Two Salzburg Global Fellows engage in a dialogue about the power of the arts to unite, inspire, and lead global change
This conversation was held at the Dubai Opera on December 19, 2024 between Salzburg Global Fellows Paolo Petrocelli and Kimberly Maucher‑Lynch. Paolo attended the Salzburg Global Culture, Arts and Society session on “Currents of Change: Redefining Cultural Diplomacy for the Future We Need” in 2022. Kimberly attended the Salzburg Global Culture, Arts and Society session on "Creating Futures: Art and AI for Tomorrow's Narratives" in 2024.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. The full version of the interview can be found here.
Kimberly Maucher-Lynch: Art has a way of touching hearts where words sometimes fail. Can you share a moment where you witnessed art bringing together people in an extraordinary way?
Paolo Petrocelli: Let me give you a couple of examples, starting from something more classic and traditional, like a ballet. [Dubai Opera] is a big venue. People may expect that [a performance here] is not going to be an intimate experience. But it does become intimate, even if you have a big stage, a lot of seats, a lot of people, and massive shows on stage. There is this simultaneous feeling of, "wow, it seems that it’s just me alone in this small room, while at the same time, there are so many others experiencing this with me." For instance, we did a contemporary ballet last year. Sometimes, there is this idea, especially in a city like Dubai, that contemporary ballet is not going to attract a lot of people. It's not going to speak to the taste of everyone. Maybe it's too conceptual, maybe it's too sophisticated, etc. But then, we were surprised. To see the emotion and the interaction of the people in discovering something which maybe was unexpected…It seems that there is sometimes this idea of replicating other people’s experiences, but sometimes we discover the importance of doing something which is unique, and that no one else in your circle has done.
Kimberly Maucher-Lynch: Wow, that really shows the power of community. Let's pivot to some of your work in cultural diplomacy. You've partnered with UNESCO, EMMA, Opera for Peace, the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and many other organizations. You've done a lot of work around bringing together people through art, and promoting dialogue through art. Because of this, you’ve been in a unique position of leading in a space where art and diplomacy meet. What is the biggest lesson, or one of the biggest lessons, that environment has taught you about people?
Paolo Petrocelli: It is a constant process of understanding and discovering, and the more you progress, the more you understand that there is so much to do in the arts - you realize that there is so much potential in bringing people together. You can do this through selling tickets. You can do also this by stopping people on the street with a performance or with a flash mob, you know, something more spontaneous. You can do this by posting something on social media or writing an article. It is a process of sharing talent, emotions, ideas, and values through the arts. We should do this much more. Sometimes I'm surprised by how little institutions, diplomacy, governments, states, and political leaders are relying on the arts and artists. It seems to be one of the first things that's de- prioritized. That’s an incredibly missed opportunity to use the arts, the artistic languages, the artists themselves, and their talents to shape people's minds.
There are so many artists that have the capacity to attract hundreds or thousands of people in one stadium, in one arena. Very few leaders or political leaders in the world have a similar power to speak to millions, if not billions, of people in this way. Which political leader has 40 million views on one video? Maybe [there are] very few political leaders, while we know there are a lot of musicians and bands who have billions of views on their videos because there are billions of people that are listening to them. This is the power of the artists to bring people together.
Sometimes cultural diplomacy is perceived as something not real, like, "yes, music is nice, but at the end of the day, it is not really going to change the world." I don't believe that is true. And again, you know, if we want to talk about numbers, if you look at the engagement that music generates, it is huge. You can use this language, this powerful language, to communicate, not just about love, but also about peace, solidarity, justice...
Kimberly Maucher-Lynch: It's really true. I shared in our first conversation that I'm on the board of an orchestra, and I’ve experienced a similar sense of how the arts unite and inspire people. Within this orchestra program, some youth start at four years old, and then progress through different ensembles all the way up to Philharmonic, and it's unbelievable to see the transformation that's possible through music. Through the arts, one can learn so much about interacting with people across different cultures and backgrounds, so it's a very natural way of communicating at a deeply human level. One of my most vivid memories of watching the orchestra play was during one of their international tours: Against the night backdrop of a historic fortress above Malaga, the U.S.-based orchestra played live with a Spanish orchestra with whom they’d practiced virtually, but only met face to face just before the concert. It was uplifting to experience this meeting of artists who didn’t have a common speaking language, but that night, communicated with each other and with the audience through the shared language of music. And now that we are talking about it, about the point of bringing people together....throughout the years, you have worked with some of the most brilliant people across disciplines, in dance and in the technical space around art. Is there one conversation or collaboration you recall that changed the way you see the world, or the way you approach culture?
Paolo Petrocelli: I'm extremely lucky, from a certain perspective, to deal with arts and music every day, and colleagues that are coming from field that evoke with these kinds of emotions...and when you bring these elements together, which are the arts, the artist, the community, and thousands of people in the audience... you feel that you are dealing with something which is really very important for everyone. It’s interesting - some say that many people just want to have fun. Actually, I believe that the moment when you bring people here to a theater, in a venue, it's maybe when you touch the most authentic and the deepest dimension of their persona. Because again, imagine, we all know when you stay seated alongside other people that you don't know, there are very few occasions in our social life where we accept this proximity to thousands of people. But when we are sitting in a theater room, actually, we enjoy it. We accept the fact that we are all together, very close to each other. This is because we know that a place of art and culture is a safe place and we all accept each other. We are here to share something important.
These very deep experiences of sharing allow you to meet incredible people, artists, and also people in the audience that might change the way they see their work and their life. I learned so much just by listening to the artists, and especially artists that are not coming from my own area, meaning not from Italy, from Europe, or from the Western world. Staying here in Dubai also gave me the opportunity to meet and collaborate with artists from all over the world. And this is a strong reminder for me, of course, that first of all, there is not just one heart and one music. Especially we Europeans, sometimes we have this belief now that there is just one way of doing art, there is just one way of doing culture, and when you come to such a global city like Dubai, you have so many different perspectives and points of view. This exercise of changing perspectives and discovering new languages reminds me that we have a lot to discover… It’s about this discovery process that will never stop.
Kimberly Maucher-Lynch: There's another piece to the work you do in leadership, of course, all of the different hats that you're wearing: You're teaching at MIT and Yale, you're a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, you are doing work with Salzburg Global, and engaging with different think tanks. With so much on your plate, what can you share with other leaders on what these roles mean to you? How you prioritize all these different things and how do they connect to your sense of purpose?
Paolo Petrocelli: Sometimes it’s important in the journey to join forces with more groups of people, and more organizations, because I believe that to really make an impact, and to really make a difference in many fields of our society, is very important to bring different segments of our society together…This is very natural, actually, for the people that are doing my work, or it should be natural from my perspective, because, again, through the arts, it is really connecting with the entire society. I always have this need to have an exchange with people who are coming from completely different fields to understand more about society and to understand more about what I can do as an artist and as a manager.
Kimberly Maucher‑Lynch is a global talent advisor and board director with 25 years of experience leading HR transformation for top-tier companies in tech and life sciences (Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, SAP and Workday). She works with startups, accelerators, and international organizations to shape future-ready people and innovation strategies. Off the clock, she finds rhythm and clarity behind the strings of her harp.
Paolo Petrocelli is a cultural and performing arts leader with a global track record of building institutions and connecting cultures. He currently serves as Head of Dubai Opera and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Salzburg Global Fellow. With a background spanning diplomacy, management, and international cultural affairs, he is committed to advancing cultural cooperation, innovation, and social impact through the arts.
