PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of State has selected Rhode Island School of Design to be a host institution for its Fusion Arts Exchange program for the second consecutive year.

For six weeks this summer, 20 students from Argentina, Finland, Jordan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea and the United States are participating in “Digital Media, The Self, and Community: Using Digital Media as a Cross-Cultural Tool,” which was specially designed by RISD faculty to explore how the emergence of digital media operates within the global culture.

Participants will work closely with New Urban Arts, a Providence arts studio for high school students that introduces youngsters to new forms of digital communication. Weekly studio workshops will allow local students to work with Fusion Arts Exchange participants to explore how the notions of “communication and exchange” are enabled through digital media.

In addition to their studies in Providence, students will travel to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., where they will be introduced to researchers, artists, designers and business people who use a variety of cutting-edge digital media applications. •