Creative Scotland Chief Executive Andrew Dixon has arrived in Melbourne, to present the innovative Motherwell College Inspiring Change project to a gathering of international delegates from the world’s creative and cultural agencies.

The Melbourne event is the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture, co-hosted by The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) and the Australia Council for the Arts. With over 80 speakers from around the world, and close to 500 delegates from 75 countries, the Summit will bring together government and cultural leaders around a theme of Creative Intersections to explore how artists can give voice to diverse communities and concerns through collaborations with experts in health and well-being, the environment, education, business, new technologies, cultural identity and more.

Inspiring Change is a unique and pioneering partnership, developed by Motherwell College, between several of Scotland’s outstanding centres of artistic excellence - National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, National Youth Choir of Scotland, Citizens Theatre and Traverse Theatre – working with the Scottish Prison Service to introduce 1,000 prisoners across five prisons to a range of hands-on artistic experiences. Inspiring Change has attracted critical acclaim for its innovative approach to work in the criminal justice system.

Speaking from Melbourne, Andrew said:

‘Creative Scotland attracts international interest for the work that we have achieved here and this is an amazing opportunity to present the successful Inspiring Change project to an audience that is committed to the cultural, social and economic benefits of the arts and their impact on our development as individuals and as communities.

‘Scotland has fantastic talent, great ideas and a commitment to build international partnership. The World Summit is an excellent platform to promote our strengths and our links with Melbourne – one of the world’s most creative cities.

‘There has been great interest in the Creative Scotland model: Finland, Denmark and other countries are reviewing their creative investment structure, while Tunisia and Malta are keen to see our corporate plan and how we invest in Scotland’s creative future’

The World Summit runs from 3 October 2011 until 6 October 2011. The programme can be found here: http://www.artsummit.org/programme/structure/

http://www.creativescotland.com/news/from-motherwell-to-melbourne-05102011