprus (Hahn 132) and culminated in an anti-‐American riot in August 1 Article IV of the Treaty of Guarantee (Zurich & London Agreements) provides: “in so far as common or concerted action may prove impossible, each of the three guaranteeing Powers reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-‐establishing the state of affairs established by the present Treaty."

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1974 that led to the enraged crowd of several hundred Cypriots to storm the American

embassy and shoot US ambassador Roger Davies. To say the least, this put a dent in the

two countries’ cultural relations and for years after the conflict, the Cypriot population

was critical of American efforts toward their country and the solution of the issue (Hahn

167). During those years, the US vetoed every proposed UN resolution purported to

impose sanctions against Turkey for the invasion and the Cypriot population remained

skeptical of any American diplomatic efforts. However, a standing USAID mission to

Cyprus, continuously providing intercommunal reconciliation efforts since 1974 and the

resolve of economically liberal American investment and support 2 have gradually

ameliorated the differences (Evriviades 12). Additionally, Cyprus’ administrators credit a

strong working relationship with the US and traditional membership in international

organizations for their successful application to become an EU member, which, arguably,

can be counted as the most profound political event on the island since the declaration of

independence in 1960.

Intercommunal peace talks have taken place intermittently (the last in 02/2014),

yet the status quo remains that of an occupation, with the TRNC (Turkish Republic of

North Cyprus) recognized solely by Turkey and the UNFICYP Green Line dividing the

island and its capital Nicosia firmly in place. Overall, the island of Cyprus and its

population have made considerable headway in finally gaining complete control over

their own fortunes since the invasion of 1974. Diplomatic and geopolitical haggling from

all parties involved turned the Cyprus issue into a violent conflict of a sometimes

bewilderingly confusing extent. Yet through continuous steps forward, which also

include American diplomatic and economic efforts, the island strives to outgrow the

misconceptions and resentment characterizing many-‐a debate on Cyprus. Evidence of

this process can be found, for example, in the gradual opening of the border (“Green

Line”) since 2003 and a growing network of intercommunal cooperation. Contrastingly,

the Greek Cypriot “No”-‐Vote on the Annan Plan (Kofi Annan’s proposed plan for

reunification prior to EU accession) in 2004 could be interpreted otherwise. However, a

snapshot referendum3 may be deemed one of the least comprehensive measures on the

arduous road to a national and unified identity. The yield of such continuous steps

forward, the growing of ideas of cooperation and their fulfillment is something Cypriots 2 Hahn, 1982, comments on American financial support considerably outweighing that of the UdSSR in the years after the invasion, while figures by the US census bureau available online show a steady export volume of the US to Cyprus of over $100m and up to $260m since 1992 3 Evriviades, 2005. The referendum on the Annan Plan was held just a week before Cyprus signed the treaty to join the EU and there was little to no advocacy or reconnaissance about it

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deserve and -‐ with the economic crisis of 2008 in mind – can fall back on, to preserve

their identity, peace and prosperity on their island. In the following academic inquiry,

one such instance will be observed closely and specifically with respect to the case of

Cypriot history.

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An Overview of Jazz in Cultural Diplomacy

Jazz music has been employed in American cultural diplomacy in some shape or

form for over half a century now. From the inception of the government-‐funded jazz

tours in the 1950s and Duke Ellington’s long-‐lasting involvement with the US

government (von Eschen 2004, 16), to the manifold instances of modern public-‐private-‐

partnerships for international concerts and master classes or continuous programs such

as “American Music Abroad”, it seems fair to deem Jazz a staple and trusted measure of

American Cultural Diplomacy. In what has been called “the hey-‐day of cultural

diplomacy” (Schneider 2003, 2) from the 1950s to 1975, the US government sent scores

of musicians abroad as “cultural ambassadors”, mainly to promote the (western) ideals

of equality, liberty and democracy, vying against Communist ideologies and related

ideals and politics. The scope and effect of these Cold War tours has been widely

discussed and evaluated4 and they form the backdrop (and in some circumstances the

benchmark) against which more contemporary initiatives are examined.

During those years, the government was able to build on the lasting support of

publicly acclaimed musical voices, such as Duke Ellington. His last big pop hit being

“Satin Doll” in 1953, Ellington’s appeal to a younger crowd might have diminished with

the advent of Rock’n’Roll in the ‘60s. However, he was a prominent and revered figure of

American culture by the time he started his extensive state jazz involvement, evidenced

in his 1966 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a subsequent Presidential Medal

of Freedom in 1969. That kind of VIP factor is a natural contrast between the early jazz

diplomacy programs and those initiated today, and it is in line with an overall decline in

the popularity of jazz in the 1980s and 1990s5. Jazz programs have adapted accordingly.

Thus, rather than extensive, state-‐funded tours, US diplomacy-‐driven initiatives in the

area of jazz now largely concentrate on more intimate master classes and public-‐private-‐

partnerships to organize influential jazz events. Examples include a Sony-‐funded tour to

China in 2000 by Wynton Marsalis, one of the most prolific jazz musicians in the US, who

was also previously featured in an official US tour (namely, the “Millennium Tour" to

Russia in the same year). Sony smartly partnered with local governmental and cultural

4 For one of the most renowned and extensive discussions on this topic see Penny van Eschen’s excellent book „Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors play the Cold War“, Harvard UP, 2004 5 A slight surge in Jazz popularity over the last decade may be observed – and could possibly be tapped into by diplomats -‐ in the Grammy Awards of such popular artists as Norah Jones (2003) and Jazz legend Herbie Hancock (2008) or for example the popular musical fusions of pianist Robert Glasper – naturally, the issue is hotly debated in articles; and record sales rarely, if ever, tell the complete story

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institutions, which imaginably allowed both sides to cut costs while highlighting their

cultural involvement (Ansfield 2003).

On the other hand, long-‐lived programs have continued to highlight Jazz as the

American cultural force it has become through the years of its evolution, influencing

audiences around the world. Programs such as “American Music Abroad” employ the full

range of artistic activities and are pronouncedly rooted in the State Department’s

historical success in employing music in diplomacy (cf. DoS Media Note). In their

extensive use of musicians from all backgrounds and their wide approach in target

audiences as well as diplomatic tools, these kinds of programs capitalize on the

flexibility and adaptability of Cultural Diplomacy. Musicians and audiences are given the

chance to connect on an interpersonal level, musically as well as culturally. Panels and

jam sessions allow for questions, opinions and perspectives to be exchanged freely and

across, often geopolitical, boundaries. Finally, concerts, tours, and workshops

underscore the exceptional nature and lasting impact of these encounters artistically,

cementing an emotional foundation, inseparable from the common American values

they purport6.

For the US, Jazz has been a medium to induce this kind of impact for over 50 years

and the approach the music was employed with has notably adapted to the diplomatic

and political environment. Similar to other modern initiatives of the like, “Jazz Futures”

was not a singular event, but an ongoing model of cooperation. To answer the question

of “Why Jazz Diplomacy and not, say, Rock ‘n’ Roll Diplomacy?” is perhaps an ill-‐advised

errand and even more so not of great concern to the practitioner. However, it is to be

noted that, in the same vein that jazz has been called “the one true American art form”, it

is also a style of music inconceivably rich in history (~100 years). And that history is

irreversibly intertwined with the history of the American people. Therefore, to employ

jazz in American cultural diplomacy means nothing less than to represent and

communicate the American people and its ideals through music, the most universal

language of all.

6 A number of personal experiences with such programs, countless official testimonies and interviews may attest to this ostentatious enumeration of effects.

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Methodology

In October 2012, studying at the European University Cyprus, this author came

across the Jazz Futures program by chance, joining a week of workshops, concerts, jams,

and intimate exchanges about Jazz, the program itself, Cyprus and Cypriot identity. Apart

from the incredible opportunity, musically, to participate in the program, it was awe-‐

inspiring to witness such a profound initiative of cultural diplomacy live at work.

Unparalleled was the degree of intercommunal cooperation so effectively mediated by

the musicians. Therefore, the idea of an academic record into the inner workings of Jazz

Futures had evolved since those days on Cyprus.

Embedded in the conception of the following case study is the well-‐known

impetus to create a connection between theory and practice and to soundly exemplify

the success of cultural diplomacy. In comparison to the applied form of a case study as an

educational tool, the term is used more loosely for this writing and in reference to the

case study as a research tool. To specify, the research interest behind this work is based

on some of the methodology that is best at work in case studies. Thereby, it can be

placed in the tradition of other case studies on Public Diplomacy initiatives, differing in

length and depth, such as those collected in William P. Kiehl’s volume “Case Studies in

Public Diplomacy” (2012) or the study of The University of Michigan Jazz Band in Latin

America, published also in 2012 in the Journal of the Society for American Music (see

bibliography). As social scientist Robert K. Yin puts it (Yin 2):

“In all of these situations, the distinctive need for case studies arises out of the desire to understand

complex social phenomena. In brief, the case study method allows investigators to retain the holistic

and meaningful characteristics of real life events.”

From this derivation he arrives at three conditions that should hold true for the case

study research method, which “consist of (1) the type of research question(s) posed, (2)

the extent of control an investigator has over actual behavioral events, and (3) the

degree of focus on contemporary […] events” (Yin 8). In keeping with Yin’s explanations,

my inquiry poses questions of “how?” and “why?”, it requires no control of behavioral

events and is precisely focused on contemporary events. Therefore, I have opted to

conduct an evaluative case study on the Jazz Futures program, observing a subset of a

larger contextual network and illuminating its operations. This will employ a multimodal

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set of data collection methods and the delimited foci placed during the inquiry link to the

kind of research questions explained above.

As for the model of case study that is intended, the intention is to describe and

illustrate certain focal points within an evaluation. To mark out these focal points, three

key focus areas that comprise a division of foci have been chosen, namely: the program’s

circumstances, its implementation process and its success. These focus areas effectively

question the “how?” and indirectly the “why?” underlying the program. Next, these kinds

of programs that involve a lot of person-‐to-‐person interaction and whose pool of

stakeholders is immensely varied are difficult to grasp using empirical tools alone.

Inspired by the gripping and in-‐depth study of the aforementioned Michigan Jazz Tours,

which relied most prominently on interviews as its source material, the multimodal data

collection employed in this study will feature statistical and procedural information

obtained from the organizational partners involved, as well as information from

interviews with different contributors to the program.

