Our events bring together artists and creative professionals to share performance, ideas and knowledge between nations. Find out what's coming up, and catch up on our most recent events.
Exhibition: Friends in Love and War – L’Éloge des meilleur·es ennemi·es
2 October 2024 – 23 February 2025, Birmingham
Join us to celebrate the launch of Ikon’s new exhibition Friends in Love and War – L’Éloge des meilleur·es ennemi·es.
Ikon (UK, Birmingham) and macLYON (France, Lyon) present works by over 20 artists from the British Council Collection and macLYON that explore the theme of friendship. Featured artists include, Kenneth Armitage, Sonia Boyce, Tracey Emin, Lubaina Himid, Hetain Patel and many more.
Curated collaboratively, the exhibition interrogates friendship as a fundamental human relationship that is essential to individual well-being and society. Part of our Spotlight on Culture UK/France 2024 – Together We Imagine programme.
Artists in Neighbourhoods, Red Sky at Night
Friday 1 - Sunday 3 November, Belfast
For Red Sky at Night six international artists from Poland, Thailand, Palestine and Greece will create new work for sites across Belfast around the themes of Art and the Public Realm. The artists have spent time in Belfast on residencies hosted by Household and their creative projects celebrate Belfast, draw inspiration from its people and connect people and place. In partnership with Household and Belfast City Council.
WOMEX 2024 – Worldwide Music Expo
23-27 October, Manchester
WOMEX – Worldwide Music Expo – is the most international and culturally diverse music meeting in the world and the biggest conference of the global music scene, featuring a trade fair, talks, films and showcase concerts.
Over 2,600 professionals (including 260 performing artists) come together every October from 90 countries, making WOMEX the leading networking platform for the world music industry. Its musical spectrum is unparalleled in the international showcase performance market, ranging from the most traditional to the new global local underground, embracing folk, roots, jazz, local and diaspora cultures as much as urban and electronic sounds from all over the globe.
Conference: BEYOND 2024
25-27 November, Salford
BEYOND is an annual conference for thinkers, makers, investors and researchers across the creative industries, exploring the relationship between creative research and business innovation. A unique gathering of current and future innovators focused on Research and Development across the Creative Industries, the conference brings together business leaders, creatives, researchers, policy makers, journalists and funders, providing an opportunity for delegates to CONNECT with future collaborators, EXPLORE pioneering R&D projects and ENGAGE with the global conversation on innovation, creativity & opportunity.
Catch up
Here you can catch up on our previous events, or watch them again. Below you'll find links and videos for a range of events, including The Missing Foundation and Missing Pillar talks, how to compose for film and TV (from the SXSW festival) and more.
The Missing Foundation: Culture's place within and beyond the SDGs
To accompany the forward-thinking 2023 report The Missing Foundation, a dynamic follow-up to our 2020 Missing Pillar report, this event brought together the edge and story research team and a panel of expert speakers. As we progress towards the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the report opens up questions about frameworks for development and the role culture can, or should, play within them. Hear from the research team: Kai Brennert, Dian Ika Gesuri, Francesca Giliberto, Katie Hodgkinson and Pedro Affonso Ivo Franco. And speakers: David Connor, Emmanuelle Robert, Marcus Desando and Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm. Watch below.
Perspectives on Cultural Heritage and Development
The 2023 launch of our Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth Essay Collection, edited by Inherit, included insights from thought-leaders on cultural heritage and development, followed by an enlightening panel discussion on the role of cultural heritage for a sustainable future. Speakers included: Chris Dalglish, Ben Sandbrook, Anne Torreggiani, Sophia Woodley, Abraham George, James Doeser, Leandro Valiati, Pedro Affonso Ivo Franco and Suzanne Joinson. Watch below.
Fashion Open Studio: Bhukram – Nature as Inspiration
Our third COP26 event, in partnership with Fashion Open Studio, provides a tour of natural-dyed cotton brand Bhukram's studio in a village in north-eastern Thailand. Watch the Fashion Open Studio work and design process
The Missing Pillar Talks 2022
The Missing Pillar Talks is a series of talks and discussions that look at culture’s contribution to the UN Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goalsa and a global way of thinking about the world, our role in it and our responsibilities to others. Perhaps we could view this new way of thinking as a new 'common sense' around which to build a shared, brighter future. But how does common sense translate from global to local? Watch here.
The Missing Pillar Talks 2021: Heritage and Sustainable Development
The Missing Pillar Talks is a series of panel conversations about culture’s contribution to sustainable development. The first event on 29 March was hosted as part of the three-day event Heritage of Future Past, and looked to sustainable development through a heritage lens. Watch here.
SXSW – Composing for film and TV
This event, delivered as part of the virtual edition of SXSW (South By South West), explores how TV music has evolved since the emergence and dominance of streaming. We’re joined by composers Michael Price and Hannah Peel, and music supervisor Ed Bailie. Watch below.
The Garden of Privatised Delights – panel discussions
In the run up to, and during, The Garden of Privatised Delights, this year’s British Pavilion exhibition for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, we present a series of online panel discussions exploring the exhibition's themes, in partnership with Sto Werkstatt. Catch up on the series.
A Meeting Place – online global discussions for museum and gallery professionals
Our series of recent webinars explore some of the biggest questions and challenges facing museum and gallery professionals today, from digital transformation and community engagement to decolonisation and sustainability. The webinar below, titled 'From an unsustainable past to a sustainable future', took place on 23 March 2021. Catch up on the series.
UK visa routes for artists
This captioned recording of our ‘UK visa routes for artists’ event took place in November 2020. The webinar presents a general guide to the main immigration routes for artists coming to the UK for visits or work, as were accurate at the time of the recording. Watch here.