Highlights
Graffiti Artist WaAak shows off his skills during a virtual Arts Envoy workshop.
WaAaKOne picked up all the aspects, elements, and life lessons of growing up in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. A born B-boy raised in Hip-Hop culture, WaAaKOne first rose to prominence as a graffiti artist. WaAaK eventually learned to break from writers in his school named Cleve and Ink2. In 1996, WaAaK and a few other friends decided to form their own crew, Breaks Kru.
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In May prominent American photographer Margaret Steber, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Arts Envoy program, participated virtually in the opening ceremony of Turkmenistan’s International Photography Exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of their positive neutrality policy.
Representatives of the Turkmen government, cultural institutions, and photographers from 15 countries participated.
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Arts Envoy Tami Stronach poses with students during her dance residency in Israel. She travelled to Israel and set Contain Yourself on students at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and taught at professional acting schools around the country. 
From August 24 – September 22, 2019, a cappella trio Freedoms Boombox spent time in Equatorial Guinea, a country on and off the west coast of Africa. Its capital city Malabo is located on one of its 5 off-shore islands, and the 3 singers met to engage with dozens of local artists with the help of the embassy and Mosart.
Along with a series of workshops and performances, Freedoms Boombox wrote and produced an original song with the artists in the area. The song is called Ja Voy (I’m On My Way), echoing the ambitions of the artists sung out in Spanish–a language not often spoken across Africa. The track features a verse from the locally renown rapper Tony Mary as well as contributions from the artists in the program, kids from a local school, and even members of the Embassy staff.