As the omnipresent funding issues of any cultural diplomacy initiative repeatedly

reveal, practitioners and field officers have yet to attain full recognition for their

achievements in the field. Contrastingly, Jazz Futures was an exemplary program in

realizing its mission of building a foundation of trust with foreign publics and this

research project aims to reflect upon the special kind of momentum and degree of

cooperation that such programs take on. Arguably, the particularity of the Cypriot case,

coupled with the program’s unique faculties will yield a greater understanding of the

capabilities of cultural diplomacy. Shuffling through the history of Cyprus in the 20th

century, it is arguably an achievement in itself to reach any degree of cooperation across

ethnic boundaries, let alone sparked by an outside actor whose reputation had

plundered a few decades ago, such as the US. Therefore, this case study may ultimately

showcase the ability of cultural diplomacy to regain a foundation of trust with foreign

publics, as the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy explicated in a 2005 report to

the State Department.

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Data evaluation & analysis

“No.”

Program coordinator J. Dickstein recalls whether any serious implementation issues arose after the first workshops

Overall evaluative remarks

As any research project grows, certain problems emerge and certain strands of

ideas bloom into greater, guiding ideas for the understanding of the project. During this

investigation into the cultural diplomacy program that is Jazz Futures, a number of

caveats emerged during the research, data collection and analysis phases. Generally

speaking, the quality of the inquiry is tightly linked to the quality of the data one is able

to collect and to the depth and quality of my own analysis. Some factors that possibly

impacted these qualities are:

• The author’s spatial and temporal remove from his interview partners (the only

communication with them throughout the time of this project has been digitally

and the program itself ended a year ago);

• The fact that by nature of digital and diplomatic communication, much less

statistical data than expected was available from the embassy;

• The well-‐known conundrum of personal bias, possibly derailing the analysis into

an awfully passionate and descriptive imagining of an -‐ even preconceived –

subjective idea.

Some creative encouragement on the partners’ side was needed to bridge the divide

between them and the author, including weekly e-‐mail check-‐ins (short & sweet) and a –

hopefully enamoring – YouTube video. Furthermore, due to the lack of personal

engagement and incentives on the partners’ side, the data collection process proved

somewhat difficult and stressfully time-‐consuming. The non-‐availability of expected data

will be capably negated by the quality of the partners’ questionnaire responses.

However, with respect to the depth of analysis, the problems in data collection elevated

the pressure in the analysis phase, as, for example, certain areas seemed insufficiently

surveyed. In response to potential biases, reminders in the form of digital notes, text

annotations and a “bias cause-‐and-‐relief” comparison helped to hopefully minimize this

issue’s impact.

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On a different note, certain key points emerged during these phases. These points

aim at guiding the analysis and at ameliorating a lack of comprehension that readers

unfamiliar with the program or its context might feel. First, the aforementioned division

of foci aims at structuring the evaluation in the most accessible way, as any analytical

finding will contribute only to one of these three divisions. Secondly, the interview

partners’ perspectives may provide for navigational beacons throughout the data and its

interpretation. They were chosen precisely because of the different insights their

respective perspectives may yield. The perspectives and their interconnection to the

three focus areas are declared as follows:

Partner Role Perspective Interconnections

A.

Elmas

♦ Musician (sax)

♦ Started as

participant

♦ Then band

member and

teacher

♦ Turkish Cypriot

♦ Not involved in original

inception

♦ Arguably one of the

biggest beneficiaries of

Jazz Futures

♦ May comment on success

in cooperation

♦ Represents part of the

unique circumstances

♦ May comment on

implementation from in

and outside

C.

Ioannou

♦ Musician (sax)

♦ Initiator and

original band

member

♦ Main Cypriot

teacher

♦ Greek Cypriot

♦ Inside view from onset

♦ Beneficiary and possible

driving force

♦ High professional and

economic interest in

program success

♦ Highly influential in

success and

implementation

♦ Variably influenced by

and himself influencing

circumstances

C.

Byars

♦ Musicians (sax

& bass)

♦ Jazz Diplomacy

professionals &

cultural

ambassadors

♦ American

♦ From outsider to insider

♦ Professional, field

experienced

♦ Compassionate, musically

emphatic

♦ Directly involved in

implementation, success

♦ Gained fresh, firsthand

insight to circumstances

♦ May have consciously

steered program’s

influence

J.

Dickstein

♦ Bicommunal

support

coordinator at

US embassy

♦ Facilitator,

major

organizational

hub

♦ American

♦ Inside and outside

♦ Professional, background,

♦ Program advocate,

(cultural) diplomacy

experienced

♦ Biggest insight on

implementation

♦ Highly attuned to

circumstances

♦ Somewhat dependent on

success

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In the analysis of qualitative data, this tabulated view helps to establish how, for

example, Mr. Elmas’ Turkish Cypriot perspective is crucial to commenting on the

program’s level of cooperation, while probably being less informative on the minutiae of

the program’s implementation. The American musicians’ outsider perspective on the

program’s circumstances coupled with their experienced observations of success can

produce different interpretations and analytical results than the perspective of the

Cypriot musicians, as they benefitted from the program the most on a personal level.

Drawing the connections from the respondents’ data in this way, observing their

perspectives and their influence on the interpretation, is supposed to

1) Illuminate potential causes for bias in the author’s or the respondents’ analysis and

observation, thereby (hopefully) eliminating them, and

2) Guide readers from the raw data to a detailed understanding of Jazz Futures and the

potential of cultural diplomacy.

Structurally, the analysis leads from assets and weaknesses in the focus areas, to

lessons learned from the analysis. In the attempt to posit the success of Jazz Futures

within the larger framework of cultural diplomacy, these lessons are evaluated for their

reproducibility in another environment than the Cypriot one. The questionnaires were

evaluated against the background of these structural guidelines. Thereby, the reader is

enabled to follow the analytic findings from their position inside the program to their

influence on the program’s effects. Therefore, aside from viewing the interview partner’s

observations through their individual perspectives, the analysis plots a course to retrace

the steps of the author’s own evaluation.

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Circumstances

Variations in the circumstances of any cultural diplomacy program can lead to

grave differences in their implementation. As the volumes of case studies on programs

from all over the world reflect, the circumstances’ influence may appear in the scale,

measures, or financial expenditure of a given program. The circumstances that Jazz

Futures operated under are curious, to say the least. The influence of the Cyprus issue

that has had a grip on the island for over 40 years is nearly omnipresent in all aspects of

political and socio-‐cultural life. And Jazz Futures was, so to say, right amidst the conflict.

As the program’s coordinator at the embassy comments: “We cannot forget that the

entire (sic) purpose of the program was to build mutual understanding and respect

between the two Cypriot communities.” From this mission statement to the way

stakeholders at all levels managed the circumstances the palpable essence was that the

unique Cypriot context was formed into a valuable asset. Furthermore, it is no

understatement to say the program was embedded in its Cypriot context from the start

and that the environment the stakeholders performed in, as well as the environment

they created within the program were effectively exploited to the benefit of everyone

involved.

For its time, it was the BSP’s (the American Embassy’s Office for Bicommunal

Support Programs) flagship program and it was valued as a direct contributor to the

groundwork for a solution to the Cyprus issue (Dickstein 2014). From the outset of

planning the program, BSP felt the need to get in touch with locals, particularly looking

to connect with musicians from the Turkish Cypriot community. They approached Charis

Ioannou and thereafter involved him heavily in what he called the “fine-‐tuning” of the

program’s organization. Doing a little more than fine-‐tuning, Ioannou later became one

of the motors to drive home the exceptional local influence on the program and its

success. Moreover, its “Cypriotness” was evident at all stages of the program. The

workshops were either held in the UN-‐patrolled buffer zone that separates the two

communities or in various, locally sourced venues across both sides. Musically,

participants and teachers alike did not shy away from combining Cypriot musical

influences with jazz. In addition to locations and musical material, right after the very

first week of workshops in 2008, the Cypriot participants came together to organize a

jam session and the weekly tradition is still integral to the island’s jazz scene and

cultural life.

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Such instances of early cooperation, heavily relying locals from the start, is

neither a small feat nor do they come naturally in other such forums. This it not to

glorify Jazz Futures as a conglomerate of endless cooperation at all times. However, the

island’s and the program’s environment did indeed supplement each other in the factors

that spurred the program’s degree of cooperation. While economic appeasement can be

said to have been steadily rising between the GC (Greek Cypriot) and TC (Turkish

Cypriot) communities since the gradual opening of the Green Line in 2004, BSP’s

coordinator Ms. Dickstein recalls the grave, interpersonal disconnect between the two

communities. Many from both sides have yet to visit the other half of their island, let

alone engage in an exchange of ideas with its inhabitants7. Entering the characteristically

casual jazz environment to be found in the workshops, sessions and concerts of Jazz

Futures, the participants were exposed to a space devoid of the adversities and the

personal and political differences they were used to. The desire to hone their musical

skills and to discover jazz added the dimension of a shared goal into this space,

something that Cypriots from whatever background would work on together. At this

point, a feedback loop was set into motion with each link feeding back on previous

achievements.

Jazz introduced a neutral arena and a set of attainable, shared goals. Everyone

involved in the program realized the idea of cooperation through small, individual acts

and initiative, resulting in achievements such as the story of Greek Cypriots helping their

Turkish counterparts reach their collective evening jam session, as recounted by Chris

Byars:

“In our first workshop (June 2008), a Greek Cypriot organized an impromptu jam session at his

friend’s pub, not far from the checkpoint. The Turkish Cypriots from Jazz Futures were invited. It

was not easy for them to arrive, however; they had no knowledge of the city map south of the

Green Line, their cell phones didn’t work and their cars did not have insurance. Greek Cypriots

offered to meet them at the check point and carry their amps for the short walk to their waiting

cars. This was an early example of a shared goal (a jam session) resulting in bi-‐communal

collaboration (basic logistical planning).”

-‐ Co-‐director of music C. Byars on first instances of cooperation

7 A sad fact that was reiterated to me, personally and on different occasions, while in Cyprus. It also came up multiple times in the responses to my questionnaires. Fueled by expulsions and land grabs during the invasion, Turkish settlement policies in the North and historical trauma on both sides, some of today’s generation still carry the burden of having been refugees in their own country.

19

The most crucial factor in this instance of bi-‐communal cooperation is, again, the

strong (almost exclusive) impetus and involvement coming from locals and their

handling of the circumstances. Emerging from the mere interplay of the circumstances

was a model for sustainability of the music, of the program, and the ensuing cooperation.

When the desire to make music together sparked the initiative of Cypriots from both

sides, it became apparent that they themselves would be the ones to sustain and even

develop the level of cooperation they experienced within the framework of the program.

