News

   For over 30 years Visiting Arts has been an important resource and provider of information for organisations wanting to work overseas or with overseas partners. As technology improved in the 90’s and the world wide web became accessible to more and more people, Visiting Arts launched its first website in 1996. Although basic in design, the site gave basic information and was used to compliment the Visiting Arts printed publications in a time before broadband and a sceptical view of the internet was still in place.

In 2009 the VA website is used to provide information, advice, announcements and details of our work, but Visiting Arts also has a number of other online projects, all of which are designed to:



    * Increase capacity in the sector

    * Reach an audience beyond established networks

    * Provide specialist support to artists and arts organisations



Some of our current projects include :

 

Information and Resources

http://www.visitingarts.org.uk/info_resources/index.html

The information on the Visiting Arts website includes advice for artists and producers about working with the UK as well as helpsheets such as “Nail to Nail” and “Red Tape” which deal with the logistics of working internationally.

 

Cultural Profiles

http://www.culturalprofiles.net

Visiting Arts’ country profiles have been well established over the last 10 years, giving details of the cultural sector, giving practitioners a valuable source of information without the need for the high expense of a research and development visit. Visiting Arts are looking into ways of expanding the number of countries covered.

 

Arts-Planet

http://www.arts-planet.net/

Started as a project to detail participants of joint Visiting Arts/British Council projects, Arts-Planet is rapidly becoming the major social networking dedicated to the arts and artists. Anyone can sign up as a user and by doing so you can contact directly arts professionals from around the world with a proven track record for dialogue, collaboration and project development.

 

All of these online projects are free to use.

 

With the Arts Council’s new priority of digital opportunity, VA has developed its ideas for running creative programmes across the world via the internet. In this way, we maximise impacts and audiences, minimise the carbon footprint and increase the intercultural learning.  Square Mile is such a project 

 

1 mile² is an online global arts project connecting artists, ecologists, local communities, local authorities and arts organisations. The project examines the cultural, biological, aesthetic and environmental diversity of a mile squared as seen through the eyes of its local community working with an artist and an ecologist. 1 mile² asks people around the world to map this diversity and consider the interrelation between culture and the environment, sharing their creative out outputs and experiences on a central online platform.

 

We are keen to hear of other digital global projects and look forward to developing more ways of connecting people and cultures through the 21st century technologies



If you would like to get involved in any of these projects, or would like more information, please contact andy.kyriakides@visitingarts.org.uk.

 





Source