Martin Smith, Visiting Fellow, ICCE
The first Creative Central Asia forum was held in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, at the end of November with strong ICCE/Goldsmiths representation. This event, which was supported by HM Government and organised by the British Council, marked the start of a new long term dialogue series aimed at stimulating discussion and building relationships amongst cultural and creative economy leaders from the government, private sector and civil society in UK and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan).
20 UK entrepreneurs, artists, educationalists and creative leaders from Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales flew out to Astana to take part in a combination of plenary sessions and workshops on creative economy themes. The UK representatives were selected by an advisory board chaired by Dr Martin Smith, Visiting Fellow in Creative Industries at Goldsmiths, and the British Council. Central Asia was represented by 48 participants from Kazakhstan, 13 from Kyrgysztan and seven from Uzbekistan who, between them, covered more or less the entire spectrum of the cultural and creative industry universe from fashion and theatre through to museums and fine arts, classical music, creative tech as well as the head of a technology incubator in Kazakhstan’s biggest city, Almaty.
The opening session of the conference featured a Q and A on the origins and development of creative industries’ concepts with Martin Smith (ICCE) chairing and asking the questions and John Newbigin, (ICCE, Chair of Creative England and Cultural Ambassador for the Mayor of London) offering answers based on his long experience of advising film-maker David Puttnam, former UK Secretary of State Chris Smith, former Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and other leaders. Making up a very strong Goldsmiths contingent Gerald Lidstone, Director of ICCE, led a plenary session on People, Education and Entrepreneurship during the morning session on day two.
The Mayor of Astana, Mr Asset Issekeshev, visited the conference with his top advisers on day two and held a private meeting with John Newbigin and Martin Smith, plus British Council officials, speaking in fluent English. The mayor invited the British Council to help his administration to turn Astana into a truly creative city by sharing expertise and advice. He expressed his wish that the Forum should become an annual event.
The overall mood of the conference was positive and up-beat with many participants expressing a strong desire for continuing UK-Central Asian cultural collaboration and exchange and, not least, a desire to learn more about ICCE’s experience and track record. By the end of the conference, on a Saturday afternoon, the venue was almost as full as during the opening session on day one. This is very rare on the international conference circuit and reflected the enthusiasm and appetite for knowledge and exchange which was a distinctive feature of the proceedings.
The proceedings of the Forum, including footage of all the plenary sessions, can be found here:
https://www.britishcouncil.kz/creative-central-asia
Martin Smith