The influence of this feedback loop, going from jazz to shared goals, Cypriot initiative

and a sustained cooperation (and then back to more jazz) will become visible more

strongly in the later stages of this analysis.

During the analysis of the data on the excellent treatment of the peculiar Cypriot

circumstances, little weaknesses appeared, potentially due to the subjective bias all

interviewees held. And yet: although Mr. Elmas’ account hinted at obstructions in the

participation of Turkish Cypriots, stemming from their (or perhaps his own)

circumstances, the embassy was acutely aware they had to make an extra effort to reach

out to the musicians in the North:

“We […] approached Charis [because] we wanted to know if he knew jazz musicians in the Turkish

Cypriot community that could help launch this program. […] Charis Ioannou and Ahmet Elmas had

many contacts and students. The Embassy also had contacts, but mostly Charis, Ahmet and Cahit

Kutrafali [note: a Turkish Cypriot resident bass player in the Jazz Futures quintet] brought the

participants.”

-‐ Program coordinator J. Dickstein on the deciding factors that helped implement Jazz Futures that fast

Overall, the timeframe the program was implemented in (the first workshop happened

just a few months after the idea was first proposed) and the fact that no major problems

for BSP arose from the circumstances (Dickstein 2014) support the indication that the

embassy, the program’s personnel and the participants not only steered clear from any

possible friction. Quite the contrary, they found a way to fruitfully engage everyone

involved, in order not to let the circumstances dictate the atmosphere or outcome of the

program.

When analyzing the circumstances of a cultural diplomacy program under the

macro-‐view of marking out the potential of such programs, it is vital to take away certain

key lessons. The applicability of such lessons, derived from the surroundings of a

program and how they influenced the subject, may be best explained through the

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reproducibility of a certain set of circumstances. In other words: how was the given

setting endemic to the environment or not and, which conditions can or cannot be

reproduced and applied to the next cultural diplomacy program. Drawing from the

limited depth of data within this inquiry, the two key, reproducible lessons learned

reiterate the obvious: local knowledge and high standards.

Seeing how the circumstances influenced Jazz Futures it is obvious that local

involvement was crucial for the development of the program, yet it was also precisely

because of the circumstances that outreach to multiple communities in their situation

would have been too time-‐consuming and ineffective, therefore demanding for the help

of locals. Hereby, Jazz Futures took the public diplomacy idiom of “catering to your

audience” one step further. A step other American officials often value as high as that of

cooperating well within your own working environment (McKay 2012). The second

reproducible circumstance that became overly apparent from the author’s

questionnaires relates to the environment a program creates for its participants and in

context with its circumstances. The idea of “leading by example” was stressed

throughout all of the interview partners’ perspectives and the better the example, the

stronger the effect. Consider these two quotes, coming from both sides of the Cypriot

political divide:

“[The] great thing about the workshop was the ability of the American musicians to communicate

their knowledge to the 2 communities in a perfect manner that set an example in treating people

equally without any condescending interaction between the attending people.”

C. Ioannou on what unexpected things the program brought about.

Comments Mr. Elmas:

“It was also a great experience doing something bicommunal and seeing how limitless we are

when we’re working together.”

A. Elmas on his experience of cooperation.

Now add to the fact that large numbers of people on both sides have yet to visit or

engage with the other community, have yet to witness that potential for limitless

cooperation, then one can begin to assess the true potential and value of cultural

diplomacy programs. When the ripple effects come together, when the emotional and

political smoke clouding everyone’s mind clears, we realize how the strongest

21

connections are forged: through cooperation and communication. Two things Jazz

Futures championed effectively for five years.

Generally speaking, the analysis of Jazz Futures’ circumstances and the program

staff’s handling of those circumstances effectively demonstrated how close observation

of circumstances could avert implementation issues. With respect to the involvement of

local knowledge it is an expected condition from diplomacy programs to engage the

foreign public, employing local personnel in the process. BSP staff took the planning

process a step further, essentially achieving a program that embeds into, yet

distinguishes itself in its context. When it came to putting the plan into action, everybody

was well prepared:

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Implementation

The implementation of a given program is usually viewed in contrast to its

planning phase. The planning process has to account for the circumstances and the

circumstances restrict the scale, measures, and other details of the implementation of a

program. In this respect, Cyprus is not at all at an exclusive disadvantage due to its

political situation. It is a small, island nation with a rather small population (just above

one million) and it is well developed and politically stable, in contrast to other

problematic diplomatic environments. Among others, these factors play an important

role in the cost-‐effectiveness of cultural programming. However, Jazz Futures was not

only successful because the circumstances allowed it; it remained an adaptable and

original program throughout its implementation. In the sense of the word “remain” and

in contrast to “implementation”, Jazz Futures’ course of action was not set in stone once

the first week of workshops began. Building on their successful cooperation efforts,

program personnel and participants built a flexible model of jazz education,

characterized mainly by its focus, its time management and the values it championed.

The analysis of the program’s circumstances highlighted how Jazz Futures was

invariably connected to Cyprus’ political situation with the embassy viewing it as an

initiative in direct support of a solution to the issue. Contrasting this strongly political

and opinionated mission outline, the implementation of Jazz Futures struck a different

chord. “It was strictly music”, as co-‐director of music, Chris Byars, puts it. Close reading

this straightforward observation bears out the powerful details and the focus of Jazz

Futures. Juxtaposed to the aforementioned mission objectives lies the art of successfully

conducting cultural diplomacy, which Byars alludes to when he converts his “strictly-‐

music”-‐doctrine into a more scholarly testament to political neutrality as an asset to

such programs:

“It’s best to avoid political discussions. By keeping the focus on music, you avoid the passionate

reactions of people who have no option of self-‐control. For example, those who have lost loved

ones as a result of political conflict. While they have a right to express these feelings, they have a

right to engage in musical discussions as well, which may help alleviate feelings of stagnancy or

isolation. So...we always ‘stick to the music’”.

C. Byars discussing his expertise as an ambassador for cultural diplomacy programs

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Byars continued his wise and extremely insightful explanation of how musicians are able

to “alleviate feelings of stagnancy” without directly addressing these feelings. To him, the

two key points jazz educators abroad need to focus on are knowledge and access and

those two focus areas where some of the most potent factors implemented in Jazz

Futures. As examined before, Cypriots realized the level of knowledge in these master

classes was very high. These were internationally successful musicians, coming to them

straight out of the most vibrant jazz scene in the world. And then it was free and easily

accessible to everyone. As much as the island’s small size and high level of education

(UNICEF report) aid the distribution of information among target groups, Jazz Futures

underscored the importance of neutrality and access to knowledge in its

implementation. In a fact-‐finding mission to pioneer countries in cultural programming,

the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy also stressed the importance of these

notions, pointing towards the great advantages such institutions as the German “Goethe

Institut” (Germany’s counterpart to USIA) possess in being spatially and contextually

removed from the embassies and everyday political business. Jazz Futures capably

negated this fact.

The next powerful factor in the implementation of Jazz Futures -‐ after focusing on

remaining apolitical and the access to knowledge -‐, according to Mr. Byars is, simply put,

time. As time usually appears on different dimensions, so it did for Jazz Futures,

prompting an unusually deep level of engagement for the Cypriot stakeholders and

essentially setting the stage for the values that were subsequently championed through

those stakeholders. While they were curiously effective in setting up the first workshop

just four months after the idea had come up the program’s running time acted as an

exceptionally strong catalyst for the values of (cultural) diplomacy.

Programs of cultural diplomacy are always constrained by a host of factors.

Funding, lack of personnel or expertise in special qualifications, a bad reputation in the

host country, or a culture of media and public dissent against foreign (or especially

American) efforts within their realms. Another prominent factor -‐ which, to an extent, is

an inevitable restriction, or even one by design – are the time limitations such programs

operate under. Jazz Futures stood out in this respect, as it was not designed as a stand-‐

alone, one-‐off project that traveled from place to place, dispensing knowledge and a

sense of America here and there, spottily, to all those that come interested. Over a 5-‐year

course, it created life-‐long friendships, realized dreams, changed the lives of dozens and

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will impact Cyprus for years to come. Co-‐director of music, Chris Byars, describes the

disparities to his other positions as a jazz educator:

“My comment is about the depth of follow-‐through: because we were invited back over 20 times,

we could focus on long-‐term development of musical understanding. When a program has a total

life of five days, the teachers must focus on the culminating concert, scraping together a show out

of the best everyone can do. We were not compromised by this requirement. As a result, today,

there are over a dozen professional Cypriot musicians who are indebted to Jazz Futures for being

a key part of their musical education.”

C. Byars on how the dynamics and effects in Jazz Futures operated

It is a well-‐known fact among scholars – and hopefully likewise among practitioners –

that the longer programs last, the stronger their impact grows (Kiehl 2012, 167; Leonard

2002, 41). Jazz Futures is an animated case to convey the range of this impact. Aside

from forging cross-‐national, long-‐lasting, and formative connections (keep in mind that

in this case connections across the Cypriot divide fall into this category) between those

involved, one can imagine this extraordinary asset of Jazz Futures as an infinitely tightly

weaved web of interconnections. Even the weakest thread is layered with powerful,

personal experiences, with emotions and attitudes, renewed curiosity and, as they say, a

sense of America. And due to this program’s longevity, the web will continue to expand,

will continue to win over hearts and minds, long after the last official visit of the Chris

Byars and Ari Roland Sextet. Through its unconventionally long running time, Jazz

Futures reached an unprecedented level of originality and sustainability, which enabled

the program to champion the diplomatic values of mutual understanding, individual

freedom, and respect with sweeping effect.

Any musician’s first reaction to a free workshop program with musicians from the

globe’s most renowned jazz scene would have been nothing but excitement. Upon

realizing this was a regular occurrence for Cypriots, expectations for what was to come

went through the roof for this author. The effects of such an outstanding initiative may

indeed blast the metaphorical roof off of the expectations some doubters have for

cultural diplomacy programs, covering all of diplomacy’s goals: from purporting

American values, to promoting individual freedom, democracy, a merit-‐based society,

and all of those characteristics that politicians strive to implant into the minds of foreign

audiences, struggling to connect them with US policy. Such programs do nothing in terms

of talking about, or even explaining American foreign policy, however, the axiom of

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public diplomacy that “we promote U.S. interests not only through our policies but also

in our beliefs and values“ (Kennedy and Lucas 2005, 318) proves irrevocably true in the

observation of how Jazz Futures’ championed the values of originality and sustainability.

