Welcome to our round-up of international opportunities and information, put together by Kate Deans, Creative Scotland’s International Officer.
First, we would like to take a moment to share our statement on Ukraine. You can read this in full on Twitter.
In this blog, we cover:
Remember that our Creative Scotland Opportunities site is the main resource for events, workshops, funding calls and more, and you can filter by ‘International’ there.
European dance network Keðja comes to Scotland
In March, The Work Room is excited to be hosting the next edition of STRE-TCH in Scotland! The STRE-TCH Scotland Creative Lab is a professional development intensive for artists with an established community dance practice. The artist lab will be a space for sharing practice, creative collaboration and enabling connections. It is hosted by The Work Room (Scotland) on behalf of the Keðja network of European dance organisations. This project is funded as part of the Connect & Collaborate programme by the British Council and Creative Scotland.
Scotland heads out to SXSW in Texas
Wide Days hosts an official showcase supported by Creative Scotland at SXSW with Constant Follower, Georgia, Cecile, Hamish Hawk, MEMES, Parliamo and Walt Disco on Thursday 17 March, with other Scottish artists also performing at the festival from 14 – 19 March including Gallus, Joesef, KT Tunstall, Rianne Downey and We Were Promised Jetpacks. Attended by thousands of professionals and music fans from across the world SXSW is a long-standing key event in the music industry calendar. The showcase marks the first time Wide Days has officially collaborated with SXSW in person, and you can read more on the Wide Days website.
Grab an online coffee at Arts Infopoint UK’s international artist mobility gatherings
On the first Tuesday of every month at 9.30am, Arts Infopoint UK will be holding informal coffee mornings to bring together UK-based arts and creative professionals to share cross-border challenges, plans and ambitions, as we navigate the constantly shifting terrain of working internationally currently. At our last session we covered issues such as conveying a place across digital platforms; how to take care of your invited artists when they are going through the series of checks and barriers raised by the immigration system; and inconsistencies at different ports of entry and exit (Eurotunnel, ferries). Book your place on Eventbrite for any of the 2022 sessions.
What is the value of arts and culture in the curriculum?
Following on from their COP26 reflection event in December, Edinburgh International Culture Summit’s turns to the subject of Culture and Education. On Tuesday 8 March at 11am, a panel will draw on a range of experiences from across the world to consider how we currently structure and design our education and curriculums. Read more and sign up on the Culture Summit website.
Connect with other European dance makers who engage with communities
The Work Room partner on CROWD – an international dance exchange with a collaborative network of dance organisations, together seeking to support dance makers who engage with communities as part of their practice. This year, ten selected dance artists (one from each host country and two from NRW in Germany) will collaborate with the support of the network partner organisations. Working in pairs, selected dance makers will come together twice, each time for a two-week residency in a new context. Applications for the 2022 programme are now open, with a deadline of Monday 21 March 2022 (10am).
Author International Travel Fund opens
Open throughout the year, Scottish Books International’s Author International Travel Fund is available to Scottish writers who have been invited overseas to promote their work. Applicants can apply for a maximum of £1000 to support travel costs towards their trip. There are no deadlines, and applications are accepted each quarter as long as there is budget left, taking around four to five weeks to turnaround.
Open now: next Creative Europe Call for Cooperation Projects
The priorities of the new programme include: audiences, environment, social inclusion, internationalisation, and new technology, with sector specific calls in architecture, music, publishing and cultural heritage, as well as the useful calls which range across artforms, and creative, cultural and heritage sectors more widely. Read last July’s update for more information about the new programme, including the scaled-back ways that organisations based in Scotland and the UK can be involved in projects. Now live on the European Commission’s page, with a deadline of 31 March.
Scotland and the UK is not taking part in this new Creative Europe programme. However, within Cooperation Projects it is possible to be involved in the partnership which submits the application, to a lesser degree: as an ‘associate partner’ from a country not participating in the programme, you can join in a partnership if you can cover your own costs; or you can be included to be paid as a ‘subcontractor’ for delivering certain activities, but the partnership has to be able to explain why a non-programme country partner has been selected rather than seeking the expertise or skillset from a Creative Europe country. Before closing, Creative Europe Desk UK put together some guidance on how to be involved as a third party (please note that this guidance was created from the previous programme).
If interested, do speak to your European contacts and see if they are planning a proposal – remind them that it’s possible to be an associated partner, and be clear on what you’re bringing to the table in terms of skills, knowledge, resources and opportunities to show you’d be an attractive addition to a future proposal.
Sign up to Creative Europe Desk Ireland’s newsletter for regular summaries of Creative Europe developments in English.
Scotland: Join in with Our Creative Voice
Creative Scotland, in collaboration with people and organisations from across the culture sector in Scotland, and with the support of Scottish Government, launches a new initiative aimed at promoting the value that art and creativity contributes to all our lives.
With a dedicated website at its centre, Our Creative Voice is a new platform for demonstrating the tangible benefits that art and creativity contribute to our lives.
Several case studies, such as North Lands Creative, show the way in which international working can weave into and enrich local activity, and be sure to share your own stories too!
UKGov: EU-UK Trade Agreement updates
No new updates received since 10 January 2022.
UKGov: Post-Brexit working groups
See our previous July update for a summary of the working groups and who is taking part in discussions.
International: EU Commissioner update
Esch-sur-Alzette had its opening as 2022’s European Capital of Culture, along with Kaunas in Lithuania and Novi Sad in Serbia. The title of European Capital of Culture gives cities the opportunity to put themselves on the map of the world, promote sustainable tourism and rethink their development through culture.
The New European Bauhaus continues as a creative and interdisciplinary initiative seeking to connect the European Green Deal to our day to day lives, spaces and experiences. Preparations are underway for a first-ever Festival of the New European Bauhaus, taking place online and physically in Brussels and further afield. Calls are now open until 7 March for creators and organisations to be part of the programme.
And finally, here are some core sources of information on international working:
Don’t forget that all events, workshops and funding opportunities can be found if you filter by ‘International’ on Creative Scotland’s Opportunities website.
