Previous projects

TESTOSTERONE was shown in Almaty as part of Otkrovenie Theatre Festival with support from the British Council. 

Award-winning physical theatre company Rhum and Clay, created as an exciting collaboration with darkly comic transgender theatre writer and director Kit Redstone, after a critically acclaimed and award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, presented as part of the British Council Showcase. 

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This international touring exhibition was organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK) in partnership with Art Jameel, and it has come to the A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan with support from the British Council Kazakhstan.

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Between 11 August and 30 September the Salem, Astana project will provide a unique opportunity for the residents and visitors of Astana to “talk” to the city. Through interactive communication with city objects we’ll create dialogue between you, other citizens and the city. 

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The London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO) established in 2008 is one of the most innovative and respected musical ensembles in the UK. Known for their mixing of tradition with modernity and combining music and film, LCO will perform ‘Under The Skin’ with top Kazakhstani musicians for one night only on 12 August at the Kazakhstan Central Concert Hall.

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New Religion is an exhibition of silkscreen prints and sculptural editions by one of the world’s most significant contemporary artists – Damien Hirst. This project was realised by the British Council in partnership with the Paul Stolper Gallery and the State Museum of Arts of Republic of Kazakhstan named after A. Kasteev.

The exhibition was on display at the A.Kasteev State Museum of Arts in Almaty from 12 November - 19 December 2016.

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City Nomads is an exhibition of contemporary Kazakhstani creative talents emerging in an era of a newfound independence.

The projects brought together in this showcase all embody a shared desire to search for a new identity through an investigation of the pre-Soviet Kazakh nomadic roots. City Nomads was first exhibited at the British Council headquarters in London in 2016.

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Henry Moore Comes Home, an exhibition of prints by Henry Moore, one of the best-loved UK artists of the 20th century, visited Kazakhstan where it was on display at the A.Kasteev State Museum of Arts in Almaty from 27 January – 27 February 2014.

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The year 2014 was the 20th anniversary of the British Council in Kazakhstan, and the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth. To celebrate, the British Council and our partners Shell, Air Astana and the Kazakh National University of Arts brought to Astana a production of Hamlet by the world renowned Shakespeare’s Globe theatre.

See photos from the event.

Crafting Futures was a three-year British Council global programme supporting the future of craft, its practices and people.

The Crafting Futures programme in Kazakhstan was developed in partnership with the University of Leicester, the Royal College of Art and the Union of Artisans of Kazakhstan.

The programme focused on two cities – Almaty and Shymkent. Our partners conducted a visit to Almaty and Shymkent in 2019 and identified a pressing need for business training for artisans.

The goal of the first phase of the workshops in 2019–20 was to build on the storytelling sessions conducted during the pilot study to produce a small exhibition of Kazakh craft, where the artisans can tell their own story.

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