Momentum Delegate Centre, August 2019
Every year Edinburgh welcomes over 30,000 of the world’s leading arts professionals to enrich its famous August festivals season. The Momentum international delegate programme brings together policy makers, festival organisers, curators, creative entrepreneurs, funders, officials, producers and programmers from all over the world to immerse themselves in this unrivalled showcase of global cultural excellence.
Each delegate is provided with a specially tailored schedule of activities, briefings and meetings to help foster collaboration and exchange. The aim is to encourage new international partnerships, as well as investment in and collaboration with Edinburgh’s festivals and the wider arts sector in Scotland.
Since 2011, Momentum has brought over 700 international delegates to Edinburgh. These visits have resulted in seasons of work being presented by countries including India, New Zealand and Argentina within our festivals and opened up opportunities for delegates to forge new connections with their counterparts in Scotland and internationally.
Momentum is jointly delivered by Festivals Edinburgh, Creative Scotland and British Council, with additional support from EventScotland and City of Edinburgh Council.
If you have an enquiry or want to find out more about the programme you can email the Momentum team at: momentum@festivalsedinburgh.com.
In 2020, the programme re-invented itself into a webinar series bringing together participants from across the nine previous editions for shared thinking and debate.
We brought together 123 attendees from 23 countries across 6 continents, resulting in 146 attendances across our webinar series.
The webinars were split into 3 areas; Core, Visual Arts and Literature. Some of the key themes discussed at the webinars are listed below.
Three of these webinars were artform specific (Literature and Visual Art strands) and their format adapted in order to respond to the needs and interests of these two specific sectors. The others (Core strand) were designed for producers, venue managers, festival directors, policy makers and funders.
This year, with the support of EventScotland, Festivals Edinburgh offered micro-grants to creative practitioners based in Scotland to respond to problematics or areas of interest jointly identified by our Momentum webinar participants and further their international connections. The funds awarded to each individual serve as a fee directly used towards their time further exploring these issues and an opportunity to imagine how these might be addressed.
In addition to the financial support offered, each recipient has the opportunity to be connected with the Momentum international alumni network and Edinburgh Festivals contacts.
Find out about the recipients below.
| Name | Project Description | Alumni and Festival(s) matched to | Outcome |
Morvern Cunningham | Follow up piece to “You’ll Have Had Your City?” drawing from international examples and conversations. |
| New publication: Edinburgh Reimagined |
Barry Church-Woods | Research into the limitations of immersive theatre in a post-covid world and ways to offer communal intimate experiences online and in the digital space. |
| Analysis ongoing |
Rosie Priest | Personal practice led research into how we can use the Arts’ voice and access to institutions in order to benefit communities |
| White Cube by Rosie Priest |
Jeda Pearl Lewis | Research culminating with the first in a series of cross art form duets addressing the topic: “How can organisations and institutions integrate more inclusive practices to benefit communities through platforming disabled artists?” |
| An Ocean of Patience by Jeda Pearl Lewis |
Rosie Trevill | Research into how to protect artists’ wellbeing while the digital medium is merging personal and professional spheres. |
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New website created: protectingartistswellbeing.co.uk |
Simon Sharkey | Research into local solutions to global crises by interviewing artists and policy makers as well as by sharing how they have used the arts and culture in reaction to and recovery from the trauma experienced by the hardest hit communities. | Clothilde Cardinal, Director of Programming, Places des Artes (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Irfana Noorani, cultural organizer, artist, producer and administrator (Washington, D.C, USA) | Opinion blog: https://www.thenecessaryspace.com/post/the-future-of-live-is-immersive-participatory-placemaking |
| Name | Project Description | Alumni and Festival(s) matched to | Outcome |
Harvey Dimond and Krishan Coupland | Featured in Jalada Africa’s new anthology centred around the theme of Nostalgia. |
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| Name | Project Description | Outcome |
Jupiter Artland | Inspired by Alberta Whittle’s 2020 film RESET, which was shot at locations across Scotland and Barbados, Jupiter Artland is working with artists Annalee Davis (Barbados) and Jody Mulvey (Scotland) on a programme connecting artistic ecologies across the two regions. The first phase of this exciting new collaboration is for art school students and those graduating under the shadow of the pandemic, linking the experiences of artists from both places through virtual studio visits and seeking out alliances for artist-led, grassroots and collaborative activities. | More information on overall project on Jupiter Artland's website. Artist Announcement: 14 April 2021 Residency Dates: 16 – 22 April 2021 Online public programme: 31 July to 31 August 2021 |
“The Momentum programme has been instrumental in connecting creative expertise and practice from around the world with Scottish artists, writers and performers. There’s no more important time to keep these global relationships thriving now and into the future”.
Norah Campbell, Head of Arts, British Council Scotland
“The Momentum International Delegate Programme provides a unique opportunity to connect our internationally ambitious artists with like-minded producers, presenters and makers from around the world. Now in its 11th year, the individually tailored programme is proven to facilitate meaningful global connections and encourage an ever growing number of fruitful collaborations.”
Laura Mackenzie-Stuart, Head of Theatre, Creative Scotland
"Momentum is a genuinely transformative initiative that has proved its ability to create meaningful international partnerships."
Nick Barley, Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival
"I was really impressed how the events were structured and I felt that I learnt so much from them and had a substantial opportunity to find out about the international delegates and connect with their work."
Momentum 2018 Scottish sector participant
"I've been to a fair few industry gatherings and delegate programmes and Momentum has been my best experience to date. I felt very well taken care of in all respects: the schedule was wonderfully intense and rigorous, but also had a balance of fun and spontaneity as some meetings and events were added as a natural follow up or addition to what happened the day before."
Joyce Rosario, Former Director of Programming, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Canada