Brokering arts to build cross-cultural relations: how strength and embedded relations influence outcomes

ABSTRACT Despite the shift to relational perspective in cultural diplomacy, there is little comparative analysis of relational practices and their effectiveness on enhancing cultural relations, whether understanding, collaborations or market exchanges. To address this gap, we incorporate network literature into cultural relations to examine 10 years of Momentum, a cultural diplomacy programme hosted by Festivals Edinburgh, the British Council and Creative Scotland, that seeks to enhance learning, exchanges and collaborations among arts organizations. The findings offer three insights: (1) cultural relations, similar to networks, have a curvilinear effect where an investment is required but more years of investment do not gain better outcomes; (2) effective relational strategies depend on the larger cultural and economic environment: more investment in relations is needed for countries that are more decentralized, have higher political uncertainty or larger cross-cultural differences; (3) cultural relations are anchored in key cities, offering a concentration of artists and cultural organisations that enable both a stable base to build on and a platform for expanding across geographic regions.


Introduction
Cultural diplomacy has twin aims: (1) to build enduring cross-cultural relations based on reciprocity and mutual understanding that enable parties to manage uncertainty (Cummings 2003;Schneider and Nelson 2008;Rivera 2015) and (2) to generate market exchanges, such as tourism dollars, through winning hearts and minds (Bound et al. 2007).Situated at the intersection of foreign, cultural and economic policy, cultural diplomacy is one of the mechanisms through which states can deploy and develop their soft power in order to increase familiarity with and appreciation of their countries by engaging people and influencing their behaviour.Although the State is viewed as the central actor in the literature on cultural diplomacy, 'globalization and transnational flow of information have given room to other, non-state players that act as cultural diplomacy agents and have the ability to influence international relations' (Kolokytha 2022, 5).An important avenue for research is how the non-state actors, such as arts organisations and festivals, offer a space where cultural relations are enacted (Dines 2021).
Despite being widely used in cultural policy studies and international relations, the term 'cultural diplomacy' has been described as lacking a common definition (Holden 2013;Zamorano 2016;Rawnsley 2021), 'indistinct' (Biltekin 2020), a 'messy landscape' (Ang, Isar, and Mar 2015), 'a truly fuzzy area' with different understandings across foreign diplomacy and the arts sector (Isar 2022, 234).Since non-state actors, such as festivals and cities, are increasingly engaging in crossborder cultural activities driven by their own as well as national interests (Isar 2022), cultural diplomacy, which focused on state actors, has shifted toward cultural relations that include different kinds of actors.
The shift to a relational perspective highlights the importance of relational strategies and networks.Yet, both academic and grey practice-based literature describe relations as abstract, revealing a significant gap between theory and practice (Bound et al. 2007;Lazer 2011;Goff 2013;Fisher 2013;Holden 2013;Blond, Noyes, and Sim 2017).This gap between theory and practice has exacerbated the 'pressure to demonstrate value for money' where 'the arts and cultural sectors are being expected to demonstrate their extrinsic or instrumental worth' (McPherson et al. 2017, 16).There has been very little comparative analysis of the relational practices and their effectiveness on enhancing cultural relations, whether understanding, collaborations or market exchanges.
We address this gap in knowledge by incorporating relational strategies from the network literature to understand the range of outcomes for cultural relations.The network literature examines two key aspects of relations: their strength and embeddedness.Strength is often measured as the frequency of contact between two actors (Granovetter 1973), whereas embeddedness examines whether actors are connected to one another within an existing social structure (Granovetter 1985;Uzzi 1997).Given the inherent uncertainty of creative sectors (Caves 2002), relational networks play an important role by enabling career entry and progression to new opportunities (Faulkner 1987;Jones 1996) and by shaping artistic and financial performance (Jones, Hesterly, and Borgatti 1997;Uzzi and Spiro 2005).By incorporating relational strategies from network studies into cultural relations, we enrich insight into which practices shape different outcomes, such as learning, exchange and collaborations.
Our study examines Momentum -an International Delegate Programme delivered by Festivals Edinburgh (on behalf of Edinburgh's Festivals), British Council Scotland, and Creative Scotland -over a ten-year period to understand how variations in relational strategies influence desired outcomes.Momentum was first launched in 2011, formalized in 2013, and takes place each August in Edinburgh during the height of the city's festival season.According to Festivals Edinburgh, the Momentum programme is 'based on ingredients that also exist in other programmes but is unique in combining them all together: (1) Nominating, selecting and offering financial and/or in-kind support to senior delegates, (2) bringing together delegations from policy and practice, (3) building networks for future collaborations and exchanges, beyond knowledge sharing or buying and selling of work, (4) ensuring a personalised programme for one-to-one or small group meetings and (5) matchmaking across 11 associated festivals plus our city and national cultural ecosystems' (Personal communication 22 March 2023).Momentum offers important insights for developing programmes to build cultural relations.
We analyse the strength and embeddedness of delegates' relations across the 37 countries that participated in Momentum and match these to outcomes, which were available for 30 of these countries, revealing which relational patterns generate differential outcomes of learning, exchange and collaborations.We then compare six cases of more and less successful countries across three regions -North America, Latin America, and Asia -to reveal the specific practices that enabled or hindered the desired outcomes from cultural relations.
Our study contributes to the cultural relations literature and practices in three ways.First, we offer insight into cultural relations as involving thresholds, revealing a curvilinear effect where some but not too much sustained investment is important to gaining desired outcomes.Second, our analysis affirms that the amount of relational investment to secure desired outcomes, whether learning, exchange or collaboration, varies with the cultural and economic environment: more investment is needed for countries that are more decentralized or have higher political and economic uncertainty.Third, we reveal that cultural relations are often anchored in and through key cities, which offer geographic concentrations that enable both a stable relational base to build on and a platform from which to expand across the country and geographic regions.

