Striving to set a new industry standard, Special Envoy champions ‘staying, not going’. By empowering artists and presenters to forge innovative connections without the carbon footprint, this new mode of collaboration blends physical and virtual interaction to harness local expertise, lower emissions and create ground-breaking new art.

This September, Special Envoy was piloted at Adhocracy, an annual art party and festival of ideas in Yartapuulti/ Port Adelaide, Australia.

Nine visionary artists and presenters from the UK and Australia collaborated across continents to create new performance art without boarding a single flight.

The artists and producers involved in the Special Envoy Pilot are:

• Yasemin Sabuncu
• Jodee Mundy OAM
• Cat Jones
• Raymond Zada
• Helen Cole – Co-CEO and Creative Director at In Between Time
• Kelli McCluskey – Co-founder and Chief Executive Artist at pvi collective
• Pelin Basaran – Head of Programming at Battersea Arts Centre
• Amaya Jeyarajah Dent – Head of Programme and Producing at London’s International Festival of Theatre
• Daniel Brine – Artistic Director and Chief Executive at Norfolk and Norwich Festival

What’s next?

As the ideas and opportunities from this exchange continue to evolve, the next stage of this pioneering project for In Between Time will be to reflect on our experiences, refine the Special Envoy Framework and create opportunities to share this widely across the arts and related sectors. Stay tuned for more on this and a full Special Envoy round-up in the coming weeks.

Credits

Special Envoy is a radically sustainable reimagining of international artistic exchange from In Between Time’s Helen Cole (Bristol, UK) and pvi collective‘s Kelli McCluskey (Boorloo/Perth, AUS).

The Special Envoy Pilot Programme is supported by Creative Australia, Arts Council England, Vitalstatistix, and APAM.

We thank all our partners and participants for taking part and supporting this radical new approach.