British Council Vietnam
Speaker, Facilitator & Exhibition Consultant
Nov 2018 – Mar 2019
Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth is the British Council’s two-year pilot initiative taking place in Vietnam, Colombia and Kenya exploring the use of cultural heritage for growth that benefits all levels of society. Cultural heritage in this context means many things, from the built environment through to cultural traditions such as music and language. Inclusive growth means working with and for all levels of society in order to reconcile the divide between economic growth, and rising poverty and inequality.
As part of the initiative, I was invited by the British Council to participate as a UK expert in independent exhibition in Film as a Cultural Heritage – a 4-day programme of a symposium, workshops and public events. The programme had the following objectives:
Advocating for the cultural and social value of film archives and archival materials
Facilitating new conversations between different constituencies (state agencies and organisations, independent organisations, filmmakers, the public, experts from other fields and art-forms)
Sharing and learning about ways of working with film archives, via both practical and creative angles
I was invited as one of only two keynote speakers from the UK at the national level, state-approved symposium held in Hanoi, as well as inspire film exhibition peers through a series of workshops and facilitated conversations also in Vietnam’s capital, and make recommendations from my observations on the trip to Hanoi on the current state and potential of archival materials held in Vietnam.
As my first sustained trip to Asia, this was an incredible experience both culturally and professionally. Having the platform of the national symposium meant I could offer insight from my experience which was well-received by the Vietnamese film industry and State representatives. Meeting the diverse range of talent working in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City through the workshops I was leading with Frank Gray of Screen Archive South East expanded my own creative horizons and will hopefully lead to future collaborations. I also contributed pieces of writing to the Final Report…