MAKING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE British Council in Australia 2009
The City Chalks by Dirk Yates, Cityscapers Cardiff participant 2009. Photo by Grainne Brunsdon.
Why we’re here The British Council has been creating ties between people in the UK and other countries for 75 years. We are the UK’s leading cultural relations agency and one of its largest charities. Each year our projects in education, the arts and creativity, sport and science reach over 112 million people in 110 countries and territories. Our work is guided by a belief that the future for the UK and every nation depends on people of all cultures working together to develop foundations of mutual understanding and trust. We’ve been in Australia since 1947, working to build mutually beneficial relationships between future leaders, innovators and creatives in both our nations. Our plans for the future are as ambitious as the people we work with. As part of a network of 12 countries in the Asia Pacific, we are continuing to expand the international dimension of our projects and work strategically with partners from the UK and across the region.
Rider Spoke by UK interactive gamers Blast Theory, combined cycling, theatre, location-based game play and wi-fi technology in Sydney during February 2009. Photo by Alex Kershaw.
A taste of things to come
Our 2009 programme will focus on:
The story of British creativity is a story of endless reinvention.
• Showcasing inspired ideas and unique creative work
Each year we bring the very latest thinking from the UK to Australia and generate opportunities for creative leaders from both nations to share ideas and work together. In 2009, we’ll be introducing new work to both Australia and the UK through the following significant themes. Creative and knowledge economy: The UK is a global centre for education, knowledge, skills and creativity. Our programmes highlight the UK’s strengths in these areas, whilst providing opportunities for talented people to access new skills and networks. Developing climate solutions: We’re strengthening networks of emerging leaders working in the area of climate change across the Asia Pacific. We provide skills, resources and connections to drive forward positive actions and help ensure a representative youth voice at key international events. Intercultural dialogue through the arts: The UK’s dynamic cultural sector supports diverse creative work. It is a source of inspiring stories we can bring to Australian audiences, encouraging positive understanding between people, even if they see the world in different ways.
• Supporting creative leaders, scientists, researchers and social entrepreneurs with professional development opportunities • Facilitating educational exchange between the UK and Australia • Supporting people striving for better informed, more inclusive societies • Building the capacity of young people working to tackle climate change through leadership training and collaborative international initiatives.
The British Council: A Story of Engagement This year marks the 75th anniversary of the British Council’s work in cultural relations. Activities are taking place around the world to celebrate, including the sharing of inspirational stories from people involved with our cultural relations activities. See www.britishcouncil.org
Realise Your Dream Award winners in 2008 (left to right): Candy Bowers, Lucy Dyson, Tommy Murphy, Leticia Caceres, Andrew Apostola, Jake Nash.
Building careers and creativity Scholarships and professional development opportunities The best way for people to form lasting, meaningful relationships is through shared experience. Through a range of scholarships, research exchanges and professional development opportunities, we connect people to the best the UK has to offer. Accelerate: Indigenous Australian Creative Leadership Program Supports outstanding Indigenous Australians to undertake leadership training as well as professional industry placements in Australia and the UK. Three awards will be offered in 2009. Partners are The University of Melbourne through the Wilin Centre, Australia Council for the Arts, Virgin Atlantic Airways. Chevening Scholarships For a one-year taught Masters, or between three and twelve-months research towards an Australian PhD at a UK institution. The scholarships cover a return airfare, tuition fees and living expenses. Managed on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, partners are National Australia Bank (NAB), John Landerer and family. Landerer UK Arts Scholarship To support a taught Masters in a creative industries subject at any UK institution. Provides $30,000 towards tuition fees and living expenses. Managed on behalf of John Landerer and family.
Realise Your Dream Awards Award recipients further their career in the UK with a tailored professional development programme in the creative industries. Five winners fly to London and receive $8,000 to cover expenses. Partners are National Australia Bank (NAB), British Airways, Stamford Hotels & Resorts, triple j, The Glue Society, Access PR. Design NSW: Travelling Scholarship A grant of $18,000 to assist a NSW designer at the beginning of their career to undertake a programme of professional development overseas. Partners are Arts NSW and Powerhouse Museum. Study visits and exchanges Throughout the year we organise visits to the UK for people who are well-placed to make a significant contribution to networks at major global events and conferences organised by the British Council. To receive information about these opportunities, register to receive our e-zine at: www.britishcouncil.org.au For information about other UK scholarships and study opportunities visit: www.britishcouncil.org/au-educationuk
Cityscapers 2009 participant Hannah Young and her work ‘The Home of Princess Fairy Faffabout’, a hit with school children in Cardiff.
