One of the core principles of the company is a commitment to providing a platform for intercultural dialogue, acknowledging that bringing people together from different countries, backgrounds or specialisms who may not ordinarily meet, allows people to learn about and from each other through sharing experience, ideas and challenges that they face in their own contexts.

As Executive Director Mark Muller Stuart explains, “In short, international dialogue allows independent communities of thinkers to come together in order to find new solutions to common problems and misunderstandings. The need of human beings to physically come face to face with each other to settle differences and think through solutions to common threats is as old as human history itself”.

The last two decades have repeatedly demonstrated the limitations of hard power alone in transforming conflicts. Instead we need a full spectrum approach, harnessing the power of civil society and cultural diplomacy. Cultural dialogue is at the heart of what we do at Beyond Borders, through our projects and our international festival, believing firmly that by sharing stories, art, ideas and culture people can develop a deeper understanding of different perspectives and learn to live more constructively together in a multicultural world.

As a creative hub for cultural and arts festivals, literature and politics, as well as its unique cultural and political heritage, we believe Scotland has a vital contribution to make in cultural dialogue and cultural diplomacy more broadly, and use our home in the Scottish Borders as a retreat, hub and safe-space across all our projects and events.