International Tour

In mid-January 2019, British Council launched the first edition of SPARK: The Science and Art of Creativity festival, taking place at Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts in Hong Kong. 

SPARK celebrates creativity across the arts, sciences and education, and offers a platform for cultural exchange between the UK and Hong Kong. With more than 30 events over three days and over 50 creative and education partners from the UK and Hong Kong, SPARK provided a series of interactive experiences, provocative performances, stimulating talks and other innovative happenings.

The National Gallery will loan around 60 masterpieces to Japan for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. This will include Van Gogh's classic Sunflowers, its first time in Japan.

The works will be displayed, in partnership with media organisation The Yomiuri Shimbun, at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo on 3 March–14 June and the National Museum of Art in Osaka on 7 July–18 October in 2020.

British Council has now appointed Jean Cameron as Creative Director for UK/Italy Season 2020, starting in February 2019. Jean will work with British Council teams in UK and Italy, as well as directly with the UK cultural sector to create a high-impact, cost-effective season of UK cultural activity in Italy in autumn 2020.

When Oscar Wilde died in 1900, the few obituaries that appeared were miserable: The Times concluded that death had brought an end to ‘what must have been a life of wretchedness and unavailing regret’, while The Sunday Times thought ‘no sadder record of a life wilfully blighted can be found… ’ And yet—more than a century later—Wilde’s star burns brighter than ever, and as Matthew Sturgis writes in his new biography (Oscar: A Life) ‘the position he holds is an extrao

London International Mime Festival, directed by Helen Lannaghan and Joseph Seelig, is a unique event in the theatre calendar, a once a year chance to see the very best and newest contemporary visual theatre that embraces cutting edge circus-theatre, juggling, puppetry, live art, mime and physical theatre.

Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella performed by the award-winning New Adventures company is a thrilling and evocative love story, set in London during the Second World War that returned in 2017 with its major UK tour and is now touring internationally until March 2019. During Christmas 2017, the show was filmed and aired by the BBC before it hit cinemas worldwide in February 2018.

With Edinburgh Fringe coming to a close for another year, British Council is reminding artists with exceptional new productions to apply to be part of the next Edinburgh Showcase – taking place 19-24 August 2019.

British Council's biennial platform puts on the best of contemporary UK theatre, dance and live art at the Edinburgh International and Fringe Festivals. If you are a UK-based artist or organisation, visit the Edinburgh Showcase website to apply.

The Department for International Trade has awarded £319,244 split between 19 music artists from the UK in the latest round of the Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) in August 2018.

Part of the Exporting is GREAT campaign, the MEGS offers grants between £5,000–£50,000 to UK-registered independent music companies for help with marketing campaigns targeted at introducing UK music projects overseas. Funding is based on the ambition of the campaign, measured by financial commitment, sales targets and business outputs.

The Culture Diary, with the GREAT Britain Campaign, the Department for International Trade and HMG partners, curated the UK Innovation Hub stand, and supported the Futures Stage and Knowledge Hub with exhibitors, panels and showcases at the International Business Festival on 27–28 June.Highlights include:

Take your first steps into international touring and grow your audiences abroad with The Art of Export. Download a pdf copy here.

This guide offers essential advice and experiences from industry leaders. It also has a go-to list of services available from government departments and agencies to help you make the most of international opportunities.