New videos demonstrate what can be acheived when partners come together to enable international creative connections, writes British Council Scotland Communications Manager, Jordan Ogg.
Whenever someone asks me what the British Council does for the arts in Scotland, "Momentum" is usually the first thing I say. Like most titles, it needs a bit of explanation before you get the real idea of what it's about and why it's so important.
The first thing to say is that Momentum is a programme delivered through a partnership between the British Council; Scotland’s national arts agency, Creative Scotland; and Festivals Edinburgh, the body representing twelve of the city’s major festivals. The second thing to say is that it's a particularly brilliant example of the British Council's work in sharing UK excellence, expertise and experience internationally, and bring learning and insight back home.
Scotland’s capital city attracts over 30,000 international arts professionals to its famous August festivals season each year. The Momentum Edinburgh Festivals International Delegate Programme (to give it its full title) harnesses the reach and scope of this unique cultural showcase to build capacity, connections and long-term international relationships for Scotland’s creative sector.
Operating within the environment of Edinburgh’s festivals, which includes the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - the largest event of its kind in the world - Momentum works by connecting leading international cultural figures with their counterparts in Scotland. Delegates are chosen through a carefully targeted process, and they include curators, creative entrepreneurs, funders, producers, policy makers and programmers. They are then provided with a specially tailored schedule of activities, briefings and meetings to help enable collaboration and exchange.
During the 2018 Edinburgh festivals we saw an opportunity to capture something of the Momentum experience, so we commissioned two films to tell the Momentum stories of Argentina and Canada. We are very pleased with the results, as they have allowed our delegates to speak about what Momentum has done for them.
We hope that by sharing their experiences we can encourage and inspire more great Momentum stories in the years to come.