Literature review
Cultural diplomacy is associated with state apparatuses and government envoys working in alignment with official foreign policy objectives to advance political, strategic, or national interests (Rawnsley 2021, 20-21) through 'bridging differences and facilitating mutual understanding' (Goff 2013, 421).Cultural diplomacy cultivates soft power -the ability to shape the preferences of others through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion (Nye 2004).Cultural diplomacy, however, enacts a 'methodological nationalism' in scholarly and grey literature by focusing on relations between nation-states at the governmental level (Isar 2022, 234).
In contrast to cultural diplomacy, cultural relations are 'based on flows of cultural exchange that take place naturally and organically, without government intervention' (Isar 2022, 234) and often involve non-governmental actors, such as artists, curators, and lecturers (Gienow-Hecht and Donfried 2010; Wright and Higginbotham 2019), as well as a wider range of substate (regions and cities) and non-state actors (e.g.philanthropic foundations, NGOs, festivals, businesses and media) (Făgărășan 2014;Ang, Isar, and Mar 2015;Helly 2017;Dines 2021;Ociepka and Arendarska 2021;Carbó-Catalan and Roig Sanz 2022;Kolokytha 2022).Cultural relations enable states to work in partnership with civil society, organizations and individuals (Gienow-Hecht and Donfried 2010) and develop greater connectivity, better mutual understanding, more and deeper relationships for mutually beneficial transactions and sustainable dialogue between people and cultures (Singh 2019).
Despite this turn toward cultural relations, most academic papers and consultancy reports provide a few general recommendations as 'best practice' strategies for success, such as clear articulation of goals, contextualisation, 'broad and deep cultural exchange' (Holden 2013), twoway engagement and collaboration (ICR Research and Partners 2021) and more generally maintenance and development of networks and communities.A focus on general recommendations prevents scholars and practitioners from elaborating the specific practices of cultural relations that work (Goff 2013).Although multiple authors advocate examining cultural relations with a more empirical focus on the 'actual processes of relationship building nurtured through such projects and highlight how they are shaped' in practice (Ang, Isar, and Mar 2015, 377;Gienow-Hecht and Donfried 2010;Biltekin 2020), few draw on specific relational data to assess the effectiveness of practices that enact cultural relations.
A focus on relational practices highlights the value of network studies to inform cultural relations and identify effective practices.Network studies examine how the patterns of relations between peoples and groups generate differential outcomes, revealing two key insights.The first insight is that relational strength between two parties generates different outcomes.Ties with few prior interactions or exchange of information expand opportunities because they bridge disconnected groups to provide new information and opportunities (Granovetter 1973).By using randomized experiments of the People You May Know algorithm to the over 20 million LinkedIn members worldwide, Rajkumar et al. (2022) 'confirmed that relatively weaker ties increased the likelihood of job mobility the most, up to a point, after which there were diminishing marginal returns to tie weakness' (Rajkumar et al. 2022(Rajkumar et al. , 1308)).In contrast to weaker ties, strong relational ties -when parties have repeated interactions and share information -enable parties to adapt to uncertainty, enact more complex, interdependent tasks and offer greater efficiency (Krackhardt 1992;Uzzi 1997).Stronger ties can also lead to less successful outcomes, such as when film distributors allocated scarce resources (e.g.opening dates and promotion efforts) to film producers with whom they had prior interactions, which performed worse at the box office (Sorenson and Waguespack 2006).
The second key insight is that embedded relations -actors who are embedded in common social structures (Granovetter 1985) -shape financial and artistic performance.Embedded relations enable information about expectations and reputations to flow among those in the network and enhance the ability to enforce shared norms (Jones, Hesterly, and Borgatti 1997).An analysis of Broadway musicals from 1945 to 1989 found that embedded relations, where members shared a wide set of relations among production members, increased financial and artistic success up to a point and then decreased (Uzzi and Spiro 2005).Under conditions of interdependency and uncertainty, embedded relations enhance performance and after a point, embedded relations inhibited new information, reducing adaptability and creating less optimal outcomes.
Network studies offer insights into which kinds of cultural relations are likely to generate what types of outcomes: weaker relational ties expand opportunities versus stronger and/or embedded relational ties enable adaptation to complex, interdependent tasks and uncertain environment.The caveat and challenge of managing relations is knowing at what point (a) weaker versus stronger relational ties, and (b) the extent of embedded relational ties offers value and to not move beyond these thresholds, where the investment in relations, whether across acquaintances or deeper into existing relations, does not generate additional benefits.

Edinburgh's Festivals
For Edinburgh and Scotland, fostering good international relations has been crucial since the 1947 founding of the Edinburgh International Festival and The Edinburgh Film Festival in the aftermath of World War II (Bartie 2014;Miller 1996;Hardy 1992).By inviting the best performing artists and audiences from around the world to Edinburgh and a shared experience, these festivals sought to rebuild and renew the world through the arts.Seven decades later, these guiding principles remain at the heart of Edinburgh's Festivals.

Momentum. Programme
The Momentum programme, founded in 2011, is run by its core partners -Festivals Edinburgh, Creative Scotland and British Council -with additional support from EventScotland and the City of Edinburgh Council.They sought to leverage Edinburgh's Festivals by engaging key cultural players from across the world that flock to Edinburgh during the peak Festival season to build relationships with the World's Leading Festival City and the wider Scottish cultural sector.We examined Momentum from its founding in 2011 through 2019.

Data sources
We employed five sources of data in this study: (1) Momentum's organizational documents, (2) interviews with those who delivered and participated in the Momentum programme over time, (3) databases and surveys of Momentum participants after programme participation, (4) group debriefs of cultural delegations that participated in Momentum at the close of the programme, and (5) funding and informal follow-up by Momentum with participants, which were compiled by Festivals Edinburgh.

Organizational archival documents
Documents included primary sources, such as Board Minutes and annual evaluation reports, as well as secondary sources, such as the 2016 Midterm Astrid Flowers report -an internal strategic evaluation of the Momentum programme commissioned by Creative Scotland and British Council -and Momentum case studies (British Council 2018).

