Background

After joining the European Union in May 2004, the Great Britain and Ireland became by far the most popular destination countries for immigrating Poles. It led to a necessity of understanding better the phenomenon of migration as well as inducing more dynamic intercultural dialogue. In a result, the Polish Art Europe PAE was founded to promote the Polish culture and art in Europe. Formerly known as the Polish Art Scotland, the project, established by Gemma Bentley and Nathaniel Clark from the University of Edinburgh, was converted into an active body that bases on an international network of the Polish organizations held in England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
PAE made the first steps with the exhibition entitled “We Are Working” - New Polish Art, Architecture and Design in Scotland, which was held in Edinburgh on 22nd-29th June 2007.
The organisational activities are strongly supported by art experts and cultural animators in the UK. Among the programme patrons there are the Consul General of the Republic of Poland, David Patterson from the Edinburgh City Art, Jeremy Howard (the famous historian and author of the recent "East European Art 1650-1950"), and legendary Richard Demarco.  One of the key factors is a strong interest in the culture of East Central Europe responding to the growing number of the floating population from that region.
Through various undertakings Polish Art Europe hopes to highlight the diversity of the Polish diaspora represented by creative and talented individuals whose work can enrich the Scottish cultural scene. Wide-ranging events are likely to merge Polish artists and craftsmen into the local sociocultural landscape and to open up new prospects abroad. It is also to remodel ethnic stereotypes in the social consciousness of the English.
The PAE believes that resourceful strengths and skills offered by the Polish residents can highly contribute to the cultural life as well as accelerate the British and Irish smart economy and creative industries. All our efforts and time are dedicated to form a united society where each person can evolve as a self-confident EU citizen. We are open to new members who can join the group by participating in a single project. There is no membership fee required.

Goals

The key aims of the PAS are to promote Polish culture and art.  A wide range of hosted events are to open up new prospects for Polish artists and craftsmen, both living locally and visiting the UK to participate in cultural ventures.
Thanks to the robust network connecting strategic Polish and English publicity sites, our activities are well-promoted. The PAS co-works among others with Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Skinny’s festmag, Edinburgh.com.pl, Szkocja.net and Scotland-based Polish papers.

The article extracts below refer to the materials written during the 2007 Fringe Festival and illustrate positive feedback received by the PAS. The whole articles can be found on www.edinburgh.com.pl:

-    “According to Skinny’s Festmag (www.festmag.co.uk), the exhibition was ranked in the top five most interesting exhibitions taking place during the FRINGE Festival (2007). This was the great achievement for the artists and the organisers.”
-    “Tom Hanks attended the exhibition with his family and entourage. This happened in the afternoon last week. The organizers are still excited. Congratulations.”
-    “Alexander Hamilton – a famous Scottish artist also visited exhibition. He was representing the Polish Culture Minister which added to his joy. Who’s next?”
-    “Tom Hanks has asked for the price list of exhibited works.”
-    “General Manager of the National Galleries of Scotland is planning to visit the exhibition on the 25th of September.”

- ln 2013 Polish Art Europe (PAE) will organise 3rd edition of Play Poland Film Festival. This event will be under the patronage of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, one of Scotland’s most influential advocates for contemporary art, Prof. Richard Demarco and Prof. Zbigniew Pełczyński, tutor in political philosophy and politics at Pembroke College, Oxford. This year Play Poland will be held in the UK, Canada, Norway and China. It means thirteen cities, among which are: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Belfast, New Castle, Sunderland, Birmingham, Oxford, London, Ottawa, Oslo and Shanghai.

Associates

Our organisation prides itself on bringing together a number of Polish and Scottish groups to work towards the aim of spreading Polish Culture for the enjoyment of everyone in Scotland. From the beginning, the Polish Art Europe project has been under the patronage of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh.
It has also been supported by influential people in the art world in Scotland.
David Petterson from the Edinburgh City Art Centre and Jeremy Howard (famous historian and the author of "East European Art 1650-1950"), were supporters from the start, not to mention the legendary Richard Demarco, thanks to whom we exhibited at the Demarco Roxy Art House.

We cooperate closely with Kombinat Kultury and European Art Gardens from Zielona
Gora in Poland and also with Europa, Europa Gallery, which brings together many European galleries to organise exhibitions. We also cannot forget to mention the support of the Scottish Polish Cultural Association based in Edinburgh. The portal www.edinburgh.com.pl has used its website to publicised Polish Art Europe from the beginning and offered further media support.

We hope that this list of collaborators will be longer with every new edition of this catalogue.

There are a number of creative Polish in Scotland working in the fields of visual arts, music, film and theatre and channelling their experiences of living in Scotland into works of art. It is important to present their work, as well as the best of culture from Poland, to wider Scottish audiences to stimulate mutual understanding, interest and support and build strong, cohesive and diverse communities.

Stakeholders

We truly believe that Polish Art Europe will develop and widen the range of audiences that will visit our events with time.

Every individual and every organisation willing to take a part in our activities or support us is welcome. Everybody has something to offer, something that may enrich or support Polish Art Europe.

- Artists – accredited artists as well as emerging talents to share their artistic work with others
- Galleries – we are always looking for arts spaces
- Various companies or institutions – money or products, which will help us to organise events to the highest standards
- People – can offer their ideas, time and help.
- Communities – they are the recipients of our activities, without them PAE would have never be established.

EVERYBODY IS MORE THAN WELCOME