BEIJING, KUNMING, SHANGHAI, SHENZHEN AND ZHENGZHOU - Media OutReach – 6 September 2021 – The British Council launched the 2021 UK-China Contemporary Culture Festival. Titled #ReConnect, this year’s edition is a hybrid festival featuring work by leading British art and cultural organisations and artists via online and offline platforms, offering audiences in China an opportunity to reconnect with British art from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. Organised by the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and education opportunities, and sponsored by the Welsh Government, the festival will present nearly 40 cultural performances and projects online and offline in multiple cities across China between 1 and 20 September 2021.
“We are delighted to be a partner of the British Council, supporting the 2021 UK-China Contemporary Culture Festival to give people in China an opportunity to experience three wonderful examples of art and culture from Wales.The theme of the festival, reconnecting, is more important now than ever reconnecting with our environment and our communities, both locally and across borders. I hope our contribution to the festival will encourage audiences to do just that, building new cultural connections between our two nations” said Rt Hon Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales.
Focusing on three different themes, the Festival will encourage audiences to #ReConnect with nature, community and the self through a variety of exhibitions, talks, panel discussions, film screenings and performances. #ReConnect with Nature will explore the deep relationship between humans and nature; #ReConnect with Community will explore the connection and consequence of human experience and our community; and #ReConnect with Self will support individuals to increase empathy and self-awareness.
Highlight projects under #ReConnect with Nature include:
#ReConnect with Community will share work from the UK that places emphasis on the changing nature of community, as well as talks from leading arts and cultural experts alongside knowledge sharing events from dance and theatre producers. Selected highlights include:
#ReConnect with Self will focus on activities that explore mental health and well-being. Highlight projects include:
“At this time of limited travel, we are excited to once again bring some of the most dynamic and vibrant artistic and cultural performances, exhibitions and talks from the UK to audiences in China and offer people the choice to experience these in person or online. With the theme of #ReConnect, we hope to inspire our audience to re-evaluate their relationship with the natural environment, their community, and themselves. The world is going though unprecedented changes at this time, and arts and culture have the power to bring people together through presenting programmes in partnership with institutions and artists in the UK and China. The Festival acts as a platform to share knowledge, spark discussions and stimulate thinking among our audiences.” Said Rehana Mughal, Director Arts for the British Council China.
Programme list
| Activity | Date | Partner | Format | Geography |
ReConnect with Nature
| |||||
1 | British Library Exhibitions in Two Cities: London Shenzhen
| Sept 1 – 20 | British Library | Online showcase | England |
2 | Affiliated Event The Fifth Season by Celyn Bricker (online talk) | Sept 18 | Winland | Online event
| England/Beijing
|
3 | Broken Planet Programme (online talk for climate change between Glasgow and Kunming) | Sept 17 | Natural History Museum | Online event | England/Scotland/Kunming |
4 | Eye of the Storm documentary featuring Scottish landscape painter James Morrison in Shanghai | Sept 16 | Montrose Pictures | Offline event | Scotland/Shanghai |
5 | Eye of the Storm documentary featuring Scottish landscape painter James Morrison in Shanghai
| Sept 19 | Montrose Pictures
| Online showcase | Scotland
|
6 | Our Future Planet (Films and talks for Sustainability and the impact of Climate Change) | Sept 1 – 20 | Science Museum Group | Online showcase | England |
7 | The Children of Lir (performances of raising environmental awareness) | Sept 1 – 20 | Folk NI Theatre | Online showcase | Northern Ireland |
8 | Dog Ballet (Webinar) | Sept 15 | London International Festival of Theatre
| Online event | England |
9 | CURRENT (films of the exhibition) | Sept 13 – 20 | Cooper Gallery | Online showcase | Scotland |
10 | Design and Sustainable Business Futures (panel discussion with Joey Pringle and others) | TBC | Veshin Factory | Online Event | England |
ReConnect with Community
| |||||
11 | Making Matters | Sept 13 – 20 | IM | Online showcase | Across UK |
12 | Short Film Project for Female Directors (panel discussion) | Sept 12 | Encounters Film Festival, One International Women’s Festival | Online event | England/Beijing |
