Australian Cultural Residency Program

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Media Release

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer

14 August 2001 / FA126

I am pleased to announce the launch of the Australian Cultural Residency Program, which is an innovative pilot program aimed at promoting creative arts and culture in developing countries.

The scheme will provide placements for emerging and established artists from developing countries with at least two arts bodies or organisations around Australia. The artists will present their work at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts 2002.

Targeting primarily South East Asia, South Asia and the South Pacific, the program will provide exposure and professional development that would not otherwise be available to these artists. In addition to benefiting the artists themselves, the program will make an important contribution to building capacity in cultural tourism and exports in each of the countries or territories concerned.

The program, which will be implemented by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, pilots a concept put forward by the Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival of the Arts 2002, Peter Sellars. While Adelaide will provide the focus for the program, the secondment of artists to arts bodies around Australia will ensure that the program reaches across the country.

This new program promotes local culture in developing countries in an imaginative way and strengthens the linkages between the arts communities in Australia and participating countries.

Inquiries: Matt Francis (Ministerial) 02 6277 7500, Lyndall Sachs (Departmental) 02 6261 1555