Celebrating 75 years of cultural relations

"To dream, in politics, is an act of courage."

View a video of highlights from Gijs de Vries's talk at the Royal Society of Arts, 22 October 2009. 

In his lecture, de Vries outlined his vision of a cohesive Europe and the necessity of cultural trade as a defining element of international relations with partners such as China. The transcript of the event is available for download on the dedicated page.

More from the 75th anniversary lecture series

Deller and Kane present artists' views of Britain

The third special exhibition of the British Council Collection at the newly refurbished Whitechapel Gallery in East London runs from 2 October until 6 December 2009. Curated by artists Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane, the exhibition shows a selection of art inspired by life in Britain.

'Let's re-design a world structure we can be proud of'

In his British Council lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects on 29 May, Professor Muhammad Yunus called for the current global financial crisis to be used as an opportunity for major change.

He outlined his ideas for creating social businesses with the potential to solve the problems of poverty, health and the environment.

‘Yes this is a crisis but it is also the best opportunity to rebuild. Let’s not go back to the old normalcy. Let’s re-design a world structure we can be proud of, rather than a world we are ashamed of, as we are today.’

Read more

Read more about the Talking without Borders series of lectures and debates.

Archbishop Tutu starts global conversations.

While global challenges may have changed over the past 75 years, the need to foster international co-operation to solve them remains the same.

One man who embodies the struggle for comprehension and for trust between people is Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu who delivered the inaugural lecture for the Talking without Borders series on 19th February. Speaking on 'The Triumph of Goodness' at the Royal Geographical Society, London, The Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Tutu continued to inspire us to realise what can and must be done to overwhelm ignorance, suspicion, mistrust and division.

 You can see highlights from the lecture  as well as a video of the whole event by visiting our 75th anniversary page on Youtube.