Next week will be full of creative and cultural events at the British Council. The team wants to showcase Scottish innovation and creativity thanks to a special week, ?Scotland Now!? Three Scottish personalities from various fields will be in Mauritius on this special occasion to share their traditions and culture with the Mauritian public. And the three of them will collaborate closely with local institutions to share their expertise in their respective fields.

Martin McInally, a tutor at Glasgow School of Art and Strathclyde University, will hold a number of workshops at the Mauritius Institute of Education, DCDM and MGI and will work particularly with teachers of primary schools.

?During this special week, we will make sure to convey contemporary perceptions of this country and destroy any stereotypes that might assimilated to Scotland. This is why we decided to call it Scotland Now!? said British Council director in Mauritius, Simon-Ingram-Hill. The various activities are aimed at sharing ideas and experiences across a range of fields including education, art, music and film. ?There are good ties already between Scotland and Mauritius and we hope to strengthen them through activities in those fields during the week.?

Chris Gibb, a 25 year-old bagpiper, will launch the event on Monday 19th March as from 11 a.m. at Caudan Waterfront, as Scottish traditions want it. Born in Edinburgh, he has been playing Highland bagpipes since the age of eight and now divides his time between performing and teaching around Scotland and in the United States of America where he is a regular instructor at Portland Summer Piping and Drumming School in Oregon.

The bagpiper will also be part of a Celtic, Mauritian musical fusion show at Caudan Waterfront on Tuesday 20th March as well as other shows at the British Council in Rose-Hill. Chris Gibb will have working sessions with the Mauritian Conservatoire ? where he will perform next Wednesday ? as well as with the Special Mobile Force pipers with whom he will have workshops.

Martin McInally, a tutor at Glasgow School of Art and Strathclyde University, will then hold a private viewing of the ?Dualities? collection of very contemporary artwork at the British Council on Monday 19th as from 5.30 p.m. He will also be involved in two drawing workshops for the public ? the first at Place Margeot in Rose-Hill on Friday 23rd at 1 p.m and the other at Caudan Waterfront on Saturday 24th as from 11 a.m.

More importantly, he will hold a number of workshops at the Mauritius Institute of Education, with students of De Chazal du Mée and Mahatma Gandhi Institute as well as with the association of artists PARTage. He will work more particularly with teachers of primary schools.

As the business development manager of the Scotland Qualifications Authority (SQA), Moira McKerracher knows Mauritius quite well. She has already advised the Mauritius Qualifications Authority (MQA) in the past and will continue her collaboration during her visit next week. Besides her talk on Scotland?s identities, she will work closely with the MQA, the Tertiary Education Commission and the Industrial and Vocational Training Board on workshops and work groups.

In fact, all three professionals will be involved with Mauritians at different levels and this is what makes this week particularly interesting. It will not only be a series of cultural events but really be a means for local professionals to learn more in specific fields with foreign expertise. ?The three of them have worked at international level throughout their career and that makes this inside and outside collaboration with them even more interesting,? Simon-Ingram-Hill concluded.