Visit Uzbekistan

Cooperation
19
The British Council Trustee, Alan Shannon, visited Uzbekistan
to join the celebrations around the opening of this project,
as well as to discuss partnerships in Arts, Education and
English with key contacts and partners in the Government of
Uzbekistan.
New Past became one of the key arts initiatives in 2016 to
mark the 20th anniversary. The exhibition aimed to:
• create new opportunities for art professionals and
organisations in Uzbekistan and the UK to work
internationally;
• introduce Uzbek audiences to the best of UK creativity;
In December 2016, based on collaborative research and needs
analyses, as well as best international and national practice,
a joint team of UK and Uzbekistan experts developed a new
programme and ran a national training session for museum
directors and senior curators on how to organise top class
exhibitions. A Facilitated Panel Discussion discussed key
national and international trends in visual art and defined key
areas for collaboration with the UK.
Another inspirational part of the programme was the creative
classes for children with special needs from youth studios and
the performance by the LIK Motion Theatre, where the actors
with disabilities made a performance of their reflection on the
Exhibition.
• inspire creative people to collaborate and experiment with
new ideas;
• share knowledge and experience with the Uzbek arts sector
to inspire innovation and audience engagement;
• strengthen research partnerships and international
collaboration.
In September 2016, one of the UK’s most prominent artists
and trainers offered a series of master-classes for a team of
20 young Uzbek artists as part of the art programme. This
collaborative work led to a joint collection of modern prints
inspired by contemporary art and was also put on exhibition
at the Art Gallery of Uzbekistan.