British Council - Cultural Leadership International - Mission Statement
The British Council embarked on a large-scale program in 2009 in response to the urgent need for future cultural leaders to develop and nurture the necessary skills to drive the cultural sector forward. The international cultural sector is growing rapidly, and in these changing times it plays a unique and vital socio-economic role in all our futures.
CLI aims to develop and nurture a new generation of cultural leaders. Our ambition is to provide opportunities for skills development, create platforms for networking and knowledge-sharing on a national and international level, in order for cultural operators to better lead their organisations and sectors, and inspire an open, tolerant and integrated society.
FINAL REPORT CLI
The year has made an enormous impact on my outlook and work. It has allowed me to step up a level and not only imagine to hold a leading position in culture but to take actual steps towards it. A new found confidence is a major factor and simply spending time in the respective environments. I was able to observe others and to take active part in organizing and seeing through a festival – because I could experience myself in this working process the mystery of it all was taken away and I could concentrate on enhancing my abilities.
In addition I have gathered an invaluable host of new international friendships and professional contacts, both in Europe and in the Levant. A lot more than I expected happened.
EUROPE
Amsterdam, September 2009
In Amsterdam I arrived with a view to testing my own assumptions about what it takes to create a successful and challenging International Festival. The Amsterdam Festival was perfect for this as they are young and relatively small scale, and they were happy about my help. Instead of simply observing I went straight to work overseeing the progress and well being of the International participants. I had a lot of ideas to improve their experience and was able to communicate those effectively, as well as relatively objective praise and criticism of performances and the festival systems. There was an idea to employ me for the next year as a dramaturg in residence to deliver a system of workshops so that the groups can benefit more from meeting here. However this seems to have been too ambitious for this small festival. Much of their effort during the festival still goes into acquiring audiences rather than intricate artistic exchange.
Paris, October 2009
My encounter with Pascale Reinhardt was extraordinary. In only 4 days, in which I had expected to learn about other cultures and acquire tools for a fruitful exchange, I learnt crucial things about myself. The secret of intercultural competence is first knowing yourself very well. Only then is one equipped to conduct intercultural exchange effectively. There are well structured theories and abundant reliable research so, after we had discussed at length my own preparation and potential conduct for the travels, all else followed very easily. I now have a folder of crucial material that I can refer back to and adapt to any new region.
Pascale also roused the wish in me to go into her profession one day, too.
I was also able to set in motion a similarly successful encounter between Pascale and Lissa Kinnear from Brussels.
London, January - March 2010
I have lived in London for a long time and know the theatre scene very well. For a while I had been planning this small festival around the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall, which was generously supported by the German Embassy. The things I had confirmed during my time in Amsterdam came into practical play here – I had a team to coordinate, a program to curate and a budget to supervise. Apart from directing the main production of the season it was extremely enjoyable to commission work from various artists and to give a platform to the launch of a publication on the subject following a series of lectures at Oxford University, and a subsequent discussion involving the authors, the German Ambassador and the other artists. Political Cabaret also featured and was a special hit with a large, interested audience.
I learnt a lot during that time, and the hard way – one must always make agreement in writing, even when one thinks that there is a sufficient basis of commitment and trust. Money is an unpredictable factor, and so it Ego. With the executive producer of the Arcola Theatre I had planned to create the above events in a month long season, completely taking over the theatre. Working hard I seem not to have noticed that my partner had never really taken the time to comprehend the idea fully and was now beginning to feel that I was getting too much of her ‘power’. Some of my intercultural training was useful (she is Turkish) but in the end I could not prevent it that she cancelled all events at extremely short notice.
Now I had a lot of money to spend at short notice and a group of artists working and was determined to go ahead with the project in a different location, a cooperative theatre in Soho, London City centre. I had to reduce it to a long weekend of events and a three-week run of the production. The weekend was wonderful, the production only successful in parts and we did not get the press coverage that would have been guaranteed at the other theatre.
I was lucky in making several crucial mistakes at the same time and now being equipped to handle all of these issues better in the future.
London was also the place I came across most other participants, most noticeably Nora from Cairo.
Near East North Africa
The Levant
It was my goal to get closely acquainted with the entire theatre scene of Lebanon and Palestine, and I have achieved that in both cases. The area is still manageable in size, but mulit-faceted and ambitious.
