UK exchange program Intersect launches

14 June 2018 Books+Publishing

The British Council and Diversity Arts Australia have launched a new exchange program, Intersect, for British and Australian arts professionals from culturally diverse and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.

Intersect will offer six diverse British and Australian arts professionals the opportunity to visit each other’s countries, with an Australian delegation to visit the UK in September 2018 and UK participants to visit Australia in early 2019. In the first year of the program, the focus is on people from the performing arts, visual arts, literature and screen sectors. Participants will be encouraged to develop their international networks, and to mentor and collaborate with international colleagues.

The program also includes a digital resource aimed at arts practitioners that comprises research and case studies, as well as a touring platform that supports British artists from minority ethnic backgrounds to tour their work in Australia.

The initiative was developed through stakeholder consultation, which included workshops facilitated by Diversity Arts Australia and Footscray Community Arts Centre.

‘The arts sector in the UK and Australia are aligned in so many positive ways, but we also share similar structures and barriers. Intersect seeks to strengthen diversity and opportunity in a place where power lies—among those who decide whose work is seen, what is seen, how it is seen and who sees it,’ said Helen Salmon, the director of the British Council in Australia.

Expressions of interest for Intersect are now open, and will close on 2 July. See more information here.

Category: Local news