As examined in the first analysis section (on the program circumstances), the

originality the program portrayed, recreating an American tradition and bringing

sublime knowledge of Jazz to Cyprus, had tremendous effects on the environment the

program operated in. In addition to this effect, the originally and truthfully American

idea behind Jazz Futures was overtly evident to its participants, presenting them with a

truly American experience. Some (musicians) felt limited by this idea (of originality),

states Charis Ioannou. Contrastingly, he assertively concedes that, “The deep knowledge

of the American musicians for (sic) the jazz tradition was the endless resource that

helped in a successful Jazz Futures program.” He goes on to credit the “inspiring

personalities and […] passion for music that they were able to convey to the students” as

the main reason as to why American music succeeded in bringing Cypriots together. Be it

inspiring personnel or a gripping brand of music, the powerful originality of Jazz Futures

was evident at all stages for the participants. From his dual perspective as participant

and educator, he recounts the simple and original way the program let jazz “do its thing:”

“Jazz music was always about a group of people getting together and playing and having a full day

of jazz playing. In this way the workshops recreated that setting by having a full afternoon of

workshops and full evening of playing at the clubs…”

C. Ioannou on the characteristics of jazz that let it excel in a cultural diplomacy forum

Albeit that originality alone will not win you a price for persuasiveness, the unique asset

the program had in its running time pegged to the American style jazz-‐feel to create a

sustainability effect, which goes far beyond the program being in place for a sustained

timeframe. As former ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider so bluntly notes: “Cultural

initiatives that become integrated into the life of the host country have the strongest and

most lasting impact” (2003, 7).

Sustainability is one of the most significant, if not the deciding factor in devising

cultural diplomacy programs. The influences on the sustainability of a given program are

always manifold and often hard to trace, as programs can falter from anything from low

participant numbers, unsuccessful outreach campaign (or even successful counter-‐

marketing), personnel changes or budget cuts from uninvolved campaigners in

Washington. The implementation of Jazz Futures has shed light on conditions, which are

26

directly linked to the immense sustained effects the program has brought about; and its

running time was the drive to make those conditions take root and flourish in the

Cypriot communities.

The program was, by design, not limited to the dispersion of knowledge by

Americans to others. The instances of cooperation, that arose naturally from the

participants’ initiative, begin to portray the kind of deep engagement that stuck so

strongly with the American educators. They described it as posing minimal restraints on

the level of exchange, seeing your target audience live, multiple times a year and

engaging with them in support via internet all year. Additionally, and even more

influential to the effects visible on the island, in the communities themselves, was the

implementation of a joint-‐Cypriot Jazz Futures Quintet, a workshop house band if you

will, comprised of the most prolific and eager participants in the workshop, carefully

selecting representatives from both communities8. What this simple trick of musical

ingenuity amounted to, was, essentially, a continuous presence of American ideals, of the

peaceful persuasion American music provides, in the cultural life of Cyprus. Chris Byars

connects the dots perfectly, as to what this means for the Cypriot audience:

“The diplomatic benefits are enhanced by the musical excellence. Audiences now hear names of

Greek and Turkish origins announced side by side [more than weekly], and admire the concept of

peace emerging into reality in front of their eyes and ears. Jazz Futures helped this to be more

than symbolic: Cypriots from both communities are presenting jazz that sounds great, together.”

C. Byars on the greatest success of Jazz Futures

In sum, Jazz Futures conceived a model of peace and cooperation that was sustained,

distinctly visible and addressed all Cypriots in an apolitical, neutral, and most

importantly American forum. The scope of these sustainability effects cannot be

overestimated, as the effects that either just a single one, or all of the scores of

stakeholders9 may have on Cypriot society is impossible to track.

The essential characteristics of originality and sustainability were paramount to

the organizers of Jazz Futures and how they brought them to fruition leaves little doubt

about the implementation of Jazz Futures bearing much weakness. BSP’s coordinator

8 The quintet consists of experienced educators, top-‐level university students and freelance musicians, almost all from different backgrounds. They played weekly concerts during the running time of the program, with continuous reference to it and the Embassy’s support 9 Anyone who attended a Jazz Futures concert, read or heard about the program’s story, participated in the workshops or sat in at the countless jam sessions across the island may be viewed as a stakeholder in this context.

27

also struggled to name issues, which might have inhibited the program’s progress in the

implementation phases. Therefore, we can, again, realign our analysis in an effort to

arrive at key, reproducible lessons from the previous inquiry. Lessons on the

implementation may be complicated to adapt in a different setting and cultural

diplomacy scholars rarely provide detailed accounts on the minutiae of program

implementation, however, certain queries as to what comprised Jazz Futures’ success in

its implementation may elucidate a number of interchangeable factors.

The first two, most obvious, most influential, and perhaps crude factors

reasonably require no specific inquiry or explanation. What has had the most influence

on the implementation of Jazz Futures is the high quality of personnel (both local and

foreign) and its time. If you treat your program like a competitive athlete treats his or

her body, then quality personnel compares to quality nutrition: it is the starting point of

your success, there are seemingly endless choices and varieties available, and opinions

vary greatly, except for what you already know anyhow10. Equally, the running time (not

the actual time spent “running”, but the time one has devoted to exercise) of your life-‐

long athletic endeavor influences the sustainability of your body in later years. Jazz

Futures embodied this “diplomacy-‐exercise metaphor” beautifully, relying more on

available resources and dedication in the early stages, while reaping the sustained

benefits later on and building a model to retain a high standard of metaphorical

athleticism11.

Further on, some questioning as to how organizers were able to supplement Jazz

Futures with such great originality and sustainability and what can be reproduced, since

it may not suffice to say, “simply let programs run for five years and it will sort itself out.”

At first, there has to be an awareness of how the mechanisms at work will foster these

values. Originality, for example, must not be exclusive, or it will shut people out,

“othering” foreign audiences into believing American culture is not for them. This

awareness usually grows with experience and the ones responsible in Jazz Futures had

continuously gathered such awareness, as Chris Byars outlines:

“It’s important to explain that jazz is originally American, but that does not mean Americans play

better than other nationalities, nor do they have any exclusive right to the music. Jazz is for

everyone. We always share this idea.”

10 The rule „an apple a day...“ may match up to „they should be musicians to begin with“ in our case 11 We will revisit the surprisingly accurate details of this metaphor in the closing section.

28

C. Byars sharing some of his expertise in jazz diplomacy

Relating to the students’ side, he is convinced that, aside from the many enticing features

of jazz, “participants are usually aware of this, and come hungry for knowledge and

interaction.” The lesson on successfully implementing and exploiting originality in such

programs can be defined squarely as: next to providing knowledge and access, a

program needs to combine these with as much originality as possible, which in turn

needs to be as accessible as possible. After all, this is a logical assumption. Participants

are more likely to excel in a program that provides interaction, and interaction in a

highly original (American) setting, offering a real, earnest, and professional experience.

In a similar vein, the reproducibility of Jazz Futures’ powerful motor of

sustainability can be determined by exploring its desired benefits from your target

audience’s perspective. It may seem that, when asking, “How will a sustainable model of

our program help our audience? How will it make their lives better?” we are crossing a

line into aid work or developmental programs. However, in the context of realizing

diplomatic goals of mutual understanding, fostering respect and cooperation between

communities, eventually reaching greater acceptance and a more balanced

argumentative basis in terms of policy decisions, the answers to these question will have

the program’s values plainly entwined with them, since the program is your “body of

research”, if you will. For Jazz Futures, these answers formed something similar to this: a

sustainable model of our program will provide all Cypriots with more (economic &

artistic) opportunity, it will live on as an example of bi-‐communal cooperation, and it will

expand the cultural life of the island. Now, it is certainly no stretch to distill the (overly)

American (-‐ized) ideals of free and individual expression, equal opportunities, individual

exceptionalism and merit, and the growth and exchange of ideas from these mission

statements.

Obviously, a carefully designed implementation process can go miles to provide

for a successful program in cultural diplomacy. The features it is endowed with from the

outset, as observed in Jazz Futures, often define this process. From the moment the idea

was proposed, the American Embassy put their full support behind it; local knowledge

and cooperation characterized the organization and implementation since the very first

meetings. Personnel choices took care of any possible deterrence. The foremost aspect

all throughout was the music and its transformative power. Then, there was no rest to

multiply the music’s transformative effects and successfully harness the energetic

29

collaboration for their diplomatic agenda, not a specifically complicated task, since the

Cypriots were doing most of the work themselves. US officials had basically just to stick a

label “Made in America” onto the countless announcements of concerts, sessions,

workshops, and releases indebted to Jazz Futures.

Indeed, the implementation of Jazz Futures may be valued so positively and

smoothly that there are direct parallels between some of the implementation choices

and the program’s success. Locals were involved in the implementation from the

beginning – locals drove home and sustained the cooperative aspects of the program

(from the beginning, too, as Mr. Byars’ above mentioned episode recalled). The influence

of an overall tellingly effective implementation on the fulfillment of diplomatic goals and

specifically the operational course of such positive effects is the last puzzle piece in the

quest of deciphering the inner workings of Jazz Futures, and their importance in the

larger scope of cultural diplomacy.

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Success

The merit, effectiveness, or success of public diplomacy programs (and therein

programs of cultural diplomacy) is arguably one of the most contested research areas

connected to the exertion of soft power or propaganda (both at times used as synonyms

for public diplomacy). As renowned, former field officer and scholar William A. Rugh

explains:

“Foreign public opinion is formed out of the interplay of diverse factors, including local culture

and the many pressures and communications coming both from home and abroad. Because of

this, field officers know that it is virtually impossible to identify what impact an American public

diplomacy effort has had on public opinion (2011, 248).”

William. A. Rugh on the difficulties of determining the impact of public diplomacy.

Thus far, the analysis of Jazz Futures has enlightened the interplay of many such diverse

factors. From the influence of the peculiar Cypriot circumstances, the quality of

personnel and their reception by participants, to the exceptional measures those

involved used in its implementation. Determining the success of Jazz Futures and

approximating the complete impact on the wide range of issues it touched on will,

clearly, not be a comprehensive effort. However, Jazz Futures left such a lasting mark on

Cyprus and a host of areas influential to the goals of public diplomacy that a number of

effects could be marked as a success directly linked to Jazz Futures. Therefore,

discussion of the program’s success deals is mainly its tangible achievements.

