MAKING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE British Council in Australia 2009

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.

The City Chalks by Dirk Yates, Cityscapers Cardiff participant 2009. Photo by Grainne Brunsdon.

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

OuR 2009 pROGRAMME WILL FOCus ON:

• ShowcaSing inSpired ideaS and unique CREATIvE WORK

• 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.

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

The story of British creativity is a story of endless reinvention.

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.

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 AwardsAward 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 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 SpacesCollaborations 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

Cityscapers 2009 participant Hannah Young and her work ‘The Home of Princess Fairy Faffabout’, a hit with school children in Cardiff.

DEvELOpING CREATIvE CITIEsOuR 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.

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

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.

TACKLING GLOBAL IssuEssuppORT 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.

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

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. 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.

Cityscapers (June 2010)

Sixty talented students from Australia, East Asia and the UK will work

on an intensive design brief with universities in London as part of the

London Festival of Architecture.

Global Future sustainability Leaders program (February 2010)

We’re working with the Centre for Sustainability Leadership in

Melbourne to help launch a new online education portal to equip

people around Australia and the world with the skills they need to

tackle climate change through personal action. This online platform

will provide an opportunity to learn from British leaders in the field.

Climate project funding

We’ll be offering grants to support talented people from a variety

of sectors kick-start projects that aim to mitigate the effects of

climate change.

streetwise Opera

Streetwise Opera works with homeless and ex-homeless people in the

UK to increase confidence, self-esteem and social networks through

a programme of professional music-making. In Australia they’ll work

with the Choir of Hard Knocks on a collaborative music project.

Dates to be confirmed.

Mohammed Ali (aka Aerosol Arabic)

Birmingham-based graffiti artist Mohammed Ali (aka Aerosol Arabic)

will work with young people in Western Sydney on a street art project,

workshops and roundtable discussions. Dates to be confirmed.

Darwin Now

Charles Darwin’s breakthrough ideas about evolution have changed

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

publication of his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural

Selection. To celebrate Darwin’s remarkable legacy, the British Council

is supporting an exciting series of global events and initiatives.

Please check our online events calendar throughout the year for

details of these and other events: www.britishcouncil.org.au

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

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)

A hip-hop theatre and multimedia collaboration between established

and emerging UK and Australian artists. The project will raise the

profile of hip-hop culture to inform, inspire and entertain Australian

artists and audiences. In partnership with Information and Cultural

Exchange (ICE) in Western Sydney.

Global Changemakers – Guildford Forum

(Applications open July 2009)

Outstanding applicants are invited to attend high-level leadership

and media training sessions in Guildford, UK, in preparation for

a youth delegation proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Changemakers are also eligible to apply for funding for Community

Action projects.

Trace Collective / Trace: Displaced (August 2009)

In August and September, the Cardiff-based arts collective Trace will

be joined by Australian artist Tony Schwensen for a residency and

exhibition project at Artspace exploring residual colonial connections

between Old South Wales and NSW through live performance and

installation. Schwensen and Trace’s Andre Stitt will also undertake

a collaborative site-specific performance project for Campbelltown

Arts Centre based on the process of re-decorating a house in Minto.

Presented in Sydney.

spectacular by Forced Entertainment (August 2009)

This Sheffield based experimental arts company mixes theatre,

installation, digital media and film. Their inventive new work,

Spectacular, plays with death and playing dead, the strange contact

between two performers on-stage and an audience caught between

what they are watching and what they are being told. Presented

at Arts House in Melbourne.

Realise your Dream Awards (september 2009)

Five winners will receive a tailored professional development

programme in the UK’s creative industries, a return flight and $8000

cash. Awards are held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.

Accelerate Winners Reception (October 2009)

Three Indigenous leaders will be recognised by their peers and

creative industry before embarking on a professional development

and leadership programme in the UK.

Tacita Dean Palast (detail), 2004, location photograph, courtesy of the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris.

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 AustraliaTel: +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.

‘volume’ by united visual Artists (uvA) is presented at Federation square

in Melbourne for the Light in Winter Festival, June 2009.