Best of Edinburgh Festival Coming to DC
This month the excitement, energy and artistic entrepreneurship of the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe comes to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC with On the Fringe: Eye on Edinburgh. On the Fringe: Eye on Edinburgh is a series of new British plays selected from the world's largest arts festival as part of an eight-year project which brought US arts presenters to the British Council's Edinburgh Showcase.
US and UK Higher Education Leaders Meet in NY
The heads of US and UK universities will meet for the first in a series of senior policy dialogue meetings to agree how to strengthen the transatlantic partnership, to discuss how business can be a key player within that partnership and to explore how the US and UK can work together with third countries such as India and China.
Organized by the British Council in cooperation with New York University, the Institute of International Education and Universities UK, this two day conference on October 20-21will be repeated in Windsor Castle in 2011.
The Great Game: Afghanistan Acclaimed by Audiences in DC
The Great Game: Afghanistan, the London Tricycle Theatre's groundbreaking series of plays about the history of foreign engagement in Afghanistan, made its US debut last month, presented by Washington, DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Audiences acclaimed the unique opportunity to experience political theatre in the nation's capital. One audience member said, "We were swept away by the extraordinary candor and penetrating critique of both the historical and the contemporary Western incursions into Afghanistan over the past 150 years."
Read more about the plays in reviews by NPR, Washington Post, and Voice of America or read Director Sharon Memis's op-ed for Foreign Policy. You can also explore themes inspired by The Great Game in Trust Me, I'm an Expert, British Council's anthology of essays that looks at the many ways we explain our culture and portray other societies while illuminating our most pressing concerns.
If you didn't catch The Great Game in Washington, the plays will also be travelling to Minneapolis, San Francisco and New York this fall. Learn more about the US tour and public programs alongside the plays.
68 British Teachers to Visit US Schools
This month, six groups of teachers from England will visit five US public school districts across the country to exchange best practices as part of the Teachers' International Professional Development program (TIPD).
In Miami, the teachers will work at schools with high Haitian-American populations to study community cohesion. In Atlanta, they will study behavior management and in Fairfax County, Virginia they will explore integrating creativity into lesson plans. Other groups will explore professional development in Montgomery County, Maryland and improving achievement in Chicago.
TIPD is funded by the UK Department for Education and managed by the British Council.
UK Writer-in-Residence Arrives at University of Iowa
Northern Irish poet Michael McKimm arrives in the US this month as the British Council's UK Writer-In-Residence at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
Born in Belfast in 1983, Michael received an Eric Gregory Award in 2007, an honor awarded by the Society of Authors to the best UK poets under age 30. In his first full-length collection of poetry, Still This Need (Heaventree Press, 2009), Michael explores events in Northern Ireland's political history.
As part of the University's International Writing Program in Iowa City, Michael will give talks and poetry readings and lead an undergraduate poetry course through November 12.
Kids Euro Festival
A cultural collaboration between the EU embassies, the Kids Euro Festival is an event for children and their families highlighting culture from the European Union in Washington, DC.
The UK will be showcasing new performance, film and literature work for children during the festival, including interactive theater for toddlers by Lyngo Theatre Company and work by Belfast illustrator and author Oliver Jeffers in DC public libraries. The festival will run from October 15 to November 10. Please check the festival website for performance schedules.
BRITISH COUNCIL AROUND THE WORLD
Inspiring Haitians through Music
Matheus Ortega, a 22 year-old musician from Sao Paulo, Brazil and a participant in our Global Changemakers young leaders program, has founded the Haiti Music School. Matheus decided to develop the school in response to the devastating earthquake. He said:
"There are millions of idle people in the streets, afraid of earthquakes, in disbelief of an apathetic government, and dreaming somehow on a better future. Education has always been the path towards development, but the system in Haiti is inefficient for the great majority. But these people are specially gifted in craftsmanship, arts, and rhythm. If they are given a chance to develop their abilities, they will be a beacon of hope to other talented ambitious young Haitians that wish to achieve great dreams."
The Haiti Music School is Matheus's community action project for Global Changemakers, developed with support from the British Council.
Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Ethiopia
Last month, British Council and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation held the second in a series of Interfaith Forums on Climate Change, working with faith leaders to develop long-term environmental programs for their communities.
The conferences were developed in response to a comprehensive BBC World Service/British Council study Africa Talks Climate which looked at African perceptions of climate change and found that many religious Africans did not think humans could impact their climates.
View from Kabul
Hear from British Council's new Director Afghanistan Paul Smith, who blogs about his arrival in Kabul: "Despite recent suppression, this culture is again ripely contemporary. Afghans have learned over millennia to sustain their values of life and livelihood despite being the geographical nexus of other peoples' imperial ambitions." Continue reading on British Council Voices.