Furthermore, these effects relate directly to the stated goals of public diplomacy, listed

countless times by scholars and practitioners alike, such as the following list from

Cynthia P. Schneider, taken from her piece on the best practices of cultural diplomacy:

“To be successful, initiatives […] should:

• Communicate some aspect of America’s values, […];

• Cater to the interests of the host country or region, […];

• Offer pleasure, information or expertise in the spirit of exchange and mutual respect;

• Open doors between American diplomats and their host country;

• Provide another dimension or alternative to the official presence of America in the

country;

• Form part of a long-‐term relationship and the cultivation of ties; and

• Be creative, flexible, and opportunistic

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Cynthia P. Schneider (2003, 7) on the characteristics of successful cultural diplomacy initiatives

Schneider describes these characteristics not as cultural diplomacy goals, but as

essential to its successful practice. They may, however, be equated to a detailed

apportionment of goals as they are generally formulated as advocating and laying the

groundwork for the successful introduction of US foreign policy. A quote from the

Bureau of Resource Management says it with more elaborateness:

“Appropriations for public diplomacy [are used] to inform foreign opinion and win support for U.S.

foreign policy goals. In addition to advocating U.S. policies, public diplomacy communicates the

principles that underpin them and creates a sense of common interests and values. To help win

the war of ideas, funding increases in [fiscal year] 2008 will support efforts to combat violent

extremism in key countries (Waller 2007, 30).”

Note on the appropriations for public diplomacy from the Bureau of Resource Management

To this effect, all of Jazz Futures’ success on Cyprus can be related to the interests of US

foreign policy, not least since the reunification of Cyprus has recently become a much

greater interest for the government12 wherefore the Cyprus issue itself and the program

in particular are, as stated before, deeply embedded into the goals of American foreign

policy. The success Jazz Futures has had on Cyprus is threefold and it encompasses the

full range of influences and goals the American government is in dire need of conveying

effectively, in light of a decade of plummeting public opinion favor, especially in the

Muslim world13. The divisions of success can be labeled as a) hosts of strong and direct

local influences, b) excellence in cultural diplomacy and cooperation, and c) sustained,

ripple effects that advance policy goals.

The local influences Jazz Futures has had cannot be overstated. As the concept of

catering to your host country’s interests is widely viewed as one of the most essential

components of successful diplomatic initiatives, it all but aced that mark as well. From

providing job prospects for some of the more deeply involved participants, to completely

revolutionizing the jazz scene of an entire country and creating an island-‐wide network

of (musical) cooperation, the impact of Jazz Futures on Cyprus has had groundbreaking

12 Naturally, this development is almost entirely about energy supply. Natural gas reserves found in the offshore territories of Cyprus and Israel have sparked a renewed interested in the unrestricted economical and political cooperation of Israel and Turkey through Cyprus. Cypriot reunification is one of the major focal points in the negotiations. 13 While Barack Obama’s election let favorable opinions in Western nations surge, the Middle East and especially Turkey remained highly adversarial, says a 2010 PEW Research poll.

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dimensions. An incomprehensive enumeration of direct effects on the jazz scene came

from Chris Byars:

“Since June 2008, there have been well over a hundred concerts and jam sessions in Cyprus that

featured musicians from both communities, who had met each other first in the Jazz Futures

program. Many of these have happened when the visiting Americans were not on the island, as a

result of Cypriot initiatives. Recordings have been made, featuring both groups, such as a new CD

from bassist Cahit Kutrafali, which includes the drummer, Stelios Xydias. Some concerts were big,

like Nihan Görgü’s concert at the Salamis Amphitheatre, which featured drummer Marios Syprou

and pianist Dimitris Miaris in July 2012.”

C. Byars on what the rapprochement between the communities amounted to after five years.

And these effects Byars recalls are exclusively those that distinctly featured Cypriots

from both communities in the spotlight. Charis Ioannou states more bluntly, “The Jazz

Futures [sic] created a whole new perspective in the Cypriot jazz scene… a lot of young

musicians joined the scene after following the workshops… something that was new for

the island.” Upon further inquiry, he confirmed the question of whether Jazz Futures’

impact amounted to a revitalization or even revolution of the Cypriot jazz scene with a

strong “YES.”

The emerging bicommunal network of cooperation this entails is equally

impressive and influential. Musicians, venues and music lovers alike cross the Green Line

regularly and even more importantly; there is a climate of mutual respect between them

that transcends the ideological borders they grew up with. Additionally, as Mr. Ioannou

noted it was a novelty for local, young musicians to enter the scene and thanks to Jazz

Futures, there is now a small group of young Cypriots that will grow up without these

boundaries inhibiting the work, lifestyle, and reasonable judgment14 . During this

author’s time on the island, this development prompted the following episode, which

planted the seed for the inception of this very research project. Because we were

meeting for a practice jam at Ahmet Elmas’ house, he had picked us up at the checkpoint

with his car. Seemingly out of nowhere, a vivid discussion on the opinions both

communities had on the other between Elmas and seventeen-‐year old Greek Cypriot

guitarist Orestis Miaris. Orestis was curious to find out about opinions in the other

14 Not to be misunderstood, in the scope of this work, this only holds true about the small number of young musicians this author has been in personal contact with. The actual ideological make up of young people in Cyprus is undoubtedly more complex.

33

Cypriot community and was not surprised to find that they did not differ much from

what he had been hearing from his own peers. He recalled:

“My classmates were asking me why do I go to the North and why do I play music with you guys

and I just told them it doesn’t matter where you lived and that it’s just really great to hang out and

play music with you guys. […]. In the end, all I see is my friend Ahmet, who is a kick-‐ass saxophone

player and a very interesting guy. I see no Turkish Cypriot or whatever. What’s more interesting is

that a lot of times I caught myself by surprise when I was on the other side and I totally forgot

about, only to be reminded by a guardhouse or maybe the border wires that I was on the “wrong”

side. In the end of the day, a good session makes you happy, no matter where it takes place, right?”

Orestis Miaris on how he experiences the Cypriot divide.

This opinion is a beautiful reflection on the huge impact Jazz Futures has had in

Cyprus in the realm of successfully demonstrating the power of diplomatic excellence.

Recalling Cynthia Schneider’s list, she stressed the importance of creating another

American presence apart from the official one in the host country. If the most prominent

and most influential presence next to the Embassy is the entire jazz scene of a country

or, reiterating Ahmet Elmas’ words, can be described as an ongoing example of “limitless

cooperation”, then that presence is as powerful as cultural diplomacy can possibly be.

Next to the diplomatic excellence comprised in the above observation, setting this

example, strengthening it, and implementing it as the powerful force it became, Jazz

Futures accomplished an unorthodox feat for state run programs. Typically, idea of such

programs is to somehow operate between the nation behind the program and its

recipient, the host country or target audience. Jazz Futures partially contradicted this

paradigm, as Chris Byars, again, explicates this matter with his firm empirical grip on the

profession and its inner workings:

“Jazz Futures not only provides a living example of the use of music as a cultural bridge, it is

unique to many other international forums I encounter as a visiting clinician. Typically, my aim is

to build goodwill between the USA and the host country, by showing the alluring sound of jazz and

how it can relate directly to the music that occurs locally. But in Cyprus, the American faculty of

Jazz Futures functioned as a third party. We facilitated an artistic collaboration between two

politically adversarial communities. This shows the flexibility and effectiveness of jazz as a vehicle

for diplomatic efforts, and makes for great presentations.”

C. Byars on the impact of Jazz Futures

34

As the analysis of Jazz Futures has shown, this is not to say it did not achieve American

diplomatic goals to the same extent. On the contrary, it fulfilled them, thereby

questioning the conceptions behind the overall programming of public diplomacy and

vividly portraying how an effective cooperation can benefit multiple, multilateral

partners. From the musicians’ perspective, the potential of jazz as a measure of cultural

diplomacy could not be more obvious, as Byars notes. In this respect, Jazz Futures

achieved shining excellence in their diplomatic mission, extending the capabilities of its

assets and transcending preconceived notions on its possible outreach and

momentousness to foreign policy.

The details of this significance to foreign policy may best be pictured as the

infamous ripple effects, constantly escaping definite measurement, yet influencing

sectors far and wide (Banks 2011, 41). Scholars have studied and practitioners have

relied on this effect since Edward R. Murrow advocated the “last three feet” (Kiehl 2012)

as the hardest part of diplomatic communication. If the ripple theory holds true, as

Robert Banks goes on to explain, that the importance of person-‐to-‐person contact is

heightened even more. While tracing back these effects may be nearly infeasible, Jazz

Futures certainly dropped a few heavyweight pebbles into the waters that are the minds

of Cypriots. Once you consider the cultural diplomacy mission statements of “winning

over the hearts and minds of foreign audiences”, “countering the Anti-‐American

narratives”, and “building a foundation of trust”, then Ahmet Elmas’ account of his

opinion of the US hits the nail straight on the head:

“Yes, I would say I had to change almost everything I had thought about the US. Before the project,

I met really few people from the US, so it helped me to learn more things about people from the US

and it’s really not like TV shows that we are watching. Real, one on one contact is much more

efficient in making a positive effect. Normally, if I watch the TV shows, it gives me a negative effect.

Anyway, I don’t think I could live in the US as I wish but I like the people in this country.”

A. Elmas on his feelings about the US, having participated in Jazz Futures

There is a duality engrained in comment that is worth noting, in estimation of the power

of cultural diplomacy’s ripple effects. On the one hand, he lends a perfect example of how

intimate cultural exchange, in keeping with Murrow’s last three feet, is highly apt to

counter otherwise more prominent narratives (TV shows). On the other hand, the

ambiguity in his last comment – not being able to live in the US as he wished – reveals a

cunning ability to discern between what you could label the political and cultural images

35

the US transports to foreign audiences. Politically, he might hint at the rift between

American policy, official statements, rhetoric, or ideologies and his own, private

convictions. Culturally, though, he feels enamored with the American people, having

experienced their culture first hand. How better to build a foundation of trust than by

quietly diversifying their image of the US as a whole and specifically gaining their

unyielding appreciation of a subsection of that image?

The lessons to be learned from the success of Jazz Futures are related to the three

subdivisions of success analyzed above. The direct local influences, Jazz Futures’

excellence in diplomatic achievements, and its enticing ripple effects present scholars

and practitioners with insights that, at the bottom line, all amount to an understanding

of the potential of cultural diplomacy and the essence of the insights is: do not

underestimate this potential. Local influences may affect any and all subdomains of a

society, be it economic prospects, cultural richness, exchange and cooperation dynamics

and so forth. Jazz Futures awe-‐inspiring diplomatic accomplishments as a program

acting as a third party in a half-‐century old conflict only underscore its remarkable

reputation. The ripple effects it had on Cyprus may be the most underestimated factor in

the potential of Jazz Futures and cultural diplomacy, as there is no telling as to how

aware Cypriots are of the opportunity these ripple effects hold for them. However, as

Cypriot identity formation is an issue the people are confronted with since elementary

school15, there are surely heads to be turned and brows to be raised whenever someone

from either side invites their friends to come see the Jazz Futures, – “you know, the bi-‐

communal Jazz band. They’re sound really good together!” – or any of the other

collaborative projects that have sprung out of the American initiative.

