The mission of the Hollings Center is to provide a forum for dialogue involving citizens of the United States and predominantly Muslim countries on issues of shared interest, in order to open or reinforce channels of communication and to deepen understanding. The Center believes that people-to-people dialogue is an essential component of the long-term process of strengthening relations, as dialogue promotes in-depth exploration of complex topics, illuminates diverse viewpoints and helps to humanize difficult issues.

The Center was established as a nongovernmental organization through legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress, primarily through the efforts of Senators Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), as part of the State Department appropriations bills for 2004 and 2005. Congress created a trust fund whose interest and earnings support the Center’s operations and programs. The Center’s official name is the International Center for Middle Eastern-Western Dialogue. It is widely known as the Hollings Center in recognition of the key role of Senator Hollings, who retired in 2005 after a 39-year Senate career, in its formation. The Center is a nonprofit, tax-exempt (501-c-3) organization.

The Center's core activity is to convene seminars, colloquia and conferences. Several features mark the Hollings Center’s approach to dialogue:

• The Center focuses on topics that are cutting-edge or under-explored; that are well-suited for small groups; and that lend themselves to multiple meetings.
• To encourage practical outcomes from dialogue, the Center provides small grants to selected conference participants for collaborative research, pilot programs and other joint initiatives on themes related to conference topics.
• The Center seeks to involve participants in the design and evaluation of its programs.
• The Center places special emphasis on engaging participants who reflect the diversity—ethnic, religious, professional, political and regional—characterizing the societies concerned.
• The Center conducts programs both on its own and, when appropriate, in partnership with other organizations.
• The Center is nonpartisan; its central purpose is to create an ongoing forum in which diverse perspectives can be exchanged and new thinking stimulated.

The Hollings Center’s programs generally take place in Istanbul, a city whose unique role as a bridge between East and West and as a crossroads of civilizations and cultures makes it an ideal venue for multinational dialogue. The Center's headquarters are in Washington, DC. The Council of American Overseas Research Centers has helped to develop the Center.

The Center's Executive Director is Amy
Hawthorne. Click here for the members of
the Center’s Board of Directors.

For further information, please contact:
Ms. Emily Weedon, Assistant to the Director
1200 17th Street, NW, 4th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
E-mail: emily.weedon@hollingscenter.org
Telephone: +1 202.833.5091
Fax: +1 202.728.0657