The British Council in Uzbekistan announces the third year of its Creative Producers programme, which aims to develop creative production in Central Asia.

Over the past two years, the Creative Producers programme has brought together 46 aspiring creative producers (26 participants from Uzbekistan and 20 from Kazakhstan), creating a new resource of managers for the development of cultural and creative industries. More than 19,000 people learned about the programme and attended online and offline events organised by programme participants in Uzbekistan.

In 2020, programme participants took part in online trainings to develop entrepreneurial skills, creative thinking skills, people management, project and financial management skills and the ability to work with artists, musicians and entertainers. 

The education course is delivered by UK trainers Andy Brydon and Kate Wyatt. Andy is the founder and director of Manchester-based Curated Place and an experienced curator, producer and festival manager, bringing together visual & digital arts artists, theatre performance artists and musicians. Kate is a creative producer for the Royal Opera House, a freelance consultant and founding director of Opera UK. Wyatt created and runs Engender, a network for women seeking gender equality in opera.

The programme last year resulted in the moc fest - an independent progressive festival created by our participants from events of different scales, genres and forms. The festival aims to bring together creative communities into a common movement and has a mission to promote the values of freedom and creativity. In 2021 moc fest included projects such as New Matters, The Keepers, Agape and WECOSMOS.

This year we are again inviting creative producers, who are at the beginning of their careers, who are ready to join the festival and develop new projects together with the moc fest team in Tashkent.

You can find out more about the second year of the programme and participants here.

Programme stages

In 2021, the programme will include following stages: 

  • Online workshop in Almaty and Tashkent with tutors from the UK;
  • Projects jointly developed with other participants and submitted for consideration and further implementation (teams should be formed from workshop participants);
  • By the end of the workshop the most successful joint projects will receive a grant for project implementation in collaboration with the existing festivals.

The Creative Producers is international programme. The working languages used for applications and conducting workshop are English, as well as Russian as the main language of interethnic communication in Central Asia countries.

Who can apply?

We are seeking for applications from creative producers who are at the initial stage of their career development (experience no more than three years);

Representatives of different genres and trends can take part in this programme: art managers and administrators of cultural venues, artists, curators, festival organisers, theater critics and playwrights, directors, dancers, musicians and others with experience of organising cultural projects, and with the desire to develop professional skills in creative producing.

Application terms and conditions

  • Applicants should give their consent to be required to participate in all stages of the programme and for the joint development of a shared project with other programme participants (see Key Dates below);
  • We only consider applications that are completed in accordance with the programme requirements (see How to apply);
  • Due to the fact that online workshop will be conducted online by tutors from the UK without translation, good command of English (level B2 on the CEFR scale) is preferable, and it will greatly facilitate the work with tutors and increase the effectiveness of the programme.

How to apply?

In order to participate in the programme, candidates are required to fill in an application following this link. The application will consist of:   

  • Motivation letter (500 words max). We are interested to understand:

- How your learning from this programme could be applied to the benefit of your city;

- Your aspirations for engaging with the UK cultural sector and how you might realise these; 

- What impact do you think your creative idea could have to the UK creative scene?

  • As a test task, please provide an example of a project that you would like to implement within the framework of this program (no more than 500 words). Please, be prepared that the selection and implementation of the final projects will be carried out jointly with other participants;
  • Please submit your CVs or resumes with links to completed projects, which will show relevant to this programme experience; 

Please be prepared to accept the Competition rules by ticking the ‘SUBMIT’ below in online application form.

Applications must be submitted online by 23.59 Tashkent 12 September 2021.

Selection process and criteria

The selection of candidates will be chosen by selection panel of last year participants and tutors from the UK jointly with the British Council Arts team. Based on the applications received, up to 10 participants in Almaty and up to 10 in Tashkent will be selected, who will be able to take part on online workshop.

The selection panel will score applications according to the following criteria:

  • Application received according to deadline; 
  • Application fully completed;     
  • Experience of the applicant in creating a new projects; 
  • Creative producer in its early stage of career development;
  • Proposed project idea fits into the content of the festivals;
  • The idea of the project corresponds to the concept and mission of the above-mentioned festivals;
  • The project idea should make a difference to the sector and/or it should be unique;
  • The project idea addresses diversity and inclusion, and environmentally safe, rational and long-term use of natural resources;
  • The project idea has a well thought through sustainability and dissemination strategy (finance and human resources), marketing and PR;
  • The project idea has aspirations for engaging with the UK cultural sector;
  • It is realistic for the project idea to be implemented during Spring - Summer 2022 with existing resources and potential Covid-19 restrictions;
  • English language fluency.

We are interested in accepting applications from people with diverse experiences, different nationalities and social / cultural backgrounds to ensure we have a balanced cohort of participants.

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Following the selection process, the British Council will conduct an online interview with short-listed programme candidates.

Key dates

  • September 12, 2021 – deadline for submitting applications for participation in the programme;
  • September – October, 2021 – selection of applications and defining of programme participants and online interviews with selected candidates;
  • First half of October, 2021 – participants officially announced;
  • Second half of October, 2021 – online workshop Week 1 Week 2 in Almaty and Tashkent with UK tutors (up to 10 online participants in each city);
  • November 19, 2021 – deadline for submitting grant proposal for joint projects with other participants (the team formed by the workshop participants);
  • Spring – Summer, 2022 – implementation of joint projects (events) under the existing festivals’ platforms.

Partners in Central Asia

We are also looking for partners in Central Asia who would like to support our programme in the long term and contribute to developing creative producing. We are looking for partners who would be interested to take part in the programme at different stages:

  • nominate creative producers from their projects or organisations;
  • support future projects created as part of the programme with financial or non-financial resources;
  • support the development of creative producing in Central Asian countries in the long term; and
  • help to disseminate information about the programme and its outcomes.
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