Transatlantic Cultural Diplomacy Mai'a K. Davis Cross Abstract This chapter grapples with the question of whether the EU can project a coherent image to the outside world through public diplomacy given its significant cultur- al diversity. Has this been an impossible task or has the EU over time managed to create successful and legitimate ways of augmenting its soft power through the export of its cultural products? To shed light on this issue, I first consider the United States as the target audience for European cultural products, and evaluate successes and failures on a practical level. To what extent and why are Ameri- cans aware of European cultures? Second, I compare American public diploma- cy approaches to European ones. Given that both the EU and US have high-lev- els of cultural diversity, I conclude by drawing out the lessons and drawbacks of adopting an American approach to public diplomacy, especially in light of the changing geo-politicallandscape. Introduction Public diplomacy is typically defined as how a nation's government or society pro- jects itself to external audiences in ways that aim to improve these foreign pub- lics' perception of that nation.' Europeans can boast a long list of public diplo- macy initiatives centered on cultural engagement at the European, national, and local levels. These cultural initiatives include music festivals, film weeks, food tastings, education fairs, and so on.' Through various media venues, there are also radio and TV talk shows, web sites, policy papers and other publications that showcase debates, discussions, and even quizzes about what it means to be Euro- Mai'a K. Davis Cross and Jan Melissen (eds),European Public Diplomacy: Soft Power at Work, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. 2 European Commission, ''A Glance at EU Public Diplomacy at Work," Brussels: European Communities, 2007. R. Henze, G. Wolfram (eds.), Exporting Culture, DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-01921-1_2, © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2014