Interviews
To identify interviewees, we consulted with Festivals Edinburgh who provided an introductory email.We used semi-structured and a combination of face-to face (if locally in Edinburgh) and virtual interviews with 23 people associated with the Momentum programme: (1) nine who delivered Momentum, including Festivals Edinburgh, Creative Scotland and British Council, (2) five delegates who participated in Momentum programme representing the case countries in this study, (3) three participants from the Scottish Arts Sector, whom Momentum sought to build relations with international delegates and (4) six personnel from Edinburgh Festivals (Book, Film, Fringe, Tattoo and Visual Arts) with whom Momentum sought to build cross-cultural relations with international delegates.The interviews focused on six areas: (1) individual's career, (2) involvement with Momentum; (3) how Momentum changed, if at all, over time, (4) goals for and indicators of from Momentum, (5) building relations and collaborations beyond Momentum, (6) questions for us and who we should talk to next.

Participant database and outcome surveys
We analysed surveys of Momentum participants and their outcomes.From 2011 to 2019, 595 Delegates from 37 countries were invited and funded by Momentum, representing 482 organisations.Some returned more than once, adding up to 691 participations in total.The September survey asked about participants' experiences and preliminary outcomes, and the March survey focused on outcomes.We analysed surveys that contained open-ended responses of 259 respondents, representing a response rate of 37.5% (N = 259 of 691).

Debrief data
At the end of each Momentum programme (2017-2019), the organizing team interviewed members of each country delegation to discuss their objectives and outcomes, collect feedback on logistics, planning and delivery of the programme, as well as delegate satisfaction with their tailored programme of shows, meetings, and events.149 delegates participated in the country debriefs.
We utilized diverse datasets from the 10-year longitudinal analysis of Momentum (Jones and Fedyushina 2021) to understand the relational strategies and their outcomes.We interpolated the data by comparing and contrasting the data from different points of view (e.g.co-organiser, artist and festival director), and different forms of data (e.g.survey responses, interviews and country debriefs).

Analytic approach
We triangulated these diverse data sources of Momentum to examine multiple levels of analysis (nation, organization and individual) as well as relational strength and embeddedness.The Momentum programme exemplifies the fuzzy boundaries of cultural diplomacy, which focuses primarily on the nation, or country, but also cultural relations, which involve non-governmental organizations and individuals.

Levels of analysis
We examined national, organizational and individual relations.The nation captures the breadth of Momentum's international reach, which speaks to the international agenda and ambitions of the core partners.The organizations in creative fields are often larger, engage in long-term planning and may boast governmental support, providing an ongoing social structure to individuals in the arts despite the dynamism of employment in creative sectors.The individual plays the role of artistic Ambassadors representing different countries and is essential for building enduring cross-cultural relationships.

Cultural relations: strength and embeddedness
We examine the participation in Momentum depending on the strength and embeddedness of relations.We define the Strength of relation as a weighted average of the number of times organizations from a certain country returned to Momentum.We define Embeddedness as whether relations are widely or narrowly shared between Momentum and an organization.We measure embeddedness as a weighted average of the number of individuals that were invited from an organization from a certain country.By plotting the two types of relations together (Strength on the Y-axis and Embeddedness on the X-axis) and identifying the median as a more representative average for each axis, we arrived at a two-by-two matrix.

Momentum outcomes
From open-ended survey questions about the outcomes of Momentum, we coded responses into four types of outcomes: Cultural exposure, Exchanges of cultural goods, Exchange of people, and Other (see Table 1): To ensure that the outcomes by country are quantified and represented in a comparable manner, we standardized them by dividing the total count of outcomes by the number of respondents.We used aggregate percentages to compare the distribution of outcomes by type between the different quadrants of relations or country.

Selecting case studies
To gain insight into the conditions and relational patterns that influence success, we compared countries that reported more and less successful outcomes.In dialogue with Momentum's core partners, we selected country pairs based on their achieved stage of relations (4 years+), cultural background (Anglo-Saxon, Asian, and Latin American), quadrant of relations (as far removed as possible), and available data sources to assess outcomes (comparable response rate and similar extra qualitative sources such as interviews and debrief minutes).Momentum evaluation efforts to date have highlighted specific countries as success stories (see case study series 2018).

Momentum's cultural goals
Momentum identified two goals: first, to create a more cohesive approach to cultural relations (Festivals Edinburgh, 2009, Board minutes, 24 June) and to promote Edinburgh andits Festivals (Festivals Edinburgh, 2010, Board paper, 11 March 2010).Momentum aims to develop an ambitious programme that enacts diplomatic initiatives between Scotland, the U.K. and countries

Momentum: levels of analysis and relational ties
Momentum included 37 countries that participated in its programme, which had 524 of the 595 (88%) individuals participating once.The vast majority of the individuals represented organizations (N = 440), some were freelancers (N= 25), and a few had unknown status (N = 17).
The Strength of Relational ties ranged from 1.00 (one-off, where organizations participated once) to 2.00 (repeated, where organizations returned twice or more).The range of participation for organisations from a country was as follows: 389 organizations came once, 71 came twice, 16 came three times, one came four times, one came five times, two came six times, and two organizations came seven times.
The Embeddedness of Relational ties ranged from 1.00 (narrow relations: organizations sending one delegate to Momentum) to 2.50 (wide relations: two or more delegates representing an organization).The range across organizations from a country was as follows: 389 organizations were represented by one individual, 61 by two individuals, 12 organizations by three people, nine organizations by four people, six by five people, two by six people, one by seven people, one by eight, and one by nine people.

