On 19 January 2023, Ambassador Tanee Sangrat met with Mr. Chase Robinson, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, together with Dr. Emma Stein, Curator for Southeast Asian Art and Ella Weiner, Research Assistant for Global Affairs, to discuss mutual interest in wide areas of cooperation between Thailand and the Museum.

Ambassador Tanee talked about his work strategies and goals before mentioning the Embassy’s activity plans to celebrate the 190th Anniversary of Thailand-U.S. Diplomatic Relations, including the Thai Festival in Washington, D.C., an exclusive dinner for “Friends of Thailand” from all U.S. sectors, especially representatives and senators, and a series of seminars covering a wide range of different topics all year round. Moreover, Ambassador would introduce museums in Thailand to discuss the possibility of initiating relevant cooperations between museums, such as cultural heritage presentation, contemporary arts exhibitions, and ancient artefacts preservation.

Director Robinson informed about the museum’s centennial celebration, the first Smithsonian museum to showcase arts since its establishment during 1919-1923, which comprise ongoing activities from Fall 2022 until mid 2024. He emphasized that the museum is open to suggestions on how each country celebrates nationally-important days in order to attract more people to visit the museum, as well as inviting embassies in Washington, D.C. to co-sponsor activities with the museum. These events would include intellectual seminars to share knowledge and best practices, cultural performances, food, films, and any aspects each country would like to promote.

In addition, Dr. Stein also showed the museum’s exhibition of ancient ceramics from Ban Chiang, Thailand under the name “Prehistoric Spirals: Earthenware from Thailand,” which showcase historical crockery and offer prehistoric research knowledge and best practices. The exhibition runs during the museum’s opening hours everyday (https://asia.si.edu/)