BRITISH CULTURAL EVENTS IN THE US
BRITISH COUNCIL SUPPORTED EVENTS
Rebecca Warren Solo Exhibition
Supported by Grants to Artists, new works by UK sculptor Rebecca Warren are exhibited at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago's Contemporary Art Museum in the artist's first solo exhibition in an American museum. Warren has developed a body of work distinguished by its formal risk-taking and shrewd humor. Placed in the open air against the dramatic Chicago skyline, her sculptures morph and abstract the human form, providing an organic counterpoint to the linearity of the cityscape.
October 3-December 12, 2010
The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago Contemporary Art Museum
Chicago, IL
John Hoyland in The Independent Eye
Supported by Grants to Artists, John Hoyland exhibits his work in The Independent Eye at the Yale Center for British Art. One of England's foremost abstract painters, Hoyland has gained international recognition by developing a distinctive personal style that utilizes the movement of paint to evoke a world of emotion and imagination. Also on display are a handful of Hoyland's notable British contemporaries who have produced provocative work over consistently prolific careers.
September 16, 2010 - January 2, 2011
New Haven, CT
Susie MacMurray in Dead or Alive
Supported by Grants to Artists, UK artist Susie MacMurray contributes to Dead or Alive, a showcase of more than 30 international artists who transform organic materials into works of art. In the exhibition, a diverse array of materials including bones, hair, and cocoons are recombined and rearranged into images that address the transience, elegance, and alarming nature of life.
April 27 - October 24, 2010
New York, New York
Yinka Shonibare in Huckleberry Finn
Supported by Grants to Artists, Yinka Shonibare contributes his work to Huckleberry Finn, a showcase of international artists addressing issues of racism, the history of slavery, and struggles for equality through the lens of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
September 28- December 11, 2010
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
San Francisco, CA
Mamoru Iriguchi and Tunde Jegede at Artisphere
British performance artist Mamoru Iriguchi and musician/composer Tunde Jegede participate in the grand opening for Artisphere, a new multi-disciplinary cultural center in the Washington, DC region.
October 10, 2010
Arlington, VA
Oxford Playhouse performs One Small Step
Featured as part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase, UK theater company Oxford Playhouse kicks off a US tour this autumn. In One Small Step, two actors playing dozens of roles bring the space race of the 1960s to life. The setting is a room full of seemingly improvised props which the actors use to embody everything from backpacks to lunar modules as they relive the historical jockeying between America and the Soviet Union.
October 20 - 24, 2010
Boston, MA
October 28 - 30, 2010
West Lafayette, IN
OTHER EVENTS
At any given time, there are a large number of British cultural events taking place across the US. The following are a small selection of non-British Council events. Please contact the venues listed for more information.
The Pitmen Painters
Inspired by a book by William Feaver, The Pitmen Painters was hailed by London critics as "a glorious instant classic" (Evening Standard), "a wonderful piece of theatre" (Financial Times) "a beautiful work of art that everybody should see'" (The Times of London), and "a superb piece of work; warm, funny, sad, and thought-provoking'" (The Daily Telegraph). The play tells the story of the Ashington Group - miners from Northumberland who became celebrated painters. The Pitmen Painters was named Best Play at the 2008 Evening Standard Awards.
September 14 - December 13, 2010
Presented by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Friedman Theatre on Broadway Co-production between Live Theatre, Newcastle and National Theatre
Talking Pictures by Cambridge Jones
Photographs of creative people inspired by Wales or carrying the DNA of Wales will be unveiled in Cardiff, London, New York and Los Angeles over the coming months. The subjects have been chosen and photographed by Llanidloes-born celebrity photographer Cambridge Jones. Jones' portraits are direct, bold and often playful. He says, "I shoot celebrities as people rather than people as celebrities. I like my portraits to be honest without any veneer."
September 20 - November 27, 2010
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center
New York, NY
Chekhov International Theatre Festival
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and award-winning British director Declan Donnellan present the Chekhov International Theatre Festival productions of Three Sisters and Twelfth Night in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. The exclusive North American engagement and premiere of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters follows the disappointments of an upper class Russian family at the turn of the 20th century. The critically acclaimed all-male production of Twelfth Night celebrates Shakespeare's classic comedy about mistaken identity and love hidden in plain view.
October 19 - 23, 2010
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
Tom Phillips Works in 2, 2 ½ & 3 Dimensions
The exhibition showcases the artist's fascination with the definitions of and relationships between objects, text and images. Phillips uses mixed media such as mud, hair, wire, collage and orange peel to create works which reference various literary and philosophical geniuses. Born in London, Phillips is known for his pioneering explorations of word and images and his forty-year Humument project, exhibited in part at Flowers in 2005 and in 2007 at the Dean Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.
October 8 - October 30, 2010
New York, NY
Venetian Masterpieces from the National Galleries, Scotland
The High Museum of Art, in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland, will present an exhibition of 25 masterpieces of the Venetian Renaissance-12 paintings and 13 drawings.
October 17, 2010 - January 2, 2011
Atlanta, GA
Newsletter archives
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland)
Our privacy and copyright statements.
Our commitment to freedom of information. Double-click for pop-up dictionary.
Open the original version of this page.
Usablenet Assistive is a UsableNet product. Usablenet Assistive Main Page.