Momentum country selection
In its pilot programmes in 2011 and 2012, Momentum initially focused on the key countries participating in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games (Festivals Edinburgh 2012-2014, 3) to create 'a previously unachievable cultural and diplomatic impact' (4).In subsequent years, a list of target countries was agreed in close consultation between Festivals Edinburgh, the British Council and Creative Scotland, who identified which countries had a mutual interest in relationships, and the necessary domestic infrastructure to support the relationships.Our interviews revealed different challenges.The first challenge was to identify countries also interested in developing relationships.It entailed a: 'shotgun approach' . . ..to 'target'. . . the 70 countries [coming to the Olympic and Commonwealth Games] . . .we tried to approach everybody . . .Consulates and Embassies, and just to see . . .where it would stick . . . it stuck in those countries that were already thinking along similar lines of how they could take their country's proposition into the wider world . . .who are all interested in the concept of soft power.(Edinburgh Festivals #3 interview) The initial approach led to a different challenge, which was how to disengage countries that had repeatedly come to Momentum in order to expand the relationships to new countries.'[W]e started with three countries, then we expanded . . .we've created this massive network and how do we gently let people go?' (Edinburgh Festivals #2,interview).The expansion of relationships resulted in a significant number of new countries that Momentum invited to its programme every year.In its first 9 years of existence (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019), Momentum focused on their country delegate programme and developed an art form delegate programme in 2014.We focus on the delegate programme, where Momentum welcomed international delegates with varying degrees of support from at least 37 countries, with 30% of these countries invited only once.

Momentum approach: country cycles and three-stage model of relations
The first long-term study of Momentum by Astrid Flowers (2016, 47) sought to clarify Momentum's strategic framework and prompted Momentum to develop a three-stage relational model: Seed-Maturing-Alumni (Festivals Edinburgh, 2020, Momentum Programme Manual).It was designed to apply to 'countries, regions or individuals' that came as fully sponsored delegations (e.g.fully funded) (Festivals Edinburgh, 2016, final report) and is used internally (e.g.not communicated to Delegates or countries).Despite a three-year cycle, the data reveal that four or more years were often enacted with countries.The goal was to create self-sustaining relations, as the British Council notes: . . . the idea of the three-year-cycle has to do with an ambition . . .whenever you engage with a country, you're working towards its self-sustainability . . . . the whole purpose is that those connections are strong enough . . . to enable longer term relationships to be created . . ..things can continue and don't necessarily require the programme to be involved with them.(British Council-UK Scotland #7, interview) Since the Momentum programme intends to build long-term relationships, continuity is key and enacted at the country rather than Delegates level.This approach is similar to 'methodological nationalism' in cultural diplomacy.However, by focusing on the country, Momentum's model poses a challenge for embedding and strengthening relations.Multiple countries had gone through a three-or more year cycle (51%), but there was a high turnover in delegates within countries, as identified by the 10-year longitudinal report (Jones and Fedyushina 2021).By applying the relational strength not just to countries but also to organizations and individuals that represent them, we can shed light onto which relational strategies are more or less successful to gain desired outcomes.
The interviews revealed distinct priorities and approaches within the Momentum team.One approach focused on developing stronger relations between people to engage in partnerships rather than exchanges: 'It's not just about presenting work or buying work; it needs to be about our artists and partner organizations having longer term working relationships together' (Festivals Edinburgh #4 and DEL NZ Interview).A different approach was to develop relations between organizations, which focused on embedded relations, rather than trying to create good relationships between people . . . .'because those people might leave their job shortly.It had to be a bigger delegation for it to have any sense of sustainability' (Festivals Edinburgh #3, interview).These quotes reveal two diverse relational strategies -stronger (repeated dyadic relations) and embeddedness (bigger delegation with wider participation) -were in play within Momentum.

Relational strategies and outcomes
The relational strategies of strength-one-off versus repeated -and embeddedness -wider versus narrower -create a two by two with four distinct possible relational combinations.Figure 1 reveals four patterns from Momentum's investment in country cycles: (1) top left quadrant shows which countries had repeated relations with fewer people per organization; (2) top right quadrant reveals repeated relations with more people per organization; (3) bottom left quadrant shows one-off relations with fewer people per organization; and (4) bottom right quadrant shows one-off relations with more people per organization.We assigned shapes to countries depending on their engagement with Momentum (1-2 years, 3-4 years, 5-6 years, 7-8 years) to illuminate which countries had what combinations of relational strength and embeddedness.
Figure 1 shows that many countries had longer than 3 years; however, other organizations did not with a median relational strength of ≥1.17 and median embeddedness of ≥1.28.For example, although Canada returned 8 years, Canadian organizations, on average, participated in Momentum 1.43 times and were represented by an average of 1.43 individuals.Thus, the Country Delegate programme consistently invested in the national level by repeat visits from the same country -a continuous, long-term relational strategy commonly recognised by the cultural relations authors as best practice.However, by applying the measures of relational strength and embeddedness to these countries at a more granular level, even the countries with longest relationship with Momentum enacted less repeated and embedded relations with the respective organizations from a country: a relational strength of less than twice and less embedded with two delegates over the years.Thus, at a country level there appears to be strong relations, but these relations are relatively infrequent and narrow, as they are distributed over many organizations and individuals.
Next, we show how different countries from the four relational quadrants align with the countries' outcomes.Repeated/Narrow relations appear to render the most balanced portfolio of outcomes (22-27% each), suggesting a potentially optimal combination of repeat participation of organizations and less embedded, or narrower relations (organizations being represented by a smaller number of delegates).One-off/Wide ties create a greater exchange of cultural goods (44%), whereas One-off/Narrow results in the highest Exchange of People (29%), which aligns with findings in network studies.Width of relations appears to be the most important for enhancing Cultural exposure (e.g.experience festivals, enhance learning, raise profile and develop networks), seen in the outcomes (31% and 32% respectively).The investment of repeated relations with more people from organizations in a country -Repeated and Wide -does not appear to offset the increased financial and opportunity costs than a One-off/Narrow relational strategy.The primary benefit of Repeated/Wide is higher cultural exposure (31% versus 27%), whereas One-off/Narrow generated a greater exchange of people (29% versus 24%), similar to the importance of weak ties in job mobility -which is also an expansion of relational ties (e.g.moving from one set of job relations to another).The outcomes suggest that the plea for longer-term engagement to foster mutual understanding cited by cultural relations literature may create more Cultural Exposure but not more Cultural Exchange of goods and people.

Country delegates: relational strategies and performance outcomes
Next, we examine six case studies to understand how these relational strategies of Strength and Embeddedness created varying degrees of success.

