Creative Collaboration is a British Council regional project with the participation of artists, cultural leaders and creative entrepreneurs across South-East Europe and the UK. Creative Collaboration uses innovative approaches to networking in order to encourage arts and cultural leaders from different countries and different art forms to talk together, learn from each other and develop new partnerships for effective cross-border working. The project is bringing together leading arts professionals from the UK and across Europe to work on issues like public space, arts and professional development, social inclusion, cultural leadership and creative cities.
Culture and creativity are important drivers for personal development, social cohesion and economic growth in Europe. Over 85% of Europeans believe that culture and cultural exchange has an important role to play in the EU, in order to help citizens from different states understand each other and develop global understanding and tolerance.
Creative Collaboration operates in partnership with artists, cultural producers and creative entrepreneurs to create a series of collaborative cross-border art projects in South East Europe and the UK.
Creative Collaboration aims to increase the number of artists working in collaboration with artists from other countries in South East Europe and the UK. Following on from a series of Open Space events in 2007-2008 with participants from the creative sector, the British Council now supports over 30 different projects across all art forms.
The Creative Collaboration project is running in Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and the UK.
Creative Collaboration was developed using the innovative methodology of Open Space Technology at events in Istanbul, Bucharest, Athens, Varna and Jerusalem, facilitated by the UK’s award-winning theatre group Improbable. These events enabled artists to discuss the issues that they were passionate about, to forge new partnerships, and to build a network of people ready to collaborate.
Creative professionals from around the region were invited to work together and bid for British Council support and involvement to create cross-border art projects between South East Europe and the UK.
Currently, 11 small-scale and 17 large-scale projects are running in South East Europe and the UK. These include performances, publications, exhibitions, installations, networks, websites and workshops.
For more information about all Creative Collaboration projects please visit our website
At the beginning of 2009 were announced the projects that successfully passed the Creative Collaborations selection. Bulgaria is a project partner in seven of them. They are operational in different sectors such as theatre, film, dance, literature, new media, visual art sand architecture. Further information about these projects is available here.
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