13 | Breathe and Draw (Orchestra Music) | Sept 1 – 20
| Nevis Ensemble
| Online showcase | Scotland |
14 | Mojo Mickybo (theatre film)
| Sept 1 – 20 | Bruiser Theatre Company
| Online showcase | Northern Ireland |
15 | Songs for Heritage and Culture of Northern Ireland
| Sept 6 20
| Brigid O’Neill
| Online showcase | Northern Ireland
|
16 | Match Make (8 short films)
| Sept 1 – 20
| Maiden Voyage Dance Company
| Online showcase | Northern Ireland
|
17 | Plethu/Weave Project (series of dance-poetry performance films)
| Sept 1 – 20
| National Dance Company Wales, Literature Wales
| Online showcase | Wales |
18 | Nurture (performance film)
| Sept 1 – 20
| Bbeyond | Online showcase | Northern Ireland
|
19 | Creative Ageing in Scotland (online talk by Luminate Festival) | Sept 1 – 20
| Luminate Festival | Online showcase | Scotland |
20 | O’r Graig (short documentary of UNESCO world heritage slate in North Wales) | Sept 1 – 20
| Wicked Wales Film | Online showcase | Wales |
21 | Beijing Stories (film screening) | Sept 1 – 20 | Scottish Documentary Institute | Online showcase | Scotland |
22 | Beijing Stories (artist talk) | Sept 20 | Scottish Documentary Institute
| Online event | Scotland
|
23 | Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth an introduction speaker: Nikki Locke | Sept 16 | British Council | Online event | Across UK |
24 | Deaf Culture Online Exhibition curated by Zhou Jiayi | Sept 1 – 20
| Artist Jiayi Zhou | Online showcase | Across UK |
25 | Selector Online Competition | Sept 15 | British Council | Online Showcase | Across UK |
ReConnect with Self | |||||
26 | ?[Hé] Scottish Dance Theatre x Shanghai International Dance Centre Collaboration (dance film screening) | Sept 1- 20 | Scottish Dance Theatre, Shanghai International Dance Centre | Online showcase | Scotland |
27 | Time to Dance (film screening) | Sept 7 | Scottish Ballet, Luminous Festival | Online showcase | Scotland |
28 | Notes on Stone (Anna Mahler) film screening | Sept 10 – 20 | Stephenson Art | Online showcase | England |
29 | Future of Art Education (film screening & panel discussion)
| Sept 16
| Cloud Intelligence | Online event | Beijing |
30 | Affiliated event -Solo Exhibition of works by Sir Christopher Le Brun (online talk with artist Sir Christopher Le Brun & Shen Qilan) | Sept 13 | Lisson Gallery | Online event | England/Shenzhen |
31 | Affiliated event – Italian Renaissance Drawings | Sept 17 | British Museum, M Woods | Online event | England/Beijing |
32 | Affiliated event – Masterpieces in Miniature: Treasures from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection | Sept 19 | V&A Museum | Offline event
| England/Zhengzhou |
33 | Glass Meet the Future short films | Sept 1-20 | North Lands Creative
| Online showcase | Scotland |
34 | Artes Mundi Prabhakar Pachpute Exhibition (artist introduction) | Sept 1-20
| ARTES MUNDI
| Online showcase
| Wales |
35 | Origin to Future Thinking, podcast with Farooq Chaudhry, Xu Rui, and Rui Fu | Sept 1-20 | China House Arts | Online showcase | England |
36 | 2021 British Classical Art Film Festival at Lumiere Beijing, New Live Screenings | Sept 1-5 | New Live | Offline showcase |
|
Media kit
#ReConnect
2021 UK-China Contemporary Culture Festival
Organiser: British Council
Sponsor: The Welsh Government
Period: 1-20 September 2021
Festival portal: http://reconnect.britishcouncil.cn/
British Council WeChat ‘bc-china’ and ‘UK_NOW’
British Council Weibo @??????????, @????
Festival visual material bank:
Baidu Cloud Link: https://pan.baidu.com/s/1v-0MiFLbomjVJFHsQVpUxw
Pin: p7wt
Notes to editors
The Welsh Government
Wales is a country in the UK with distinctive traditions, heritage, culture and language. It is known as a land of song and a country steeped in myth and legend, which, when you see the awe-inspiring landscape, is no surprise.
The Welsh national anthem picks out ‘beirdd a chantorion’ the poets and singers for special mention. Today, the Welsh music and arts scenes are alive with the sounds of bilingual music, poetry, art, and everything in between.
Learn more about Wales at wales.com
#BritishCouncil #ReConnect
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We build connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language. Last year we reached over 80 million people directly and 791 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934 we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. We receive a 15 per cent core funding grant from the UK government.
Please visit our official website in
Festival visual material bank:
Baidu Cloud Link:
Pin: p7wt
We will update our programme on daily basis through our social media accounts, please stay tuned with us on:
Weibo
bc-china (??????????)
UK_NOW (????)
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