Case studies: comparing within region relational strategies
We examined a more and less successful case across three regions: North America, Latin America and Asia (see Figure 3): Table 2 provides quantitative metrics that compare Canada and US, Argentina and Mexico, China and Taiwan, which ranged from 4-to 8-year country cycles.By comparing Canada, Argentina and China, which had eight, six and five-year investment, Table 2 illustrates that after 4 years, only Canada had increases in two outcomes -Relationships and Networks, which went from 9.5% to 10.2% and Exchanges and Residencies from 9.5% to 15.8%-whereas all other investments saw decreases.Thus, a greater investment beyond 4 years generally resulted in lower return for the additional investment, revealing the curvilinear nature of cultural relations in line with threshold effect highlighted in network studies.To unpack the relational strategies of more and less successful cases, we supplement our case comparisons with qualitative data from surveys, debriefs and interviews with delegates from selected countries and other Momentum stakeholders.

North America: comparing Canada and U.S.A.
Context.Both Canada and the U.S.A. are large Anglo-Saxon countries with federal systems of government and home to two of the world's largest Scottish diasporas (https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-diaspora-diaspora-strategy-insights-lessons-ireland/pages/6/).Canada also has a history that parallels the United Kingdom: each country has a state that seeks independence: Scotland in the U.K. and Quebec in Canada.Canada and the U.S. differ, however, in that Canada has a more centralized and state-focused approach to arts funding, whereas the U.S. has a more decentralized federal system comprising 50 states and relies primarily on the market to fund its arts.The decentralization of the U.S. creates challenges for the Momentum programme: ' I've also found America such a difficult place to kind of crack because it's so fragmented . . .there's no umbrella bodies or, you know, network bodies that you can go through.You just have to make these specific relationships in specific cities or states' (Festivals Edinburgh #1 interview).

Differences in relational strategies: strength and embeddedness.
As shown in Figure 3, Canada and the U.S. fall into different quadrants of relations: Repeated/Wide for Canada and One-off/Narrow for the U.S. The two countries were perceived as distinctive both in their commitment to and role they could play within Momentum.To build repeated and embedded relations with Canada, Momentum consistently re-invited and Canadian organizations consistently supported delegations to Momentum, such as Banff Arts Centre, CINARS Biennale, Native Earth, Push International Performing Arts Festival, Quebec Government, Canadian High Commission, City of Montreal, Quartier des Spectacles, and CALCQ council.As noted by Festivals Edinburgh: '[T]he commitment of the Canada Council for the Arts [was] to invest in a season of industry export, but also industry development on the platform of Edinburgh's Festivals . . . the national cultural office . . .came to Edinburgh a sceptic and . . .left a convert' (Festivals Edinburgh #1 interview).
In contrast to Canada's repeated and embedded relations with both arts and government organizations, only John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts from the U.S. returned to Momentum twice whereas ' . . .no one was able to attend Momentum from Washington D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (D.C.'s local arts funding agency),' leading the U.S. Delegates offer to 'brief them on the outcomes of the Momentum experience' (DEL U.S. #11 survey).Given the decentralization of the U.S., Momentum chose to focus strategically on building relations with a specific city: 'the delegation that came from the US was almost solely from Washington [D.C.] . . .chosen very specifically around how to . . .develop a city-wide or . . .municipal approach' (British Council HQ #23 interview).

Differences in outcomes of relational strategies. Table 2 reveals mixed support from network
literature about threshold effects: investment in exchange of cultural goods (Scouting and Touring) follow the curvilinear effect with a decrease in Canada's outcomes despite greater investment, whereas longer term relations generated improved exchanges of people in the form of residencies with predominantly Scottish artists (e.g.Table 2 shows an increase from 9.5% to 15.8%).The type of exchange and collaborations differed for Canada and the U.S. The American delegates reported more project collaborations with the wider Scottish cultural sector (14.6% versus 11.9%).When we combine both cells (e.g.Collaborations/Partnerships and Exchanges/Residencies), Canada is 21.4% whereas the U.S. is 27.5%.Canada marginally increases to 22.9% after 8 years.
Canada appears to outperform the U.S. in market-based outcomes like touring or scouting work with various Edinburgh's festivals and Scottish performing companies.The total of cells in Exchange of cultural goods reveals Canada went from 28.6% in year 4 to 26.4% in year 8 whereas the U.S. reports only 9.7%.The development of Canada Hub was central to higher levels of Touring Work by Canada (14.3% versus 0%), as discussed by numerous Canadian delegates.Despite the perception of less success with the U.S., Momentum's relational strategy of focusing on the Washington DC arts scene as a hub enabled the Exchange of people and collaborations.U.S. delegates appreciated the introductions that enabled collaborations: '[Momentum] facilitated some incredible introductions' (DEL U.S. #7, Survey)-and enthusiasm for developing these into collaborations: 'I'm excited to dig into the opportunities for developing collaborations' (DEL U.S. #3, Survey).Momentum's activities led to the first phase of a collaborative project: 'The 11th Street Bridge Park (Bridge Park), a project of Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR) has received funding to support an initial research and planning trip for Glas(s) Performance to stage OLD BOY in Washington, D.C.' (DEL U.S. #5, Survey).Thus, Momentum facilitated exploring the collaboration between a Scottish theatre company and an American venue space.
Both Canada and the U.S. reported local initiatives: relational collaborations within their respective countries.Since these relational outcomes did not strengthen cross-cultural relations, we coded these within Country spillover effects as 'Other.'The Canadian delegates initiated Canadian wide 'advocacy networks' among Momentum alumni to continue the conversations that began at Momentum.'Canada doesn't really speak to each other as it's so big and this is a great opportunity for them to talk' (DEL Canada #41, Survey).In contrast, the U.S. delegates focused on how to transfer knowledge back to specific cities rather than country-wide solutions: 'I think it was useful to come as a group from different states.So much of the challenges are a specific to city although they are the same challenges but we deal with them differently' (DEL U.S. #8, Survey).
In sum, the relational strategy between Canada and the U.S. appears to have generated surprising results.The repeated and more embedded relations with Canada created more market-based exchange of cultural goods, particularly Touring work to Edinburgh's festivals, and over time saw a decline in collaborative work but an increase in Artistic residencies.In contrast, the less frequent, less embedded relations coupled with decentralized governance in the U.S. benefitted from Momentum's strategy of focusing on city arts organizations, creating even greater collaborations than Canada, but substantially less Touring work to Edinburgh and exchange of works.By attending Momentum, delegates from both countries used the experience to generate local initiatives and create within-country spillover effects.