Developing creative cities Our urban future through the eyes of those who’ll shape it Creative Cities is a three-year cultural and artistic partnership between people in East Asia and the UK. This will be the century of the city and nowhere more than East Asia where every month two million more people live in cities. The distinctive identity and personality of a creative city can help people to think, plan and act creatively, to grasp opportunities and solve problems. The British Council recognises that the arts and creative industries have a special role in developing this type of city. Through Creative Cities we’ll be collaborating with talented people from the UK and across the region who’ll share their expertise on how to develop successful knowledge economies, strategically, commercially and artistically. The programme addresses essential features of creative cities – openness, networks, leadership, design, learning, creative entrepreneurship, and the interplay between tradition and innovation – through the following themes.
Cityscapers This annual series of intensive design studios in UK cities is a partnership with Professor Richard Goodwin’s Porosity Studio at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. Sixty talented students of visual arts, architecture, urban planning, design and engineering from Australia, East Asia and the UK work together to propose innovative and poetic solutions to urban planning issues. Inclusive Cities A series of projects that celebrate and give a voice to communities in the cities of East Asia and the UK by exploring issues of diversity, cultural identity and social inclusion. Transforming Public Spaces Collaborations between artists in East Asia and the UK, which investigate how creative interventions into the fabric of cities can change the way we inhabit them. For more information on all these projects visit: www.creativecities.org.uk
Tackling global issues Support for social entrepreneurs and future leaders We’re supporting social entrepreneurs and emerging leaders to enhance their skills through exchange programmes, global forums and professional development opportunities in the UK. Global Changemakers Global Changemakers supports a large global network of emerging leaders and social entrepreneurs aged between 16 and 25 to develop their leadership skills. Sixty activists from East Asia and around the world will work in the UK on a proposal to world leaders with support from the project’s patron, Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Six Changemakers then go to the World Economic Forum in Davos in early 2010 to deliver a message from the world’s youth. Participants are also provided with funding and training to develop projects on their return.
This image of earth and dumpsters was taken in London and is featured in a film trailer produced by the Centre for Sustainability Leadership (CSL) to promote an online learning platform, which features interviews with UK climate experts.
Developing Climate Solutions Our programme utilises UK expertise in the area of climate change and supports the development of people working to raise awareness and propose solutions to its challenges. We provide leadership skills-development, project management training and seed funding for projects. We’ll assist a youth contingent to attend the Conference of Parties in Copenhagen in December 2009, where the successor to the Kyoto protocol is to be agreed. Our Asia-wide Climate Cool network will showcase its achievements on a journey from Asia to Europe, highlighting regional collaborations with the UK towards tackling climate change. To receive information about these opportunities, register to receive our e-zine or visit our events calendar at: www.britishcouncil.org.au
New strategic partnerships The relationships that make a difference are the ones that grow over time as the people involved discover how they can collaborate better to support each other’s objectives. That’s why we see our programme developing as a set of close strategic partnerships, which also enable us to represent the rich diversity of both our nations. A partnership with us is likely to connect you with people from a number of countries within East Asia, the UK and beyond. We can work with you to reach new audiences of internationally-minded people to achieve your goals. We welcome any approach from prospective partners who share our cultural relations objectives and who want to help strengthen the relationship between Australia, East Asia and the UK by supporting the development of talented Australians.
Lord Lion and Lady Unicorn are key characters in the 2009 marketing campaign for Realise Your Dream. This programme is a partnership between the British Council and NAB, British Airways, Stamford Hotels & Resorts, The Glue Society, triple j and Access PR. Photo by Chris Searle.
Our partners include: Access PR Artspace Visual Arts Centre Australia Council for the Arts British Airways Critical Path Federation Square Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE) John Landerer and family Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) National Australia Bank (NAB) Stamford Hotels & Resorts Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority Sydney Opera House Sydney Theatre Company The Glue Society The University of Melbourne, through the Wilin Centre The University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts triple j University of Technology, Sydney, Centre for Contemporary Design Practices Virgin Atlantic Airways
What’s coming up Each year we support performances, workshops, public programmes, exhibitions, research exchanges and visits, providing Australian audiences with access to new ideas and innovative creative work from the UK. Tacita Dean (June 2009) A major survey of work by the internationally acclaimed British artist at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Renowned works in 16mm film will show alongside Dean’s ethereal photographs, prints and drawings, which hauntingly capture the passing of time, space and the mysteries of the natural world. Presented in Melbourne. United Visual Artists (UVA) – Volume (June 2009) Volume by the UK’s United Visual Artists and One Point Six utilises sound, light and sculpture to create an original and highly interactive installation. Volume draws attention to city landmarks as sculptural
Tacita Dean Palast (detail), 2004, location photograph, courtesy of the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris.
