Dr Jacek Ludwig Scarso continues his collaboration with British Council Hong Kong News

London Met lecturer awarded funding from a British Council to support creative partnerships between the UK and Hong Kong.

Date: 5 November 2024

Dr Jacek Ludwig Scarso, Deputy Director of CREATURE (Centre for Creative Arts, Cultures and Engagement) and Course Leader of MA Public Art and Performative Practices, was awarded a British Council grant to contribute to SPARK Festival 2024 in Hong Kong. Jacek began his collaboration with SPARK Festival, designed to support creative partnerships between the UK and Hong Kong, already in 2019 and 2022, with this year's focus being the impact of arts and culture, education and science on our well-being.

For this edition of SPARK, which took place at AIRSIDE in the Kai Tak neighbourhood of Kowloon between 18 and 20 October 2024, Jacek facilitated a dialogue between The Line, London's first dedicated public art walk, and Public Art Hong Kong, part of Hong Kong Art Centre's programme. The project was entitled 'Inside Out: Public Arts and Well-being' and built on the theme explored in CREATURE's and The Line's first annual symposium at London Met back in 2022.

The project included creative laboratories with local participants as well as a roundtable discussion, in which Jacek brought together representatives from The Line (Sarah Carrington and Lorna Powell) and Public Art Hong Kong (Gordon Lo and Rebecca Chuang), exploring new ways of addressing the value of Public Art in relation to wellbeing. 

Jacek reports: "Being part of the British Council's SPARK on all its three editions, I feel very much at home in this wonderful Festival. Looking at arts, science and education through a cross-disciplinary and transcultural perfective, the Festival is a truly inspiring opportunity to foster research connections across the UK and Hong Kong. This time, it has represented a way to build on the success of CREATURE's and The Line's annual symposia in public art, revisiting our first theme of Public Art and Wellbeing in connection with Public Art Hong Kong. In both our creative laboratories and roundtable talk, we had the chance to compare creative strategies across organisations and artistic projects. We look forward to continuing to grow this partnership into an international network that centres on innovations and impact in contemporary public art."

Jacek continues: "This project contributes to London Met's Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategy by fostering new dialogues and exchanges between our University and organisations internationally: in this case, The Line, Public Art Hong Kong and British Council. In particular, it builds on previous activities at CREATURE exploring innovative ways in which to evaluate and practically explore the cultural value of public art and its impact on the everyday life of a city."