The British Council’s multi-dimensional arts campaign, the New Silk Road, aims to marshal the arts traditions of Central and South Asia in order to help people of the East and West to find a common language and dismantle the perception of different civilisations.

The New Silk Road project is designed to explore, develop and promote contemporary adaptations of traditional experiences and techniques from Central South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) both around the region and with a UK audience and practitioners.

The British Council will initiate intercultural discussions, and develop spaces for artists and educators from the UK and Central South Asia Region to gather to explore and develop relationships and collaborations. The interaction, networking and relationships built between the Regional participants and UK artists and practitioners will form the basis for building trust and respect between the CSA region and the UK. The work that is developed and promoted in the region and the UK will highlight the relationships to a wider international audience.

Storytelling creates the basis for this project, by exploring and developing traditional tales that are rooted in the region. The New Silk Road project will weave a relationship between storytellers in different art forms. Through the creation of collaborative and individual pieces of work, the countries represented by the region will become recognisable and accessible to UK and regional audiences.

For the years 2008-09 we are already working on or about to embark on following activities, relevant for our country, regional and overall NSR project context.

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