sites in their own right and creates an opportunity for audiences to reconsider their spatial impact. Presented in Melbourne. East London to West Sydney (July, November 2009)
Cityscapers (June 2010)
A hip-hop theatre and multimedia collaboration between established
Sixty talented students from Australia, East Asia and the UK will work
and emerging UK and Australian artists. The project will raise the
on an intensive design brief with universities in London as part of the
profile of hip-hop culture to inform, inspire and entertain Australian
London Festival of Architecture.
artists and audiences. In partnership with Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE) in Western Sydney.
Global Future Sustainability Leaders Program (February 2010) We’re working with the Centre for Sustainability Leadership in
Global Changemakers – Guildford Forum
Melbourne to help launch a new online education portal to equip
(Applications open July 2009)
people around Australia and the world with the skills they need to
Outstanding applicants are invited to attend high-level leadership
tackle climate change through personal action. This online platform
and media training sessions in Guildford, UK, in preparation for
will provide an opportunity to learn from British leaders in the field.
a youth delegation proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Changemakers are also eligible to apply for funding for Community
Climate project funding
Action projects.
We’ll be offering grants to support talented people from a variety of sectors kick-start projects that aim to mitigate the effects of
Trace Collective / Trace: Displaced (August 2009)
climate change.
In August and September, the Cardiff-based arts collective Trace will be joined by Australian artist Tony Schwensen for a residency and
Streetwise Opera
exhibition project at Artspace exploring residual colonial connections
Streetwise Opera works with homeless and ex-homeless people in the
between Old South Wales and NSW through live performance and
UK to increase confidence, self-esteem and social networks through
installation. Schwensen and Trace’s Andre Stitt will also undertake
a programme of professional music-making. In Australia they’ll work
a collaborative site-specific performance project for Campbelltown
with the Choir of Hard Knocks on a collaborative music project.
Arts Centre based on the process of re-decorating a house in Minto.
Dates to be confirmed.
Presented in Sydney. Mohammed Ali (aka Aerosol Arabic) Spectacular by Forced Entertainment (August 2009)
Birmingham-based graffiti artist Mohammed Ali (aka Aerosol Arabic)
This Sheffield based experimental arts company mixes theatre,
will work with young people in Western Sydney on a street art project,
installation, digital media and film. Their inventive new work,
workshops and roundtable discussions. Dates to be confirmed.
Spectacular, plays with death and playing dead, the strange contact between two performers on-stage and an audience caught between
Darwin Now
what they are watching and what they are being told. Presented
Charles Darwin’s breakthrough ideas about evolution have changed
at Arts House in Melbourne.
our understanding of the natural world and our place within it. This year marks the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and 150 years since the
Realise Your Dream Awards (September 2009)
publication of his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Five winners will receive a tailored professional development
Selection. To celebrate Darwin’s remarkable legacy, the British Council
programme in the UK’s creative industries, a return flight and $8000
is supporting an exciting series of global events and initiatives.
cash. Awards are held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Accelerate Winners Reception (October 2009)
Please check our online events calendar throughout the year for
Three Indigenous leaders will be recognised by their peers and
details of these and other events: www.britishcouncil.org.au
creative industry before embarking on a professional development and leadership programme in the UK.
‘Volume’ by United Visual Artists (UVA) is presented at Federation Square in Melbourne for the Light in Winter Festival, June 2009.
Visit us in Sydney or online No matter where you are based in Australia, we can help you connect with the best the UK has to offer and build new relationships with like-minded people across Britain and the Asia pacific region. Our head office is in Sydney and we have a colleague located permanently in Melbourne. The Team Rebecca Matthews – Director Grainne Brunsdon – Assistant Director Kirsten Freeman – Assistant Director (Melbourne) Raynee Dewar – Communications and Projects Manager Anneke Jaspers – Projects Coordinator Amrit Gill – Projects Assistant Elena Shurunova – Finance and Administration Assistant For full details of what we offer and a comprehensive database of study and scholarship opportunities in the UK go to: www.britishcouncil.org.au CONTACT US PO Box 88, Edgecliff NSW 2027 Australia Tel: +61 2 9326 2022 Fax: +61 2 9327 4868 Email: enquiries@britishcouncil.org.au This brochure has been printed by Finsbury Green on EcoStar 100% recycled stock.