In terms of adapting the successes in these three dimensions to other programs of

cultural diplomacy, possibly reproducing a similar level of influence, there is a need to

return to the observation of the most important factors in the design and

implementation of Jazz Futures. For the local influences, it was most important the

program remained apolitical and inclusive, building a relationship of trust with its

audience and letting the originality of the American traditions and the experience of the

visiting clinicians take effect. As we have seen, the American Embassy staff realized they

were already equipped exceptionally well in this department, including locals even in the

program’s design process and having attracted outstanding jazz ambassadors in Chris

15 Orestis Miaris expressed his grief, yet acknowledging the fact that his Jazz Futures-‐fueled understanding and appreciation of Cyprus and its people as a whole stands in opposition to what he had learned in school.

36

Byars and Ari Roland (see coordinator J. Dickstein’s list of deciding factors for program

success, q. No. 6). The underlying corroboration herein is that these guiding ideals

reduce the responsibilities and financial efforts foreign posts need to cover. Therefore, if

less talking about your job and making sure the music is fine means better diplomacy,

please, someone let Congress know.

Reproducibility of excellence in diplomatic efforts and the subsequent ripple

effects may be issues not so easily broken down. However, it is worth noting repeatedly,

how the program’s originality and sustainability -‐ themselves arguably being ripple

effects to Jazz Futures -‐ were factors, which had immeasurable shares in the success in

these areas. The exceptional sustainability was in itself, as Chris Byars alluded to, an

uncommon distinction the program held. Originality was key for participants to admire

the program for what it was, thereby helping to gain traction among stakeholders and

target audience. Pondering the reproducible aspects of ripple effects one can relate to

the “pebble in the water”-‐metaphor and conclude that programs need to excel at

dropping the right and heaviest pebbles in the most influential places. Identifying

stakeholders’ community influence and the power of the values you are portraying, as

seen from the target audience’s perspective should therefore be a prerequisite to any

cultural diplomacy initiative. In addition to the overall lesson of not underestimating the

potential of programs in the field, the character of these ripple effects may add another

dimension into the assessment metrics, one that is exclusively non-‐metric, namely: trust.

If anything transpired from Jazz Futures’ strict focus on music – not on actually changing

anything specific in the environment, not on political debate or education, not on

“solving the Cyprus issue” – is that the trust into these initiatives, if they are carried out

according to the criteria of success so extensively discussed and outlined by scholars,

must not falter. It must grow stronger. Cultural diplomacy initiatives provide the unique

chance for governments to instill positive, sustainable, and democratic change in the

societies, hearts and minds of foreign audiences. All it takes is a little time for this change

to take root and the trust from all stages that the dissemination of unifying values does

not come at a premium, but at exactly the price we are willing to pay for successful

cooperation. A cost we can split, with whomever is willing to trust.

37

Conclusion

“It is flexible, seductive, spontaneous, soothing, fulfilling, joyful, playful,

Historical, contemporary, relevant, stimulating, and challenging.

It provides immediate feedback – you know how you sound.

It requires teamwork – you can’t do it alone. It requires

Humility, discipline, curiosity, resilience, and self-‐confidence.”

-‐ Chris Byars explains the power of jazz as a cultural force.

Caveats revisited

This thesis has been a study into a specific instance of cultural diplomacy, aimed

at reflecting upon the special transformative force that is jazz, and its potential in the

greater realm of cultural diplomacy programs. The analysis of qualitative data obtained

from key stakeholders through the use of questionnaires administered via e-‐mail

revealed a strongly favorable account of Jazz Futures, the program at hand. As the

importance of bias and perspective have been stressed in the introductory sections of

this work, they, too, shall be revisited and acknowledge for their influence on the

interpretation of the above findings. While Jazz Futures was, without a doubt, a highly

successful cultural diplomacy program, running continuously and intensively over the

course of five years, this work, as with any, naturally limited, scientific inquiry cannot

claim complete and comprehensive agency over the capabilities and limitations of Jazz

Futures, or cultural diplomacy as a whole. The inhibitions in the data collection phase

and the potential biases -‐ implicit in the inception of the given thesis -‐ have been

discussed in the respective sections; their influence, however, needs to be revisited at

this point, to ensure a scientifically warranted and comprehensive interpretation of the

analytic findings.

The previously unexpected lack of quantitative data has undoubtedly dented the

overall relevance of this research project. Minimal reference to the fiscal, procedural, and

official domains and their influence on the program could be made. Since the world of

diplomacy and politics is of utmost complexity, these domains’ influences should not be

left aside, when attempting a more comprehensive inquiry into any cultural diplomacy

program, since they may bear great influential ripple effects on, say, the implementation

of a certain program themselves. The same is true for the implicit biases present in this

research project. This author cannot claim to have been an innocent and neutral

38

observer to his subject. Even more so, the deeply personal entanglement with the

subject all but preceded the research. Precautions were taken against these biases and

the analytical findings are based on solely the qualitative data obtained “in the field” (as

a participant in Jazz Futures) and from the stakeholder interviews. Therefore, the

findings rest on sound and strongly empirical data, which, while allowing room for

interpretation and variable application, relates all of them directly to real life

experiences and processes. The influence of the implicit and personal bias captured in

the personal experiences and qualitative data from the stakeholders may certainly not

be negated, however, adjusting the analysis focus may lessen the possible irritation and

alleviate misconceptions attributable to them.

The adjustment in analysis focus retained the quality of analysis, while squeezing

the most out of the available data, specifically by aiming not at comprehensively

representing and explicating the inner workings of this cultural diplomacy program, but

rather illustrating the reasons for and interconnections of its evident success. Jazz

Futures as a program of the American Embassy, Cyprus had ended nearly a year before

the first page of this work, however, its legacy and its effect continue to ripple through

the cultural life of Cyprus as a whole, and the personal lives of so many involved.

Subsequently, the lens through which to view this research effort is that of an evaluative

case study, testing the dynamics and potential magnitude of a cultural diplomacy

program for the varying contexts it exists in.

Jazz diplomacy revisited

In the beginning of this thesis, a special emphasis was placed on the significance

of cooperation in the context of Cypriot history, and therefore in the context of Jazz

Futures. It has presented a case of limitless cooperation, initiated by American idealism

and emerging against the backdrop of originally American traditions. Chris Byars calls it

“peace […] emerging in front of their eyes”, – this thesis hopes to have portrayed it as an

instance of the exceptional potential of cultural diplomacy. Moreover, out of this degree

of cooperation, this limitlessness that has been so repeatedly borne out in the above

analysis, arose a peculiar momentum, unique to such programs. Its motor is located

directly at the intersection of the efforts of the various and numerous stakeholders

involved in them. The moment when the Americans’ original and egalitarian way of

39

engaging their hosts encouraged the Cypriots to organize a jam session and to overcome

the logistical and ideological boundaries their special environment had forced upon

them, was the moment when American and local initiative merged and trans-‐communal

bonds between all involved were formed. In this way, the Cypriot circumstances played a

part in the success of Jazz Futures, as did the circumstances the program itself created,

since it lay the foundation for Cypriots to convene on a basis devoid of their warranted,

yet inhibiting and emotionally charged historical trauma. Equally as influential, if not

more, became the exceptional implementation of Jazz Futures through all involved.

Personnel from all sides collaborated unendingly, mirroring the desired cooperation and

foreshadowing the program’s immensely prominent and influential sustainability.

Providing knowledge and access from an original, American perspective, Jazz Futures

soon handed the torch to its target audience, instilling them with a sense of American

values, traditions, and prospects for cooperation. Needless to mention again, Cypriots

took that flame ablaze and drove home the success that became the legacy of Jazz

Futures. This legacy is not only enshrined in Cyprus through the very existence of the

island’s jazz scene, but also in all the connections that were forged between each and

every individual involved, between the two Cypriot communities, between the American

public, the US government and its strategic partners in the emerging challenges of the

21st century.

These bonds, these foundations for any form of communication are what the US

government is lacking in large parts of the world. While the image American culture

communicates globally is diverse, its influence can and must not be guided and since it is

riddled with interests far stronger and averse to mutual understanding, and which often

only further the notion of “American cultural imperialism”. This is true in the same vein

academia’s conclusion of the need for “a presence other than the official” is highly

telling; just as all of my interview partners’ somehow stressed the importance of being

apolitical in cultural diplomacy programs. After all, it makes sense for democratic

opinions to be influenced by apolitical thinking that is detached from the confusing

image that today’s political processes often represent. Politics has become as much a

context as it is content. And in order to overcome both of these reservations to the

freedom of expression, the need for cooperation and the bold and American idea of

globally common values, politics must not become a part of our efforts to reconcile our

differences – or better: to acknowledge and celebrate our differences, the most

40

democratic of accomplishments we have yet to attain. Let Jazz help us get there – where

we are at now, we have got to improvise anyway.

41

Works Cited Ansfield, Jonathan. 2000. Marsalis shows China that jazz isn’t just a word. New York Times, February 23. Auer, Claudia, and Alice Srugies. 2013. Public Diplomacy in Germany. Los Angeles: Figueora Press. Banks, Robert. 2011. A resource guide to public diplomacy evaluation. Los Angeles: Figueroa Press. Bastert, Lennart. 2012. Participant in Jazz Futures & personal observations, Oct. 2012. Byars, Chris. 2014. Interview by author, e-‐mail. Leipzig. Dickstein, Juliette. 2014. Interview by author, e-‐mail. Leipzig. Elmas, Ahmet. 2014. Interview by author, e-‐mail. Leipzig. Evriviades, Euripides L. 2005. Cyprus in the European Union: prospects for reunification, peace with Turkey, and regional stability. Mediterranean Quarterly 16, No. 3: 1-‐16. Fosler-‐Lussier, Danielle. 2010. Cultural diplomacy as cultural globalization: the University of Michigan jazz band in Latin America. Journal of the Society for American Music 4, No. 1: 59-‐93. Fox, Frank W., and Clayne L. Pope. 1992. American heritage: an interdisciplinary approach. 6th ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt. Gilboa, Eytan. 2008. Searching for a theory of public diplomacy. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 618: 55-‐77. Hahn, Barbara. 1982. Die Insel Zypern – Der wirtschafts-‐ und geopolitische Entwicklungsprozeß eines geteilten Kleinstaates. Hannover: Geographische Gesellschaft Hannover. Ioannou, Charis. 2014. Interview by author, e-‐mail. Leipzig. Kennedy, Liam, and Scott Lucas. 2005. Enduring Freedom: Public Diplomacy and U.S. Foreign Policy. American Quarterly 57, No. 2: 309-‐333. Kiehl, William P.. 2012. The last three feet: case studies in public diplomacy. Washington, D.C.: Public Diplomacy Council.

