Six countries, six countries, six countries... I repeat this mantra in my mind as a badge of honour underpinned with slight disbelief.
Yes, six countries – all new to me – and fifteen individual flights, all since October 2012.
It started innocently enough. A casual call with Andrew Jones who asked if I could meet him to discuss a new project that may be of interest. Turns out it was part of the British Council's 'Behind the Scenes' programme, a series of two-day workshops aimed at increasing the skills sets of arts professionals in wider Europe. Would I be interested in designing and delivering one around Producing and Programming models? My considered, studied nonchalance lasted a nanosecond. Of course I would.
Each of the workshops would be delivered in tandem with a second expert so I was privileged to discover that the pilot, to take place in Kiev and Moscow, would be with Emma Stenning, Executive Director of the Bristol Old Vic. Between us we came up with a course outline that we thought covered all the bases, but more on that later. Subsequent workshops took me to Armenia with Ben Evans, Azerbaijan and Georgia with David Micklem, and most recently to Bosnia and Herzegovina with Mike Griffiths.
To date we have worked directly with around 150 arts professionals ranging from thrid year students to artistic directors of state-run theatres. The range of experience in each room is difficult to grasp fully before arrival so we soon discovered that we had to be light on our feet, especially in the pilot when Emma and I realised that much of what we planned was unsuitable. Manic rewriting during coffee and lunch breaks gave an edge and immediacy to the workshop, as we built in the foundations of Producing and Programming to include mission statements, artistic priorities and ambition.
Running through all this was the absolute belief that we weren’t there to preach. Not so much ‘this is how to do it’, more ‘here’s one way of doing it, how could you adapt this to work for you’. We often take for granted how evolved and sophisticated our arts ecology is in the UK. In these countries, the bulk of government money goes exclusively to the state theatres who receive up to 100% funding. Everyone else must find ways and means of funding their art.
Yet great art is being made and audiences are coming to see it. Our job therefore morphed into being facilitators of new ideas, new ways of thinking and sharing models that could work locally. The participants in each city were also inspired by forming a new network, working together with people they hardly meet from sectors that rarely cross paths.
Feedback is positive. The big challenge is always to make the work relevant to each individual in the room, making them feel valued and shining some light on what is possible for theatre the world over whatever the circumstance.
