We are pleased to share news of a major new collaboration between Cove Park and RAW Material Company, made possible with support from British Council Scotland’s and Creative Scotland’s Connect & Collaborate fund. RAW Material Company is a centre for art, knowledge and society in Dakar, Senegal; its trans-disciplinary programme is organised around residencies, biannual symposia, public projects and exhibitions.

This new artist residency and institutional exchange represents the first collaboration between Cove Park and an organisation based in West Africa. It is also the first time RAW Material Company has worked with a partner in Scotland. In the late summer and autumn of 2021 Cove Park will host a Senegalese artist connected to RAW Material Company’s programme and, in parallel with this, an artist from Scotland will work in Dakar for six weeks. To ensure our collaboration can develop beyond 2021, this project also includes a staff exchange to enable both organisations to learn from each other and create new projects for the future.

Find out more about British Council Scotland’s Connect & Collaborate Fund here. Cove Park’s CEO Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey and RAW Material Company’s Director of Programs Marie Helene Pereira, made the following statements on this new initiative:

‘We are deeply grateful to British Council Scotland and Creative Scotland to have jointly devised the Connect and Collaborate Fund and for giving us the opportunity to start collaborating with RAW Material Company – an organisation that we have long admired for their commitment to knowledge production and education. We trust that the exchange of both residents and staff members between our organisations will result in the acquisition and development of new ideas, practices and methodologies. This project is firmly rooted in Cove Park’s and RAW Material Company’s ethos in relation to radical cooperation and international dialogue, which now feel more urgent than ever.’ Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey

‘Knowing how important it is to build bridges now more than ever, we are grateful and delighted to have the opportunity to learn, exchange and get to build a solid relationship with Cove Park and the individual forces that carry it. Our tireless investment in knowledge production and sharing wouldn’t be possible  without the support of partners like the British Council who understood the importance of what we do and how it can constitute a solid ground for borderless collaborations. We very much appreciate this opportunity and are looking forward to learning from Scotland and its communities.’ Marie Helene Pereira  

Read more on British Council Scotland and Creative Scotland’s Connect & Collaborate programme here.

We look forward to sharing with you further information on this programme in the Spring.

Image: RAW Material Company, Dakar, Senegal (photography, Antoine Tempe)