FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, D.C., August 29, 2024 – The U.S. Department of State's International Expositions (Expo Unit) has awarded a cooperative agreement to Meridian International Center to recruit U.S. cultural performers and expert speakers to participate in Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. This partnership offers a unique opportunity for U.S. artists to represent American culture at the USA Pavilion and engage with an international audience. This program is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State and is implemented by Meridian International Center.
Expo 2025 Osaka, scheduled to take place from April 13 to October 13, 2025, marks the return of the World Expo to Japan after 20 years, attracting an estimated 28 million visitors. The theme of Expo 2025, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” along with its subthemes “Saving Lives,” “Empowering Lives,” and “Connecting Lives,” will provide a powerful platform for American artists to showcase the diversity and vibrancy of U.S. culture at the USA Pavilion.
“Culture is a powerful tool to connect people and societies around the world, and America’s dynamic culture has long been an important part of telling our story to the whole world. As part of Meridian’s larger cultural diplomacy work, we look forward to presenting the most compelling, most authentic, and diverse representation of American culture to a global audience through Expo 2025 and further advance American leadership and diplomacy goals,” shared Ambassador Stuart Holliday, Chief Executive Officer of Meridian International Center.
Meridian International Center is seeking outstanding U.S. cultural performers and expert speakers to perform and speak at the USA Pavilion. The selected participants will embody the best of American dance, music, theatre, literature, art, food, sport, and other cultural expressions, showcasing the full diversity of the United States. The Two-Month Cultural Performers Residency and Short-Term Cultural Performers/Expert Speakers programs are designed to engage Expo visitors through performances, workshops, lectures, panel discussions, master classes, and media engagements.
“The upcoming World Expo 2025 in Osaka presents an extraordinary opportunity for the United States to showcase its culture, history, and values to a global audience in one of the world's most populous regions. With an estimated 28 million visitors expected, USA Pavilion’s theme, ‘Imagine What We Can Create Together,’ invites visitors to imagine themselves engaging with the United States—whether through education, travel, appreciation of natural beauty, or our commitment to sustainability and space exploration. This is a moment to foster understanding and collaboration, envisioning a future we can build together,” shared TK Harvey, Vice President of the Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy.
Two-Month Cultural Performers Residency: 45 Cultural Performers will participate in one of three residencies; each residency will consist of a group or “cohort” and will last 8 weeks. Performers can be solo acts or groups of up to five individuals. They will engage Expo visitors through live performances, workshops, and open hours to share their art forms and diverse American culture.
Short-Term Cultural Performers/Expert Speakers Program: Meridian seeks 30 Short-Term Cultural Performers/Expert Speakers to engage Expo visitors through week-long visits. Participants will present on various subjects including American dance, music, literature, art, and more, in formats such as workshops, demonstrations, master classes, and panel discussions.
All travel and lodging expenses will be covered, and participants will receive a stipend or daily honoraria for their engagement at Expo.
To apply, interested cultural performers and expert speakers should submit a short bio, resume, work samples, and responses to application questions that highlight their suitability for the program. Applications can be submitted via the following links:
Applications will be accepted until November 30, 2024. For more information, please visit www.meridian.org/expo2025. If you are interested in the 2025 Osaka Youth Ambassador Program, please visit Sister Cities International’s webpage here to learn more.
Meridian International Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan diplomacy center that has worked for over 60 years to connect leaders through culture and collaboration to drive solutions for complex challenges facing their organizations, communities, and countries with the vision that greater understanding and collaboration between the United States and the world leads to a more secure, prosperous future. The Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy is the leading center in the United States that employs the arts and culture as a tool of diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding. We work in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. embassies abroad, as well as the diplomatic community in Washington, DC, to develop and curate exhibitions, exchanges and programs that range from film screenings to mural arts programs to music performances. Our programs have reached millions of people in more than 310 cities in at least 80 countries worldwide.
The Department of State is responsible for U.S. participation in international exhibitions. The Department’s Expo Unit in the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Office of Policy, Planning, and Resources, created in 2017, manages U.S. engagement with the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), organizes U.S. participation at overseas Expos (also known as World’s Fairs), and mobilizes international support for U.S. candidacies to host Expos. The United States rejoined the BIE in 2017 following passage of bipartisan legislation H.R. 534 (U.S. Wants to Compete for a World Expo Act) signed into law by then-President Trump (P.L. 115-32). Expos are an excellent, cost-effective platform to promote commercial and public diplomacy objectives reaching millions of people in-person and millions more through traditional and social media. The United States has had national pavilions at every overseas Expo since 1851 with the exception of two, and hosted a dozen World’s Fairs (the last was New Orleans in 1984).
Danielle Najjar
Director, Communications and Marketing
Meridian International Center
(609) 529 4195
