In 2011, the Institut français d’Ecosse teams up with Scottish and Breton cultural institutions and festivals to bring the best of Brittany to Scotland and send the best artists from Scotland over to Brittany.
Beyond the Celtic common ground, Scotland and Brittany are two territories sharing a strong common will to develop and support artistic creation and to promote it on a national and international level. The dozen of festivals taking place in Edinburgh, in particular during the summer, are a perfect demonstration of the special place culture holds in Scotland. Similarly, Brittany hosts some of the biggest and most crowded French festivals and cities like Rennes, Dinard or Saint-Malo host a bubbling and innovating artistic scene.
Connecting the two territories for an ambitious programme of cultural events on both sides of the channel for 2011 seems then all natural.
This programme aims to strengthen links between Breton and Scottish artists in a wide range of arts forms and cultural areas: storytelling, music, cinema, literature, performing arts, visual arts, graphic design and gastronomy.
To build these connections, the Institut français d’Ecosse has teamed up with directors of festivals and cultural institutions in Brittany and Scotland to invite Bretons to perform and present their work in Scotland and send Scottish artists to Brittany.
It started in Rennes with two Scottish storytellers performing as part of the Mythos storytelling Festival last April. It continued over here with the food tour of Scotland organised for the cook students of the Lycée Hotelier of Dinard in May.
In the rest of the year, Scottish writers will attend the Breton book festival ‘Etonnants Voyageurs’ in Saint-Malo, Breton performers will take over the Institute in August for a Fringe original production, Breton bands will present their cinéconcerts as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s programme, the British Film Festival in Dinard will focus its programme on Scotland… among many other opportunities for the public on both side of the Channel to discover the best of Scotland and Brittany.
Look out for the Bretagne-Ecosse events to see what’s happening in the next months in Scotland.
SPONSORS
Creative Scotland
Institut français
Brittany Region Council
Rennes City Council