Comparing Latin America: Argentina and Mexico
Context.Argentina and Mexico form part of Latin America -a region linguistically and culturally distinct from Scotland and the U.K. Cultural sector practitioners in Latin America encounter challenges such as high cost of long-distance travel to collaborate internationally, and a lack of stability in state support for the arts (see Festivals Edinburgh #2 below), and in the literature (Lobos, López, and Gribnicow 2021).Argentina also has political tension with the U.K. following the 1982 Falklands War, which motivated building bridges between the two countries via the medium of arts.An Argentinian delegate cited the Argentinian ambassador as saying: ' . . .building the bridge between Argentina and the UK with the arts is really important' (DEL.Argentina #23, interview).The British Council Argentina #1 echoed the sentiment: 'how we can build really strong connection between Scotland and Argentina?' Differences in relational strategies: strength and embedded.Momentum's partners relational strategy with Argentina and Mexico was similar to Canada and U.S.: Repeated/Wide for Argentina but Repeated/Narrow for Mexico.Momentum cultivated repeated and broader relationships with Argentinian organizations from 2013 to 2018, such as Centro Cultural San Martin, Instituto Nacional de Teatro, Ministry of Culture, Buenos Aires International Festival (FIBA) and Teatro Picadero.Festivals Edinburgh #2 stated: 'When you're dealing with a country like Argentina and many other countries in that region . . .you just cannot rely on one entity to make things work for the long term'.Another element of the Repeated/Wide relational strategy with Argentina was fostering stronger local ties to enable resilience in the face of uncertainty.'We needed to build a real local network, that can then support themselves' (British Council Argentina #1, interview).Given the economic and political uncertainty, public funding was not reliable: ' . . . it won't be sustainable in the long term for the Government to pay every penny . . .' (DEL.Argentina #23, interview).A spillover effect of Momentum's multi-year investment was Argentinian partners initiated their own programme and brought delegates to Edinburgh's Festivals, continuing their relationship with Momentum.
In contrast, relations with Mexico were narrower and somewhat less frequent, with only Festival Internacional Cervantino developing a repeated relation with Momentum (two delegates over 2 years).Mexico paused their participation after the first 3 years (2013-2015) and did not re-engage with Momentum until 2019 as part of a joint Colombia-Mexico delegation.In addition, one of the highly esteemed delegates was originally invited as part of the Argentinian delegation but returned as a representative of a Mexican organization (and was accounted for as a Mexican participant), highlighting a stronger regional Latin American identity and cross-border mobility of creative practitioners: 'I like to call myself a bridge builder.I specialize in international exchange, international work, and because I'm located in Latin America, I have specialized in Latin American relations with the rest of the world' (DEL.Mexico #15,interview).A British Council-HQ #23.interview confirmed this insight: ' . . . the guy from [a festival] in Argentina . . .comes regularly . . .[to] develop very close relationships with Edinburgh across varying Festivals.'The findings highlight the importance of engaging in organizational and individual levels of analysis when studying cultural relations.

Differences in outcomes of relational strategies. Table 2 highlights that for both Mexico and
Argentina, Cultural Exposure proved to be a significant outcome, particularly at the end of the fouryear cycle (when all cells are combined 47.4% and 39.0%, respectively).As expressed by DEL.Mexico #15 in an interview: 'I discovered Scotland because of Edinburgh and because of Momentum and the Edinburgh Festivals. . . .I became more interested in Scotland as a whole, as culture, their own language, their own history.'Thus, we next assess whether Cultural exposure, such as experiencing the Edinburgh Festivals, learning about the Scottish arts sector, and developing relationships, translates into more tangible market-based exchanges and collaborations between the two countries.
Mexico boasts a greater proportion of relationships and networks than their Argentinian counterparts (15.8% as opposed to 13.2%).As noted in the survey by a DEL.Mexico #10: ' . . .from [my organization] we have a deep interest in generating links in multiple ways with the international Edinburgh festival, the science festival, the book fair, the oral narration [Storytelling] festival.'However, the one-off and narrower relational strategy does not facilitate collaborative projects or exchanges between Mexico and the U.K. with just 10.5% of their total outcomes resulting in exchange of cultural goods.More importantly, the Unknown outcomes dominated (42.1% of total), where survey respondents named a potential collaborator, but failed to elaborate the type of activity in development.The lack of repeat ties or a more embedded approach with key organizations and individuals inhibited Momentum's to move beyond cultural exposure to building long-term relational outcomes with Mexico.
For Argentina, Momentum's legacy went beyond the one-off exposure to Edinburgh and Scotland.The repeated and more embedded relations with organizations and individuals enabled wider institutional buy-in in Argentina's cultural sector, as noted in an interview with Festivals Edinburgh #3: . . .all those people have a shared willingness to work with Edinburgh, and with Scotland . . . it works, because you have the funders investing in it, because you have the artists pitching for their work to come here.You have the British Council, perhaps, trying to orchestrate a season of work.You have spaces talking to spaces here, creating residences.
Argentina produced a substantially more balanced portfolio of outcomes at the six-year mark, including exchange of cultural goods (22.7% combining exchange, touring and scouting for work at the Edinburgh Festivals) and exchange of people and collaborations (19.2% combining collaborations and residencies).
Importantly, Argentina's international profile was raised as a result of showcasing Argentinian talent on Edinburgh's world-class stage.An Argentinian delegate explained in an interview: . . . the whole season was completely sold out. . . . the show was really, really good, it made 'a big small buzz' . . .people . . .associate our country with that product. . . .So we started having kind of, I would say, kind of 'credit', you know, people hoping us to bring or to know about other shows that we could bring over there.(DEL. Argentina #23) The relationship fostered between Momentum and Argentina was not a unidirectional projection of culture but was truly mutually beneficial, as emphasized by the cultural relations literature.
As a country that continuously participated in Momentum for 6 years, Scottish sector participants also voiced how relational strength was necessary before successful outcomes with Argentina: '. . . the most important thing for us with Momentum is developing longer relationships and deeper relationships internationally.We've developed very strong links with Argentina . . .and . . .that's been two, three, four years before something actually comes to fruition' (Scottish Sector #544 interview).However, Table 2 points to a significant caveat: Argentinian outcomes after their fourth Momentum year, a point of inflection, exchanges of cultural goods and collaborations decreased (the combination of cells went from 28.7% to 22.7% and 23.5% to 19.2% in each category, respectively) and gave way to a growing number of Unknown and underdeveloped outcomes (21.3%).
In sum, Momentum fostered repeated and embedded relations between Argentina and Edinburgh's Festivals, as well as Scottish sector, that generated mutually beneficial relationships, especially at the four-year mark.These advantages declined over time, in line with the curvilinear results of relations in the network literature.The relations with Mexico, in contrast, had neither the repeated nor embedded relations to develop beyond cultural exposure and resulted in a substantial number of unknown outcomes whose short-and long-term values to the either party and the relationship are questionable.

