People’s Palace Projects are celebrating the end of another successful Points of Contact visit, with an inspiring and productive week in Rio and Salvador. The delegates for this UK visit to Brazil were:

  • Pauline Tambling (Joint CEO at Creative & Cultural Skills)
  • Simon Dancey (Director Wales for the British Council)
  • Andrea Stark (former Arts Council and now first Chief Executive of High House Production Park (HHPP) in Purfleet)
  • Paul Reeve (Director of Education Royal Opera House)
  • Sarah Macshane (Creative & Cultural Skills)
  • Gary Stewart (Associate Artist PPP).

This visit focused on the development of programmes and policies within the creative industries concerned with the training and accreditation of young people from low-income backgrounds. Although the UK delegation was only in Brazil for seven days, they covered a lot of – literal and cultural – ground. In Rio they visited: NGO Crescer & Viver, Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio Criativo, Spectaculu, Nós do Morro and had meetings with representatives from the Ministry of Culture and the Municipal Culture Secretariat. Then they headed up to Salvador invited by SECULT (Bahia State Secretariat of Culture) to visit Teatro Castro Alves, TV Pelourinho, FUNCEB, Centro de Formação em Artes, Semente de Ciência, Cipó and Pracatum. The delegates have been extremely positive about the experience, which created many opportunities for genuine exchange, providing inspiration and gave rise to talk of new collaborations. A very special thank you to SECULT for hosting the visit and for making it possible in the first place.

Points of Contact started in 2010 and is a cultural exchange and knowledge transfer programme working with artists, policy makers and cultural organisations in the UK and Brazil. It is part of the British Council Transform Programme.