In principle my conviction was confirmed to meet the people as artists rather than as victims of the conflict, and to encourage them to present themselves as such to the world.
I have collated information about all the companies and academies I encountered in both countries, partly to make that material available to each other, as they are prevented from seeing or knowing anything of each other by the Israeli occupation.
Palestine 1
Due to plans in London I had to split my trip to the Levant in half. But this was strategically advantageous as it is very difficult to arrange anything with colleagues there on the phone or on email. Once one is there things happen, and they really did on this occasion. I was not only able to plan the activities for my second, main trip, but made many more new acquaintances and had extraordinary offers and experiences. So I became friends with the head of acting at the Al Kasaba Academy in Ramallah and was able to work with the students for two days. The El Hakawati theatre around Francois Abu Salem took me along to a performance in an Arab village in the north of Israel. Soon after Francois long tern collaborator Amer invited me to go to Hebron with him to see and work with a group of 14 year olds who were making theatre history, as being on stage and touching was to that point absolutely impossible. Furthermore I saw the facilities and met the staff of the National Palestinian Theatre in Jerusalem and could spend time with CLI participant Hanan Wakeem there. This is when I got a real first impression of how multi-faceted the scene is in Palestine but also of how much work there is to be done to make theatre a veritable tool of cultural and creative expression.
Beirut
In Beirut I was in very close contact with Maya Zbib and her company Zoukak. I lived in their Studio apartment, was able to observe their work closely and had many informal discussions with her and the other members. I cannot stress the value of this friendship and new professional relationship enough.
Furthermore there was a group of colleagues, old and new friends attending the HomeWorks and BIPOD (Dance) festivals as well, and it was an extremely fruitful time of reflection on art and performance and exchange of ideas, both with the European colleagues and the new found ones. I am sure that some of these will lead to future collaborations.
The Festival had a high profile range of presenters and performers and it was enlightening to observe the extend of European and North American influence on the art and performance in Lebanon. At the same time this year’s festival was also designed to facilitate discussions about the establishment of an art academy in Beirut. There was a clear and thought provoking contradiction between the nature of the festival and the expressed aim of making it an institution for the local students and teachers.
Following the festival I was able to interview the artistic directors of most of the 5 established theatres, the artistic director of the BIPOD and several free lance directors and theatre makers. The interviews are available to read.
Amman, Jordan
Amman is a much harder and more commercial city, with less everyday solidarity and uncertainty than Beirut or Ramallah, as it does not share their permanent state of potential conflict. There was a lovely coincidence – both Maya from Beirut and Nora from Cairo performed in the Hakaya festival which was organized by Tolleen from Amman. All four of us had a brief but wonderful time together and have decided to meet again soon.
I accompanied Maya to her two performance venues, helped her and watched the city from afar. The Hakaya Festival presented a strong contrast to the HomeWorks Festival. It concentrates on storytelling and for the most part leaves the theatres to show work in unusual venues. This way an entirely new audience, always that associated with the house, is involved in culture as they otherwise would not have a chance to be. It was fascinating to watch Tolleen in action and the reactions of the people.
The Festival was accompanied by a conference of experts and so it was that I could travel through the Jordanian-Israeli border together with Marina Barham from the Al Harah Theatre in Beit Jala. It was a prolonged unpleasant experience of questioning but in the end we were on our way.
Palestine 2
In Palestine the second time Beit Jala was my first port of call. I gave workshops the Phoenix center of the Daheische Refugee camp as well as one the youth groups of the Al Harah Theatre. Next I conducted a week long introduction to Brecht and Epic theatre with the students of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, and after that was rejoined with the students of the Al Kasaba Academy as well as group of creative writing students from the Bir Seit University.
Here I could concentrate more on my work as director and dramaturg and could find out more about the artistic disposition of the groups, youth theatre and those going on to be professionals, as well as those interested in writing plays. On the one hand I investigated their tendencies with regard to naturalistic and more abstract text and theatre, and on the other I continually stressed the potential of true individual authorship, both as an author but also as any theatre artist. This is an ongoing process but my first trials using Heiner Müller texts were extremely revealing. Video material of those is available.
The work with the professional groups will continue and where there is an opportunity to meet the others, I will always take it, if possible.