Comparing Asia: China and Taiwan
Context.Although China and Taiwan are vastly different in size and population, they predomi- nantly speak Mandarin Chinese and are intertwined politically and historically.Both are physically and culturally distant from the British Isles, which may make them challenging counterparts for nurturing cultural relations.DEL Taiwan #9 expressed this in the debrief: '[Delegate] underlined the fact that aesthetic norms differ greatly from a country to another and shared that [Scottish Sector connections] . . . the relationships didn't sustain through time.' Differences in relational strategies: strength and embeddedness.The cultural differences create uncertainty in how to best enact relationships.Momentum developed two somewhat different relational strategies: China maps as Repeated relations and firmly Embedded (Wide set of relationships) quadrant, whereas Taiwan plots as One-off and borderline Embedded (Wide) relations.
To foster relations with China, Momentum focused on the city of Shanghai (2016-2017) with Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre participating in the programme twice, and Hanban Foundation and Centre for China.The Shanghai International Arts Festival boasted an embedded approach with three to four delegates per organization.This Repeated/Wide relational strategy embedded connections with Chinese institutions, with China participating in 2012, and returning for 4 years straight in 2016-2019.
In contrast, Taiwan, also first attended in 2012, then again in 2015-2016 and finally as part of Asia-Pacific countries in 2017.This enabled them to benefit from knowledge sharing by virtue of being exposed to a greater number of one-off ties as noted in the debrief: 'APP delegates would constantly feedback to each other interesting meetings and shows that they have seen.This was an excellent way to benefit from meetings and shows that weren't part of his itinerary' (DEL Taiwan #9 debrief).

Differences in outcomes of relational strategies.
It is surprising that, despite the more embedded relations developed with Chinese organizations and the cultural differences between Scottish/British and Chinese and Taiwanese cultures, delegates reported relatively low rates of cultural exposure when combing the three elements of Experience, Learning and Relationship (both 22.2%, respectively, compared to 26.6% to 47.4% for other countries).
Despite these lower rates of Cultural exposure expressed in the open-ended survey results, the interview with DEL China #8 highlighted the importance of cultural exposure and exchanges: 'I don't think the success should be defined as if I got a deal, or like a transaction, if I get a [Scottish] company to perform in China -that will be great, that's something I definitely want to do . . .-But the kind of connections and also a real understanding of what's happening, like, in Edinburgh, in Glasgow, in Scotland.'During the debrief, DEL Taiwan #6 noted the universal art that could form the basis for cultural exchange: 'She appreciated the mime and physicality of the piece.[Delegate] thought that this type of show would be suitable to the Taiwanese audiences because it doesn't require subtitles.'This resulted in a remarkable outcome of Taiwanese delegates scouting for work (44.4%, predominantly Scottish) and initiating exchanges and residencies (22.2%): 'National Taichung Theater (NTT) would like to invite some of the shows we saw in Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a part of NTT's 2019 festival program' (DEL Taiwan #6, March survey).
China's more repeated and embedded relational strategy applied consistently over 5 years allowed for an easier exploration of opportunities, leading to a more balanced portfolio of marketbased outcomes by year five (31.7%) such as touring (9.5%) at the Festivals and exchanging (9.5%) and programming Scottish work (12.7%), as well as new collaborations (22.2%).As a Chinese delegate noted: ' . . .for me, I'm more interested to try to make happen this dialogue, or collaboration, between Chinese artists and Scottish or British artists.' (DEL China #8, interview).Importantly, Chinese delegates reported a greater proportion of collaborative outcomes (25.0%) at the end of the 4 years than after 5 years (22.2%), which might point to decreasing return on the relational investment.However, China's proportion of Unknown outcomes also decreased from 31.3% to 23.8%, which suggests that the extra year developed some of the ideas further.
In sum, the higher one-off and less embedded relations of Taiwan appear to have sparked a greater use of market-based exchange relations (Scouting for work, 44.4%) and also engaging in artistic exchanges and residences, which enhances cultural exposure.China, in contrast, which had more repeated and embedded relations with their organizations pursued collaborations and partnerships rather than residences but appears to be less interested than Taiwan in bringing Scottish and U.K. work to their country (e.g.Scouting for Work).Ironically, the cultural distance may mean that even more embedded relations can trigger outcomes aligned with a strength of weak tie perspective -more one-off relations open up new opportunities.The focus on a city strategy -Shanghaiwith China does not appear to have produced the same level of outcomes as with Washington DC.

