Arts

09 September 2013

 

ARTS

1. Our work in the arts and creative industries builds international trust and understanding.

2. It supports growth and prosperity, creating value for the UK.

3. We work with ‘the new and the best’ to deliver a clearly defined set of outcomes.

 

Our work in the arts and creative industries builds international trust and understanding

From Jeremy Deller to the London Symphony Orchestra, the arts and creative industries are among the UK’s greatest assets. We share them with the world in order to:

•             inspire and develop arts professionals

•             refresh and challenge people’s perceptions of the UK

•             build trust in the people of the UK and support prosperity and security around the world

•             engage with people in places traditional diplomacy cannot easily reach.

Our work with artists in countries like Burma, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe gives the people of those countries a voice that can be heard around the world.

 

Our work in the arts and creative industries supports growth and prosperity, creating value for the UK

•             We build opportunities for the UK arts and creative industries in fast-growing economies like Brazil, China, the Gulf states, India, Indonesia and Mexico.

We work with the best of British creative talent to deliver innovative, high-quality events that provide a showcase for UK artists and companies in new markets, while developing reciprocal opportunities for international artists and organisations to develop UK audiences.

By sharing the best of British culture with audiences around the world we present the UK as an attractive destination for tourism, education and investment.

We work with the arts and creative industries to develop strong, sustainable partnerships overseas and at home, delivering mutual economic benefit and contributing to global prosperity.

 

The new and the best

By working with the new and the best we deliver a wide variety of projects globally. These projects deliver clear impact and legacy by referring to a clear set of outcomes:

•             artists prosper

•             skills develop

•             institutions prosper

•             audiences grow

•             the UK’s reputation grows

We deliver these outcomes by working through a clear business model that defines our offer to arts professionals globally. We work as a creative convener or broker bringing artists and audiences together. Occasionally we work as a commissioner and producer. We take an entrepreneurial approach and seek partnership income, in-kind support and sponsorship from all appropriate sources.

We work with partners to identify and develop new and emerging UK talent on the international stage.

 

FACTS

The creative industries contribute £17 billion to the UK economy each year. The British Council promotes UK arts and creative entrepreneurship worldwide.

Each year our arts work directly engages over 14 million people worldwide and reaches another four million people through digital media, radio and television.

 

Recent international cultural partnerships

We organise around 500 exhibitions, events, performances and programmes a year, working across the breadth and diversity of architecture, creative industries, dance, design, drama, fashion, film, literature, music and visual arts.

In China, our largest-ever showcase of British arts, UK Now, took place between April and November 2012 in 29 cities, with 776 UK artists visiting 166 venues and reaching more than 4 million attendees. It included major events from some of the UK’s leading companies and institutions, including the British Museum, the English National Ballet and Richard Rogers, alongside a programme of skills, training initiatives and education activity.

In Brazil we launched Transform, our four-year programme of arts and creative exchange lasting from the London Olympic Games to Rio 2016. To date, this has reached more than 932,000 people.

The UK–Russia Year of Culture 2014 is a bilateral project showcasing some of the best of British culture in Russia, and of Russian culture in the UK. It has full government backing on both sides and there will be large-scale flagship events showcasing some of the best of British talent, as well as development programmes aiming to build capacity and establish a fertile base for future collaborations.

Re-Imagine, India 2013–18 is part of a five-year initiative designed to re-imagine the UK–India relationship through arts and culture. A season in 2015 will contain the main showcases, where the wider initiative focuses on longer-term relationship-building.

 

Projects and programmes

The Edinburgh Showcase is a biennial platform of contemporary UK performance featuring some of the most outstanding small and middle-scale touring productions. We use it to develop new international markets and collaborations for the UK arts sector, and bring key programmers, producers and agents to Edinburgh to see the work. 90 per cent of the shows featured are picked up by international promoters.

Selector, our weekly radio show of the best new UK music, has over three million listeners around the world and broadcasts to 36 countries.

The Artists International Development Fund, a major partnership between the British Council and Arts Council England provides opportunities for young artists to expand their work internationally. Over the course of its first year, 73 artists have taken their work internationally and created new professional connections.

We organise and manage the official UK presence at the Venice Biennale, showcasing British artists at the longest running, most prestigious international art show in the world. In 2011, the exhibition attracted over 440,000 visitors. In 2013, Jeremy Deller will present a solo exhibition at the UK Pavilion in Venice. In alternate years we do the same with the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The British Council Collection is made up of over 8,500 artworks by British artists. The collection makes a major contribution to supporting our projects and contributes to a wide range of international exhibitions. It can be viewed online at http://collection.britishcouncil.org/

 

Investment

We are increasing investment in the British Council’s art collection, including the commission of a new work by Mark Wallinger and increased work in Creative Economy and professional skills development, which will become a core part of our offer to countries and organisations in the UK and around the world.