Leonard, Mark et al. 2002. Public Diplomacy. London: The Foreign Policy Center.

Matwiczak, Kenneth et al. 2010. Public Diplomacy – Model for Assessment of Performance. Austin: UT Austin Press.

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Melakopides, Costas. 2012. Pragmatic idealism revisited: Russia’s post-‐1991 Cyprus policy and implications for Washington. Mediterranean Quarterly 23, No. 4: 107-‐ 134. Notes & Time, ep. 1-‐3. 2012. Youtube, 23 min. Nicosia: American Embassy Nicosia, Cyprus. Pigman, Geoffrey A. 2010. A Contemporary Diplomacy. Cambridge: Polity Press. Schneider, Cynthia P.. 2003. Diplomacy that works: ‘best practices’ in cultural diplomacy. Georgetown: Georgetown UP. Stake, Robert E., 1995. The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. U.S. Department of Commerce. United States Census Bureau. 2014. Trade in goods with Cyprus. Washington, D.C.: GPO. U.S. Department of State. Office of the Spokesperson. 2011. Conducting People-‐to-‐People Diplomacy through music, U.S. Department of State announce new partnership with the association of American voices. Washington, D.C.: GPO. UNICEF, Division of Policy and Practice. Statistics and Monitoring Section. 2008. Education Statistics Cyprus. Waller, J. Michael. 2011. The public diplomacy reader. Washington D.C.: Institute of World Politics Press. Yin, Robert K. 1994. Case study research: design and methods. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

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Appendix – Stakeholder Questionnaires

Jazz as a Measure of Cultural Diplomacy: The Jazz Futures of Cyprus A Bachelor’s Thesis in American Studies by J. Lennart Bastert

-‐ Stakeholder Interview Questionnaire: Dr. Juliette Dickstein

1) Could you briefly state who you are and explain the position of your involvement in

The Jazz Futures initiative? I am the US Embassy in Cyprus’ Bicommunal Coordinator. I oversee the Bicommunal Support Program (BSP) that brings together Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots with a view to breaking down boundaries, teaching tolerance, and preparing the ground for bicommunal, bi-‐zonal, federal solution to the Cyprus Problem. Together with musician Charis Ioannou, we created the Jazz Futures program with Chris Byars and Ari Roland.

2) If so, how has Jazz Futures had a lasting impact on your life and/or work?

Jazz Futures was lasted from 2008 -‐2013. It was BSP’s flagship program that brought together people who had never met someone from the other side. Musicians are now working together regularly, spreading the “word” of jazz and proving that jazz can build (musical) bridges between cultures. This has had a serious impact on my work and life.

3) What did you find most intriguing about the idea when Charis Ioannou first

approached you?

Well actually, I and Karen Stephanou (who used to work for AMIDEAST that implemented BSP’s larger grants) approached Charis. We wanted to know if he knew jazz musicians in the Turkish Cypriot community that could help launch this program.

4) How did the unique Cypriot influence manifest in this program from your perspective?

The “Cypriotness” of this program influenced the entire program from the American musicians to the program’s logistics. When the Ari Roland and Chris Byars Sextet (sometimes quintet) would come to Cyprus for master classes and outreach, concerts and jam sessions, the master classes would take place at the Fulbright Center, which is in the UN-‐patrolled buffer zone. Later on, we would rotate classes in the GC community and TC community. Moreover, the Cypriot musicians brought their knowledge of Cypriot music to the classes. In addition, jam sessions would take place weekly in venues on the Greek Cypriot side and Turkish Cypriot side. We cannot forget that the entire purpose of this program was to build tolerance and mutual understanding between the two Cypriot communities.

44

5) How did the rapprochement between the two communities manifest itself in the program? Certain musicians went to the other side for the first time, met someone (in the program) from the other side for the first time, and built meaningful relationships that were not only about work.

6) What were the deciding factors to help implement Jazz Futures that fast? (e.g.

locals’ knowledge, specific persons, embassy contacts…)

Charis Ioannou and Ahmet Elmas had many contacts and students. The Embassy also had contacts, but mostly Charis, Ahmet and Cahit Kutrafali brought the participants. From our perspective (Embassy’s), we also saw that Ari Roland and Chris Byars had an enormous talent (not just musical) for bringing people together and having them stay.

7) Were there any implementation issues that arose from or after the first segment of

the program? (e.g. latent anti-‐Americanism)

No

8) What characteristics of Jazz let it excel in this sort of forum? How do they take root?

I truly think that the students (all ages) were really excited about jazz. It was new to (most) of them.

9) Were there any non-‐budgetary reasons for the program’s cancellation?

Budget. Unfortunately the Bicommunal Support Program has lost its funding stream from congress.

10) What do you think is Jazz Futures’ greatest success?

Jazz Future’s greatest success is that it touched hundreds of Cypriots island-‐wide, bringing people together, learning about each other’s cultures and sharing the all-‐inclusive medium of jazz.

Thank you for your cooperation! Please send the form back as soon as possible to [email protected] . All your information will be dealt with sensitively. Please notify me if there is any information you would not like to go on public record (to the extent that my thesis will become popular public record – so not very). And again, all the gratitude in the world, your contribution is invaluable! Leipzig, June 2014, Lennart Bastert

45

Jazz as a Measure of Cultural Diplomacy: The Jazz Futures of Cyprus

A Bachelor’s Thesis in American Studies by J. Lennart Bastert -‐

Stakeholder Interview Questionnaire: Mr. Ahmet Elmas

11) Could you briefly state who you are and explain the position of your involvement in The Jazz Futures initiative? My name is Ahmet Elmas (sax). I have started as a participant, then I started

playing in the house band for jam sessions and assisting teachers in the workshops.

12) What was your first impression of the idea of Jazz Futures and the eventual program? Was it new and exciting or even a little uncomfortable? How did you experience the bicommunal cooperation?

It was a great experience to be part of this project, because I was trying hard to learn jazz music and I was dreaming about going to the US or Europe to see great jazz musicians live. Then I felt really blessed to be in Cyprus and having that chance to meet great jazz musicians and having free lessons from them. Even being good friends like a family with them. I think it was a giant opportunity to have that in Cyprus for me. It was also a great experience doing something bicommunal and seeing how limitless we are when we’re working together.

13) Did the Cyprus issue and your own circumstances give you any problems in terms of organizing, participating in and having a benefit from Jazz Futures? Have you heard of any other problems related to the issue?

(smiling) I had many problems with my work in the Nicosia Turkish Municipality Orchestra. At the beginning they said I would not have an attendance problem if I go to the Jazz Futures workshops. Then, (I think it was a personal problem between me and the chief of the orchestra) the chief complained about me, that I don’t attend the rehearsals to go to the Greek side (“The South” or The official “Republic of Cyprus”) to make money or something stupid. So I lost my job. Nothing else (no other troubles) with organizing or having benefits from the workshop. I have chosen going to the workshops and stopping other things… I think that was the best choice to do something real and serious for my music.

14) From your own experience, how does Jazz bring people together? Why is it so powerful in bringing people together?

I think music is another dimension where people feel free from all kinds of chains that make you something else. Language or nationality etc. In music, everyone feels the same and equal. The most important thing is sound and you can work with anyone just to sound better.

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15) In what way did the organization of Jazz Futures help your personal ideas and visions for the Cypriot Jazz scene and the island’s situation in general?

It helped me a lot to have a professional vision and improved my technical ability. For the island’s situation, hmmm!! Great for Turkish Cypriot musicians but I can’t say that it will bring a solution to the island J

16) Would you say that Jazz Futures has helped you economically, socially or on other levels? If so, in what was has it affected your life? (details are welcome!)

Jazz Futures was the most helpful event that took place in my life in many ways. It has changed all my life totally in a good way.

17) Generally, how do you feel about the US, having participated in Jazz Futures? Did it affect the way you judge things you hear about the US?

Yes, I would say I had to change almost everything I had thought about the US. Before the project, I met really few people from the US, so it helped me to learn more things about people from the US and it’s really not like TV shows that we are watching. Real, one on one contact is much more efficient in making a positive effect. Normally, if I watch the TV shows, it gives me a negative effect. Anyway, I don’t think I could live in the US as I wish but I like the people in this country.

18) What do you think is Jazz Futures’ greatest success? For sure bringing people together. Teaching great information. Expanding jazz community. Improving relations between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Thank you for your cooperation! Please send the form back as soon as possible to [email protected] .

All your information will be dealt with sensitively. Please notify me if there is any information you would not like to go on public record (to the extent that my thesis will become popular public record – so not very).

And again, all the gratitude in the world, your contribution is invaluable!

Leipzig, June 2014, Lennart Bastert

47

Jazz as a Measure of Cultural Diplomacy: The Jazz Futures of Cyprus A Bachelor’s Thesis in American Studies by J. Lennart Bastert

-‐ Stakeholder Interview Questionnaire: Mr. Charis Ioannou

19) Could you briefly state who you are and explain the position of your involvement in

The Jazz Futures initiative? I am a saxophonist and educator living in Cyprus and have been part of the jazz futures from the beginning. The first workshop took place in June of 2008 during which I taught along with a group of Cypriot musicians for part of the 2-‐week workshop that took place. Ever since, I’ve been attending the workshops taught by the American band not as an instructor but more as someone who was going there to learn the great disciplines of jazz taught by the Americans. Sometimes I would help out in any way that the Americans found suitable for me. At the same time I started hosting jam sessions on a weekly basis and teaching workshops throughout the year during which the Americans where not on the island. The Americans would come every 2-‐3 months, teaching workshops and hosting sessions during which I was back in my attendant / helper status

20) If so, how has Jazz Futures had a lasting impact on your life and/or work?

Jazz Futures changed my whole life as a musician giving me valuable information that I was not able to acquire during my 6 years of university studies in the US!

21) How did the idea of such a program develop for you, and why did you think it was needed?

