Culture: The bedrock of nations
With global affairs are increasingly influenced by populism and identity politics, Paul Smith examines the vital importance of culture in international relations.
Arts and culture
Exploring the Public Realm: How can artistic and cultural participation affect individual and collective experience in the public realm and the city?
Research series: Diba Salem looks at Dubai, its architecture and what is ‘public’ in the middle east.
Exploring the Public Realm: A teenage takeover of libraries
September 2018: This essay explores libraries and youth takeovers in three cities in the North of the UK, with youth challenging who owns ‘public’ – if interior – space.
Exploring the Public Realm: In the city, everyone is an artist
September 2018: Shrirya Malhotra writes about working with collective Partizaning in Moscow and the differences between being a public artist and an activist in Moscow and Delhi.
Exploring the Public Realm: My House is Your House - How Music Venues Enrich Life in a City Where Strangers Meet
September 2018: Dave Haslam examines how music venues provide spaces for new encounters.
Arts, Culture and Soft Power
September 2017: How can the Arts contribute to shaping a nation’s soft power?
Global cultural challenges and custodians of place: Findings from the Edinburgh international culture summit
The report from the Edinburgh International Culture Summit explores the vital issues facing today’s cultural sector and policymakers. We examine the arguments.
Culture: Building resilient communities
Research report: the Edinburgh International Culture Summit report.
'A nation stays alive when its culture stays alive'
Paul Smith, the British Council’s Country Director in Afghanistan when its offices were attacked by the Taliban, gives a personal view of why cultural protection is so vital for humanity.
In harm’s way
A brief introduction to current thinking within the field of cultural protection.