Conclusion
Our study offers insight into the complementarity of cultural diplomacy enacted by State actor and cultural relations enacted by non-State actors.Semi-State actors, such as the British Council and Creative Scotland, provided institutional support and resources that enabled non-State actors, such as festivals, to build cultural relations.We sought to elaborate and inform the practices of cultural relations by incorporating insights from the network literature on relational strength and embeddedness.
We acknowledge that there are limitations within the data.First, some countries have higher rates of unknown outcomes, which may at some point become more developed.It is unclear if this is due to issues of cultural difference, which call for future research into why outcomes may differ between countries and regions.Second, cultural relations may depend on interpersonal and leadership skills to cultivate and sustain relations, but our data did not explore this, which suggests an important avenue for future research in cultural relations.Third, although Momentum organizers strived to achieve a balanced ecosystem, they did not use a consistent categorization schema to facilitate analysis of an ecosystem, which suggests an important avenue for future research into strategies for building cultural relations.
Our study offers three key insights.First, the threshold effects and curvilinearity between relational investment and payoff highlighted in network literature also applies to building cultural relations and aligns with Momentum's tacit understanding of three to four-year investment.Oneoff and narrow ties enabled exploring new opportunities, which may not take root, unless complemented with a more focused and targeted approach.The six comparative cases allowed us to examine the 'successful' and less successful stories.The success stories of Argentina and Canada relative to their peers depended on deep, reciprocal mutual investment.Both countries invested into Edinburgh Festivals by bringing their shows and seasons of work to be performed there and engaged in residencies and collaborations with the Scottish sector.This strengthened Edinburgh's profile as a world-class Festival City, thereby enhancing Scotland's soft power, while providing mutual benefit for all parties involved.However, the continued relational investment in these countries was associated with a decline in outcomes: exchanges of cultural goods and collaborative projects did not grow, whereas the number of 'unknown' -underdeveloped outcomes -did grow.Thus, the intuition of a moderate investment of three to four years should be respected and threshold effects should be considered when enacting cultural relations.
Second, the findings confirm the importance of contextualization emphasized by cultural relations literature but extends it by providing more specific examples of what combinations of strength and embeddedness in relational strategies work and why.For example, repeated and embedded relations with Canada are enhanced by supportive institutional climate in the country, whereas in Argentina, repeated ties and embedded relations are likely required to counterbalance political uncertainty and unpredictable arts funding.However, the embedded but less repeated relations of China appear to have created a focus on exchange and a desire for collaborations, albeit with higher unknown outcomes from relationships.Taiwan, in contrast, used their one-off and less embedded relations to focus on market exchanges, such as disproportionately Scouting for Works relative to other outcomes.
Third, cities played an important role in building cultural relations because they offered geographic concentrations of relations, which could be used as a stable base to further expand and invest in cultural relations across regions within a country or countries within a region.Momentum exemplified this strategic focus on certain cities (e.g.Washington D.C. in the U.S., Shanghai in China or Buenos Aires in Argentina) as landing sites for nurturing relations with countries that might otherwise prove to be challenging due to their size, decentralization, or cultural differences.As demonstrated by China and the U.S., engaging with a specific set of organizations or locale more widely and/or repeatedly lends itself to greater cumulative learning and exposure, and led to desirable outcomes.

Figure 2
Figure 2 visualizes the composition of standardized and aggregated outcomes -Cultural exposure, Exchange of cultural goods, Exchange of people/collaborations and Other -of the 30 countries that had open-ended comments across the four relational quadrants.Outcomes in each quadrant are 100%.Repeated/Narrow relations appear to render the most balanced portfolio of outcomes (22-27% each), suggesting a potentially optimal combination of repeat participation of organizations and less embedded, or narrower relations (organizations being represented by a smaller number of delegates).One-off/Wide ties create a greater exchange of cultural goods (44%), whereas One-off/Narrow results in the highest Exchange of People (29%), which aligns with findings in network studies.Width of relations appears to be the most important for enhancing Cultural exposure (e.g.experience festivals, enhance learning, raise profile and develop networks), seen in the outcomes (31% and 32% respectively).The investment of repeated relations with more people from organizations in a country -Repeated and Wide -does not appear to offset the increased financial and opportunity costs than a One-off/Narrow relational strategy.The primary benefit of Repeated/Wide is higher cultural exposure (31% versus 27%), whereas One-off/Narrow generated a greater exchange of people (29% versus 24%), similar to the importance of weak ties in job mobility -which is also an

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Strength and embeddedness of relations for case study countries.

Table 1 .
Momentum outcomes.throughbuildingcross-culturalrelations that can genuinely transform the way cultural diplomacy works for Scotland(Festivals Edinburgh, 2012-2014, Strategic Plan, 1 July 2010).Momentum was launched in 2011 and formalized in 2013 as an annual International Delegate Programme that takes place each August in Edinburgh.Over time, the partners revised and expanded the Momentum programme, starting with Country Delegates, which focused primarily on performing arts (including festival organizers and performers), funders, and governmental actors, and in 2014 expanded to include the art forms of Visual Arts and Literature.For the purposes of this study, we focus on the Country Delegate programme, which included country delegates funded by Momentum, as well as referred delegates and guests, which were funded by participating countries.

Table 2 .
Performance outcomes of comparative case studies.Canada Hub at Summerhall.I was offered to be a curator and present an edition of indigenous contemporary Scene in 2019 ...[from survey] [Delegate] enjoyed ...meeting with [the Festival Director who] expressed an interest in making a Canadian showcase as part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival and [Canadian delegate] will send ...a list of indigenous storytellers.[fromdebrief].(DELCanada#17)AnotherCanadian delegate discussed Canada Hub initiatives: ' ...whileI was going to be in Edinburgh for Momentum, some other Canadian initiatives were happening in Edinburgh, too ...Canada Hub ...happens in King's Hall for the whole month'(DEL Canada #10, interview).And yet another Canada Delegate highlighted that: 'We are working on bringing one or two of the shows for young people to our next Children's Festival and have to work with other presenters in western Canada to make this possible' (DEL Canada #40, Survey).These exchanges were with Edinburgh Festivals and resulted in entire seasons of Canadian work, which was a highly relevant success for Momentum and explains why Momentum perceived Canada as successful and the U.S. as less successful.