Football for cultural collaborations
Football is being used to celebrate and inform understanding of British culture in Kazakstan. The attention of the football world cup qualifier between England and Kazakhstan on 6 June has been used by the British Council, Kazakhstan to inspire young people to explore British culture through art and football, while working within a shoestring budget.
‘Football is such a core part of British culture, particularly in England, we wanted to utilise the world cup qualifier to show the way in which sport can unify a country and provide a literal playing field of communications, understanding and educational opportunities’ says Dilya Woodward, Marketing and Communications Officer in Almaty office of the British Council.
‘While we may have lost the match (the final score was 4:0 to England) we may have won impact for the British Council. We held a national radio quiz on football that attracted thousands of listeners across the country and taking one lucky winner to London (thanks to Air Astana!). We also launched a national drawing competition attracting over 1300 entries’.
The drawing competition, titled ‘I draw football’, was open to children from just a few months of age to 15 years, with a category for children with special needs. Sponsorship from Shell Kazakhstan Development enabled a display of pictures from the 75 finalists at the Central Exhibition Hall of Almaty and 12 of the winning children received valuable prizes. The opening of the exhibition attracted 150 visitors and the drawings will be displayed until 18 June. The drawings were also presented at the Queen’s Birthday Party in Almaty on 10 June. The winning drawings are also being used to make commemorative, promotional 75th Anniversary cards.
‘As we’re in the 75th anniversary year of the British Council, we’re using sport and art and education to bring together cultural relations, and tapping into international sports events already in the country’s calendar to work effectively with limited resources.’ Dilya continues.
‘We also worked closely with Mark Perryman of the England Fans Forum, the British Embassy and British Alumni Club in Kazakhstan on a series of events. These included a lecture on sport and identity, a visit to the School of Olympic Reserve, a wreath laying ceremony with Kazakh and England fans and a friendly match that ended in a nil-nil draw. By working with many partners we were able to have excellent impact around the game’.
