UK/Georgia 2019 Season is over. But connections, partnerships and memories it created will stay long after. We’ve talked with Nino Tsitlanadze, the Season’s Youth Board member, about her participation in the programme and what it will mean for her future endeavours.
Meet Nino, a creative communications specialist with a PhD in Arts Management and 12 years’ experience in communications and creative industries. Nino first started collaborating with us in 2015 as the EU-Eastern Partnership Programme Associate. As part of the programme, she wrote articles and did interviews with main stakeholders of creative industries in Georgia.
‘What I really love about the British Council is that they create opportunities. It’s really not only a slogan but a philosophy, and it works! I’m happy to have had an opportunity to work with British Council’s professionals.’
Talking about how she became a part of the UK Season, Nino remembers: ‘I was having an interview with Zaza Purtseladze the British Council Director in South Caucasus and Georgia. When he mentioned the UK Season Youth Board for the first time, I thought how exciting it would be to join this team.’
‘I couldn’t even imagine the life-changing experience it would become. A few months later I became not only a Youth Board member but also UK/Georgia Season Marketing Intern responsible for social media, communications, press-releases, footage, etc. Let me be honest, it was hard. Over 60 events in three months translate to hours of rush work, pressure, and limited time. But, despite everything, it was great!’
Being an arts professional, Nino was also interested in becoming a Nesta Creative Enterprise Programme participant. This programme will give her the opportunity to build her career as an entrepreneurial skills trainer. She feels quite strongly about this as she believes that informal education is one of the keys for developing creative industries in Georgia.
What Nino considers as the most important impact of the UK Season is that it enabled a lot of events to happen for the first time. For example, King David the Builder’s unique coin first came to Georgia from the British Museum. For the first time, we organised the Culture and Creative Industries Youth Forum and Unlimited: Making the Right Moves inclusive arts forum. Legendary studio Wayne McGregor performed open-air with Georgian professional and non-professional dancers.
‘What I’ll treasure about the UK Season is participating in the Youth Board. We are ten successful young professionals who have served as ambassadors of the Season and I hope we succeed. I would like to thank the brilliant people who have been with me during this time, and I hope that all of the uncountable connections that have been made through the UK/Georgia Season, whether personal or professional, will continue.’
A new challenge for Nino is founding a social media platform called Creative Industries’ Challenges. It unites more than 300 culture managers, artists, start-ups, media, government and business sector representatives, connected to the creative industries. If you’d like to join them, follow the platform at https://cutt.ly/JtTzcLU