A Lecturer from Heriot-Watt's School of Textiles and Design, Dr Britta Kalkreuter, has secured Creative Scotland funding for an exchange programme with India.
Dr Kalkreuter, in conjunction with Independent Curator Louise Butler and Shona Sinclair, Curator at Borders Textile Towerhouse, Hawick has been awarded a total of £56,000 to run the reSide programme at the Scottish Borders Campus of Heriot-Watt University.
Residency and exchange
reSIde offers two designer makers from Scotland and two from India, working in the area of textiles, an opportunity to participate in a programme of residency and exchange. It offers the chance to extend personal and creative boundaries through travel, engagement with another culture rich in textile traditions as well as exchange and discourse with peer practitioners and communities within the host country. The programme is in support of the School's internationalisation strategy and will act as a case study for its research into industry engagement of design.
Scottish designers will be spending four weeks in the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Gujarat in October 2012 and February 2013. Meanwhile the Indian designers will be hosted by the School of Textiles and Design in September 2012 and March 2013 at Heriot-Watt's Scottish Borders Campus.
Creative Futures programme
The initiative is being funded through Creative Scotland's 'Creative Futures' programme which is designed to promote the professional development, vision, connectivity and ambitions of Scotland's creative practitioners and organisations. It is the largest co-ordinated residency programme in Europe. Support for reSIde is also being given by the Scottish Borders Council, through the Borders Textile Towerhouse and Arts Development.