The Foreign Service Journal, September 2016

20 SEPTEMBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Neglecting World’s Fairs Doesn’t Make ThemGo Away, So Let’s Do It Right BY BEATR I CE CAMP I n the search for effective ways to promote the United States abroad, the Department of State has revived some once standard, later abandoned public diplomacy functions such as English-lan- guage instruction and American Centers (now American Spaces) . Meanwhile, participation in world’s fairs, incubated in the same U. S. Information Agency womb, is treated as an unwanted stepchild by the department. Successful U.S. pavilions at four recent fairs—Milan 2015, Yeosu 2012, Shanghai 2010 and Aichi 2005—welcomed a total o f 20 million visitors. This and other achieve- ments came at minimal cost to the U.S. government, which relies on private-sector funding to create andmanage our official presence. By comparison, American Spaces, a current darling of public diplomacy, boast smaller visitor numbers and bigger budgets. The much touted space in Jakarta, which explored the Shanghai Expo for ideas, has cost roughly $20 million since opening in 2010, while another $26 million has gone to the new American Space in Rangoon. Given past world’s fair successes, it would be unfortunate if the challenges we faced inMilan—and at earlier expos— Our problems at recent expos show the pitfalls of today’s limited engagement and oversight by the department. As consul general in Shanghai from 2008 to 2011, Beatrice Camp oversawU.S. participation in China’s 2010 world’s fair; in 2014, she was recruited by the State Department’s Bureau of European Affairs to coordinate participation in Expo Mi- lano 2015. She recently retired from a Foreign Service career that took her to China, Thailand, Sweden, Hungary, as well as to assignments at the department and at the Smithsonian Institution inWashington, D.C. The opinions and characterizations in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government. SPEAKING OUT made the department even less eager to sign on for future fairs. A better reac- tion would be a dedication to doing it right, with a strong partnership between relevant bureaus and a real commitment of resources. Missing in Milan Both of these were missing for Milan. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which traditionally had the lead for world’s fairs, happily bowed out of Milan when the Bureau of European Affairs (EUR) accepted the baton. De spite initial enthusiasm, however, EUR limited its investment to a one-person office in EUR/PD and one additional officer in Milan, while ECA adamantly declined any involvement. Once upon a time, USIA’s Exhibits Office and its expo unit had experienced staff who knew how tomanage the pro- cesses, anticipate problems and deal with the many complex aspects of world’s fairs from a long-termperspective, drawing on the lessons of past expos and planning years ahead. Our problems at recent expos show the pitfalls of today’s limited engage- ment and oversight by the department. For Milan, the small group in EUR that handled the 2013-2014 Request for Proposal process, selection of a private- sector partner, and signing of agreements with the partner organization and the Milan Expo authority had rotated out by the time career officer coordinators were positioned inWashington andMilan, the pavilion was under construction, and content was created and staff hired. Almost no one thought to object when the private-sector partner upped the budget from $45 million to $60 million, a little-noticed change that loomed large the following year as fundraising fell short. Reportedly, the Friends of the USA Pavilion ended upmore than $20 million in debt, leaving a wide swath of vendors awaiting payment. The budget shortfall was just one result of the department’s failure to designate a permanent office tomanage the complex expo process; more fundamentally, and longer-term, it means that decisions about U.S. participation are dragged out until the last possible minute, increasing the cost and complexity involved in creating a pres-