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An online festival featuring cultural exchanges between China and the UK was launched yesterday by the British Council, the UK's international organization for building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language. It is the first such online festival dedicated to the China – UK cultural and creative relationship.
Around 50 cultural institutions from both countries, including the British Library, Science Museum, Tate Modern, and Victoria and Albert Museum, have provided digital content forming more than 75 individual cultural projects, most of which were created during the pandemic and are being shown for the first time in each country.
Cultural projects ranging from films, music, theatrical works, literature to photography and design will be showcased at the three-week long festival, and social topics such as Creative Industries' response to the pandemic, sustainability and climate change, inclusion and diversity are also featured in the program.
[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Kicking off in the UK on Oct 1, the festival focuses on promoting the works of Chinese artists and institutions over the Mid-Autumn Festival. Since Oct 9, the focus of the program has shifted to a presentation of online performances and talks from the UK in China.
The festival celebrates the power of arts and culture in uniting people, and helps strengthen collaboration between artists and cultural institutions from China and the UK, as both are recovering from the the pandemic. In developing #ConnectedByCreativity we sought to overcome the challenges artists, institutions and audiences face in connecting to one another at times of physical distancing and travel restrictions. We wanted to ensure we were able to support connection and build trust despite not being in the same room. Adversity can sometimes breed creativity, and we felt it was important to mark this moment in history and share art that has been produced during a pandemic. We created an online festival to expand the reach of this art to new audiences from both countries, said Rehana Mughal, director of arts for the British Council in China.