The idea came from the American embassy and the American musicians but I had a lot of meetings with the embassy and the US musicians in fine-‐ tuning the outlines of the program.

22) What sort of criticism, if any, arose in the program’s planning phase? (From fellow musicians, friends, etc.) Many musicians attended the workshops at one point or another…some stayed with it for 5 years while others after attending once thought that it was not for them…all the music training was based on the tradition of jazz which some fellow musicians found limiting…I definitely thought that that was the essential musical aspect of the workshops that made it so valuable for me and many more…

23) Did the program bring about any instances of cooperation between the two

communities you did not expect/imagine beforehand? One other great thing about the workshops was the ability of the American musicians to communicate their knowledge to the 2 communities in a perfect manner that set an example in treating people equally without any condescending interaction between the attending people.

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24) Has Jazz Futures had an effect on the (Pan-‐)Cypriot Jazz scene? Can you compare before and after?

The Jazz Futures created a whole new perspective in the Cypriot jazz scene… a lot of young musicians joined the scene after following the workshops…something that was new for the island…before the workshops all the new musicians joining the scene were graduates of universities abroad where as after the workshop a lot of young musicians joined in the Cypriot jazz scene without having any “formal” education abroad…

25) What resources did you draw on to help Jazz Futures succeed? The deep knowledge of the American musicians for the jazz tradition was the endless resource that helped in a successful Jazz Futures program.

26) What characteristics of Jazz let the music excel in this sort of forum? How do you think they take root within the participants, the organizations involved and their surroundings?

Jazz music was always about a group of people getting together and playing and having a full day of jazz playing. In this way the workshops recreated that setting by having a full afternoon of workshops and full evening of playing at the clubs…

27) Why do you think American music was able to bring Cypriots together like this? The Americans had all very inspiring personalities and a passion for the music that they were able to convey to the students.

28) What do you think is Jazz Futures’ greatest success? The music that was spread in the island…even in the small numbers that it did. Thank you for your cooperation! Please send the form back as soon as possible to [email protected] . All your information will be dealt with sensitively. Please notify me if there is any information you would not like to go on public record (to the extent that my thesis will become popular public record – so not very). And again, all the gratitude in the world, your contribution is invaluable! Leipzig, June 2014, Lennart Bastert

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Jazz as a Measure of Cultural Diplomacy: The Jazz Futures of Cyprus

A Bachelor’s Thesis in American Studies by J. Lennart Bastert -‐

Stakeholder Interview Questionnaire: Mr. Chris Byars & Mr. Ari Roland

1) Could you briefly state who you are and explain the position of your involvement in The Jazz Futures initiative?

Chris Byars, saxophonist, co-‐director of music, from June 2008 – Oct 2013

2) If so, how has Jazz Futures had a lasting impact on your life and/or work? I frequently present concerts dedicated to building awareness of jazz as a diplomatic medium. Jazz Futures not only provides a living example of the use of music as a cultural bridge, it is unique to many other international forums I encounter as a visiting clinician. Typically, my aim is to build goodwill between the USA and the host country, by showing the alluring sound of jazz and how it can relate directly to the music that occurs locally. But in Cyprus, the American faculty of Jazz Futures functioned as a third party. We facilitated an artistic collaboration between two politically adversarial communities. This shows the flexibility and effectiveness of jazz as a vehicle for diplomatic efforts, and makes for great presentations. On a more personal note, I have developed friendships with many of the Cypriot musicians; I am in daily contact with several, and sporadic contact with dozens.

3) When/How did you first get involved with Jazz Futures?

Along with Ari Roland, I proposed the idea in March 2008, while on a US Embassy visit to Cyprus with The Chris Byars Quartet, in a program called The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad. We performed goodwill concerts and one-‐off workshops on both sides of the island. At the conclusion of the five-‐day program, we floated the idea to Tom Miller, the Public Affairs Officer of US Embassy Nicosia, that we could bring all the musicians together in a jazz setting. He put his full support behind it.

4) What were some experiences from previous Jazz Diplomacy programs you were able to apply?

It’s best to avoid political discussions. By keeping the focus on music, you avoid the passionate reactions of people who have no option of self-‐control. for example, those who have lost loved ones as a result of political conflict. While they have a right to express these feelings, they have a right to engage in musical discussions as well, which may help alleviate feelings of stagnancy or isolation. So...we always “stick to the music”.

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It’s important to explain that jazz is originally American, but that does not mean Americans play better than other nationalities, nor do they have any exclusive right to the music. Jazz is for everyone. We always share this idea. The two keywords for what we bring the students are: (1) knowledge and (2) access. We deliver as much information as they can handle, and then help them apply themselves to these ideas with as much personal guidance as we can offer, including staying in touch post-‐visit.

5) In what way is Jazz unique in this sort of forum? (Or: Why is it such a powerful cultural force?)

It is flexible, seductive, spontaneous, soothing, fulfilling, joyful, playful, historical, contemporary, relevant, stimulating and challenging. It provides immediate feedback – you know how you sound. It requires teamwork – you can’t do it alone. It requires humility, discipline, originality, curiosity, resilience, and self-‐confidence. Participants are usually aware of this, and come hungry for knowledge and interaction.

6) Could you describe if you had seen similar dynamics, cooperation, and effects of diplomacy at work elsewhere and how they operated in contrast to Jazz Futures?

I watched a wonderful bi-‐communal basketball game in Sept 2009, in Nicosia. Each team included members of both communities. The fiercest play happened when a basketball player would encounter his/her own community as an opponent. It was wonderful to watch the teamwork. In common with our program, when the collaboration crossed “The Green Line”, there was a tangible excitement, and I believe a feeling of relief – finally, trust could build, rooted in a common activity and shared goals. I have heard of Israeli/Palestinian musical projects, but never witnessed firsthand. My comment is about the depth of follow-‐through: because we were invited back over 20 times, we could focus on long-‐term development of musical understanding. When a program has a total life of five days, the teachers must focus on the culminating concert, scraping together a show out of the best everyone can do. We were not compromised by this requirement. As a result, today, there are over a dozen professional Cypriot musicians who are indebted to Jazz Futures for being a key part of their musical education.

7) In Cyprus: How did the rapprochement between the communities epitomize in the program?

In our first workshop (June 2008), a Greek Cypriot organized an impromptu jam session at his friend’s pub, not far from the checkpoint. The Turkish Cypriots from Jazz Futures were invited. It was not easy for them to arrive, however; they had no knowledge of the city map south of the Green Line, their cell phones didn’t work and their cars did not have insurance. Greek Cypriots offered to meet them at the check point and carry their amps for the short walk to their waiting cars. This was an early example of a shared

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goal (a jam session) resulting in bi-‐communal collaboration (basic logistical planning). Since June 2008, there have been well over a hundred concerts and jam sessions in Cyprus that featured musicians from both communities, who had met each other first in the Jazz Futures program. Many of these have happened when the visiting Americans were not on the island, as a result of Cypriot initiatives. Recordings have been made, featuring both groups, such as a new CD from bassist Cahit Kutrafali which includes the drummer, Stelios Xydias. Some concerts were big, like Nihan Görgü’s concert at the Salamis Amphitheatre, which featured drummer Marios Syprou and pianist Dimitris Miaris in July 2012.

8) From the outset of the program, what was your personal & official “mission statement”? (if there was one)

It was apolitical. The mission was strictly music. Everyone had to try as hard as possible. If musicians from only one community showed up, it didn’t change anything.

9) From your perspective as a ‘Jazz practitioner’, can you relate Jazz to the goals of US Public and Cultural Diplomacy?

The goal of the US State Department is to encourage mutual respect and cooperation between the USA and the host country. Jazz provides an abstract ideal that does not belong to anyone, and is accessible and attainable by everyone. It promotes a casual environment, inviting friendly approaches rather than rigid communication. By playing jazz together, respect and cooperation easily ensue.

10) What do you think is Jazz Futures’ greatest success? I think we helped create some professional musicians. Cyprus has a jazz scene that has a burgeoning international reputation. It is not entirely ours for which to take credit; there have been other influences, and participants certainly worked hard on their own. But no other program offered the quality and quantity of instruction that Jazz Futures did, and it was free and open to the general public. The diplomatic benefits are enhanced by the musical excellence. Audiences now hear names of Greek and Turkish origins announced side by side, and admire the concept of peace emerging into reality in front of their eyes and ears. Jazz Futures helped this to be more than symbolic: Cypriots from both communities are presenting jazz that sounds great, together.

Thank you for your cooperation!

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Affidavit / Eidesstattliche Erklärung I declare that I wrote this thesis independently and on my own. I clearly marked any language or ideas borrowed from other sources as not my own and documented their sources. The thesis does not contain any work that I have handed in or have had graded as a Prüfungsleistung earlier on. I am aware that any failure to do so constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's thoughts or words as if they were my own—even if I summarize, paraphrase, condense, cut, rearrange, or otherwise alter them. I am aware of the consequences and sanctions plagiarism entails. Among others, consequences may include nullification of the thesis, exclusion from the BA program without a degree, and legal consequences for lying under oath. These consequences also apply retrospectively, i.e. if plagiarism is discovered after the thesis has been accepted and graded. I am aware of the scope of these consequences as described in the Prüfungsordnung BA American Studies (§ 13, III and § 21, I). Ich erkläre hiermit, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbständig verfasst und nur die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt habe. Wörtlich oder dem Sinn nach aus anderen Werken entnommene Stellen sind unter Angabe der Quelle als Entlehnung kenntlich gemacht. Die Arbeit enthält kein Material, das ich bereits zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt als Prüfungsleistung eingereicht habe. Mir ist bewusst, dass die ungekennzeichnete Übernahme fremder Texte oder fremder Ideen als Plagiat gilt, selbst wenn diese zusammengefasst, umschrieben, gekürzt, oder anderweitig verändert wurden. Die Konsequenzen eines Plagiats sind mir bekannt. Die möglichen Konsequenzen umfassen, unter anderem, ein Nichtbestehen der Bachelorarbeit, den Ausschluss von weiteren Prüfungsleistungen im Studiengang, oder zivilrechtliche Konsequenzen, die mit dieser eidesstattlichen Erklärung verbunden sind. Diese Konsequenzen können auch nachträglich zur Anwendung kommen, also nachdem die Arbeit angenommen und korrigiert wurde. Mir ist der volle Umfang dieser Konsequenzen gemäß der Prüfungsordnung BA American Studies (§ 13, III and § 21, I) bekannt. My name: Title of my thesis: Date, signature:

Jazz as a Measure of Cultural Diplomacy

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