As we type A British Council digital photography workshop is on its way from Hue to Ho Chi Minh City to start the next phase of its work with a new set of local photographers.

In Hue, British photographer Barnaby Steel was on hand to teach and provide tips to students from Hue University of Fine Arts and local photographers coming from Hanoi, Danang and Hue cities who had applied stating their future plans that they hoped would benefit from taking part.

The workshop was part of the Open Academy Europe programme which has see the British Council work alongside the Goethe Institute and Austrian Embassy.

Our photographers turned out, as you might expect, to be supremely creative and they return home with lots of ideas to share.  Meanwhile we can share the pics with you. Click the pics to for a caption:

They say that in order for you to learn how to host a great festival – first you have to visit a few!

That sounded like great logic to us and so the British Council hosted a group of Vietnamese entrepreneurial arts promoters and festival organisers on a trip to the world-famous Edinburgh festival.

Days were spent learning about skills such as fundraising, ticketing, sponsorship and seeing what happens, literally, backstage at events.

It was a lot of fun, a lot of learning and a lot of walking all mixed into one – as I am sure you can see from the pictures.

For more information on this go here.

And click on the pictures below for captions.

The trip, arranged by British Council Vietnam and sponsored by HSBC, represented the first visit by the prestigious ballet company toVietnam. The English National Ballet (ENB) performed at the Opera House in Hanoi on 14 September and on 16 September at Ho Chi Minh City Opera House.

One of the major attractions for local audiences was the performance of Vue de l’Autre with choreography by Vietnamese dancer Le Ngoc Van. Van was born in Hanoi and joined the ENB in 2003. Other highlights included performances of Trois Gnossiennes, excerpts from Suite en Blanc and the Black Swan Pas de Deux.

The ENB also delivered a master class for the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Vietnam College of Dance inHanoi on 13 September.

A further class took place in Ho Chi Minh Cityfor the HCMC Ballet and Symphony Orchestra and HCMC College of Dance on 16 September. Finally they also undertook a talk entitled “Sharing the Best Practice of UKBallet” at state TV channel VTV3 for future broadcast.

English National Ballet celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in 2010 – the 60th year of one of the world’s great ballet companies. The original 1950s vision for the Company was to take classical ballet of the highest quality to the widest geographical audience, at a price everyone could afford.  It remains the cornerstone of the Company’s philosophy today.

Each year ENB takes full scale productions across the UK, as well as performing in London. Overseas touring is also a regular part of ENB’s work having visited much of the world as an ambassador for British ballet abroad.

It’s especially satisfying to start our Grapevine blog at a time when such a significant event has just taken place.

Last week we launched an arts fund that will benefit and support young artists, curators and producers as they seek new audiences, new partners and new horizons.

What makes this particularly pleasing is that this is as a result of the local arts scene deciding to assist their own. This money, some 42,000 USD, was raised thanks to an art auction with works donated by Vietnamese arts such as Nguyen Manh Hung, Ly Tran Quynh Giang and Pham Huy Thong, Jamie Maxtone-Graham as well as the Ford Foundation.

Considering some of the challenges faced by Vietnam in recent decades it would have been easy for arts to have been ignored or deemed unimportant. Instead though Vietnam has continued to produce and appreciate art. It’s only latterly that this appreciation has gone beyond Vietnam’s own borders.

For decades though this “scene” developed, grew and was mostly enjoyed in isolation. However, modern Vietnamese society means this is changing – a situation the arts fund is aiming to further develop.

We hope that the event and announcement will inspire in every sense. Ultimately this funding will mean opportunities for both creation and collaboration but what is most interesting is what is to come next. We wait to see what is created as a result of this fund.

If the arts auction was the first step then this is the second. The next steps will be producing something that everyone can enjoy which will further inspire the local arts scene.

In many ways this a microcosm of what British Council’s arts programme is all about: Forging links, boosting collaborations and organising innovative events.

More info on the British Council Arts Fund launch here.