Greetings to our friends and colleagues in Australia, We are running a pilot programme for our PIYN project in association with the British Council Australia 24-27 July in Melbourne and Brisbane.

The PIYN project involves aspiring artists and performers from diverse communities, working with the best of contemporary UK talent, to collaborate, create and celebrate. For the programme in Australia we welcome Helen Baxter’s Online Creative toolkit,  Oliver Wayman and Cameron Saul from East London charity Bottletop, and members of London’s dynamic HipHop Shakespeare company.

Programme details and dates are as follows:

Hip Hop Shakespeare :

The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company is a music theatre production company founded by MOBO-award winning hip-hop artist Kingslee “Akala” Daley.

In his workshops Akala challenges the perception of language. He aims to teach young people ideas of cultural entitlement, but using something perceived as elite (Shakespeare), and showing its commonality with hip hop. Methods for opening culture through language are discussed, as well as techniques for poetry/MC delivery, and best practice from case studies. Akala inspires and engages young people with his workshop experience throughout Europe, Africa and around the World.

Sunday 24th July:  Workshop 11am – 4pm.  Followed by an open mic performance for friends and family from 5-6:30 pm.
Venue: The Substation
1 Market Street
Newport Melbourne VIC 3015, Australia

Tuesday 26th July: 5-8pm.
Akala will perform at Dig Deep at the Arts Centre 100 St Kilda Rd Melbourne, and interact with the aspiring artists there.

Wednesday 27th July: Workshops with Contact Inc’s networks.

Contact Inc.
3 / 80 Hope Street, South Brisbane.

Online Creative Toolkit Workshop:

Helen Baxter (UK/NZ) from Mohawk Media, presents an online toolkit for creative practitioners across the various artforms – with a focus on income generation, newly developed marketplaces, and developing an effective online presence.

This toolkit takes a group of 20 creative entrepreneurs, who will learn about the tools used to run a modern creative company, and take a guided tour of online places to publish work and earn money.

Participants will be shown blog start-up and/or enhancement using the WordPress platform, focusing on PayPal and donation systems, event management, mobile streaming and social media marketing tools. Mindmap materials will detail creative business structure & resources, and widgets for publishing.  The day will finish off with a social media masterclass, and participants will leave with a personalised strategy, action plan and toolkit for their creative practice.

Date: Tuesday 26 July 2011

Venue : Digital Learning Hub – Arts Centre Melbourne
100 St Kilda Rd Melbourne.

Start time: 10:30 am
Finish time: 2:30 pm

To apply for this free workshop go to: http://piyn.net/questionnaire/

Bottletop:

Come and join us for a free session on ethical trade, music and fashion initiatives with the director behind UK’s successful Bottletop charity. Bottletop is dedicated to designing and producing ethically sourced and sustainable products in communities where they deliver education programmes, focusing on quality and local craftmanship and generating sustainable trade and employment.

Oliver Wayman will present ideas about creating income generation projects in economically disadvantaged communities, and the way in which bottletop showcases beautifully crafted fashion accessories from different cultures, to an international market. He will be presenting a track record of high profile collaborations with fashion houses as well as focussing on the impact which the “ring pull effect” has had on the communities in Salvador, Brazil. Oliver will also talk about the reaction they have had to their cross-cultural music projects – Sound Effects and the Bottletop Band.

Come and join us for an inspirational session.

Date: Tuesday 26 July 2011

Venue : Digital Learning Hub – Arts Centre Melbourne, Open Learning Space.
100 St Kilda Rd Melbourne.

Start time: 3pm
Finish time: 4:30 pm

THANKS to all UK delegates and Australian partners for their support. See you there!

Please feel free to contact Amrit.Gill@britishcouncil.org.au if you have any inquiries.