An elaborate arts festival called "Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World" begins this week at Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The $10 million event will feature music, dance and theater from the Arab world.

It will also include exhibitions of fashion, arts, photography, and film that highlight Arab contributions to the various art forms.

Although The Kennedy Center often organizes international arts festivals, Arabesque is unique in that Americans often see images of the Arab world in a negative political context - from the Iraq war to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

President of the Kennedy Center, Michael Kaiser hopes that the festival will promote cross-cultural understanding between the U.S. and the Arab world.

"I believe that this festival is going to help people to understand Arab people, to understand their aesthetic tastes, to understand their hospitality and their generosity and their passion, and we'll start to understand them not just as political beings, but as human beings," Kaiser said.

"Well, to start with, it comes from just showing another view of Arab people. All we see on television are people running around, escaping bombs or thrusting bombs, and we don't see on television very much that has to do with the other side of the culture of the Arab people." - Michael Kaiser, President, Kennedy Center

"It's probably the best thing that we will do in this festival, in terms of creating a dialogue, creating cultural exchange between the young people. And for me, more than the end product, it's the process." - Alicia Adams, Head of International Programming, Kennedy Center

"I always dreamed of coming to America, and now I didn't just come to America. I came to sing and spread peace. And music really does something, changes something in your mind." - Choir member, Al-Farah Choir from Damascus.

1. What does Arab mean?

2. What do you think of when you think of the Arab world?

3. What does a country's art say about its culture?

1. Was there anything in this report that surprised you?

2. Do you think that art can help people of different cultures understand each other? Can you think of any historical or modern examples?

3. What are some movies or music that made you think differently about another culture?