British Council Performing Arts Seminars
the hub was approached by the British Council to devise, programme and manage a week-long series of seminar events for arts professionals from around the world, in order for them to share their experiences with leading figures from the British arts scene. The focus of the series was developing audiences and artists, and as we were looking for subject matter that had the widest appeal, irrespective of cultural or economic circumstances, we chose not to concentrate on issues related to public subsidy or running building-based programmes. The programme we devised included individual sessions on Making Events More Family Friendly, Developing Arts Partnerships, Programming Festivals and Commercial Sponsorship, and we raided our extensive contact list to recruit as panelists some of the key players on the British arts scene.
The quality of delegates in the week-long seminar series was extraordinarily high, and any one of them had the experience and knowledge to lead at least one of the sessions as well as any of the British panellists. For this reason, we decided to run all sessions as plenary sessions, in order to enable real debate and exploration by all delegates. During the week, we facilitated the seminar programme, and fielded some of the hub team as panellists. The debate was lively, the learning unprecedented for a conference event and everyone made new contacts. It was a great experience for us, for the delegates and for our client.
‘I really loved taking part in the seminar. It was of great value to me both professionally and personally, as the seminar seemed to be perfectly prepared and strictly well managed in the formal and informal parts. This has been an amazing experience to me, and I feel the session content and networking abilities gained from my week in London will have an impact on my future work as do the personal contacts to other seminar participants and contributors. Thank you very much.’
Paul Simang, Art Director, City Council of Dresden
‘I have truly appreciated the excellent way you have organised and lead the seminar. I feel that the knowledge achieved has really improved my work.’
David Abilio, Director, National Song and Dance Company of Mozambique