Join the Center on Public Diplomacy in conversation with Jason Robert Brown, Tony award-winning composer, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, lyricist, and playwright. His new show, The Connector, focuses on ambitious young journalists competing for bylines at a prestigious New York-based magazine. The musical production explores themes relevant to public diplomacy, including the essentials of a good story, the difference between facts and truth, and the increasingly blurred line between journalism and entertainment.

This presentation will launch The Stroum Arts & Diplomacy Series, supported by a gift from USC Annenberg alumna, an award-winning theater producer and former U.S. Ambassador, Cynthia Stroum. The event series focuses on the intersection of public diplomacy and the arts, featuring thoughtful discussions on urgent global social issues. Arts and culture are powerful tools for building connections and broadening horizons. Just as the practice of public diplomacy seeks to foster mutual trust and understanding between nations, arts and culture bring people together and create civic discourse for global awareness and action.