British Council Egypt is delighted to invite young performing arts entrepreneurs to apply to be Egypt’s national finalist in the International Young Performing Arts Entrepreneur (IYPAE) Award 08. The selected finalist, along with finalists from 8 other countries, will undertake a 12-day tour of the UK’s performing arts sector, culminating at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2008. The tour will comprise visits, meetings, seminars, master classes, events and shows and is an opportunity for the finalists to develop their professional networks.

The IYPAE award is a new International Young Creative Entrepreneur (YCE) award developed by the British Council to champion and celebrate the importance of creative entrepreneurs working in the performing arts sector.

Following the UK tour a presentation and a judging process leads to the selection of an overall winner, who will be announced at an awards ceremony. In addition to the honour of the award title, the winner will receive a financial prize of £7500 to be spent on a project in collaboration with the British Council. For example, it may be used for personal training for the winner, to undertake a series of short training courses or a postgraduate course in the UK, or to help fund a placement in UK industry. It could also be used to collaborate with UK specialists to run workshops in the winner’s home country or to develop a tailored project in consultation with UK experts in a particular field.

IYPAE candidates can be drawn from any of the following areas of the performing arts

Candidates must