Penny von Eschen is a history professor at the University of Michigan. She says cultural diplomacy should be used as a model for international relations.

PENNY VON ESCHEN: "It is a lesson to many countries to open up and have far more cultural exchange and make that a priority for diplomacy. It remains as relevant today as it would have been in the nineteen fifties and sixties."

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BARBARA KLEIN: Music remains an important part of American public diplomacy. The newest generation of jazz musicians includes nine-year-old trumpet player Geoffrey Gallante. He started performing when he was five. He is the youngest jazz instrumentalist ever to perform at Washington's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at the White House.

GEOFFREY GALLANTE: "Well, I got to play with the president's own piano player. I did not play for President Bush, because I think he was on a trip to Iraq. It's a cool style of music and I want to keep doing it."

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Ed KriegerRene Rivera in "The King of the Desert (El Rey del Desierto)"

STEVE EMBER: Rene Rivera is an actor who has appeared on TV shows like "Law and Order" and in many films. He is also a theater actor. His most recent play was personal. It followed his journey from poverty in Texas to the theater in New York City and the film world of Hollywood, California.

He performed the one-man play called "The King of the Desert" at a small historic theater in Hollywood. The name of the play came from words he heard from his father. His father told him that their ancestors were the kings and queens of the Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans, Aztecs and other ancient peoples.