Arts & International Affairs: 2.3: Autumn/Winter 2017 | Page 10

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
French government in 2005. He is an honorary Doctor of Arts at City
University, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Graham was hon-
oured in January 2015 by ISPA with the International Citation of Merit
for lifetime achievement in the arts.
T
he British Council was set up in 1934 as a response to the rise of Fascism in Eu-
rope: it achieved its independent charter (at arm’s length from government) in
1940, and the mission from that year still resonates, as we strive “to create a friend-
ly knowledge and understanding between the peoples of the UK and the wider world”,
by making a positive contribution to the (now) 115 countries we work in, and in doing
so making a lasting difference to the UK’s international standing, prosperity and security.
In short, though the term is not one I am drawn to, we are in effect the UK’s instrument
of “soft power”. (I feel that “soft power” rather diminishes the impact—even though I
realise what is meant.)
Theatre became an important part of the British Council’s mission in the immediate af-
termath of World War Two. We were eager to return to Europe (strange turnaround from
just over half the UK now that wants “out” of Europe—another topic, another day!), and
by the mid-1940s had reopened many of our former offices closed during the conflict and
extended into new countries for us, such as France and Austria. In a continent fractured
by extreme ideologies and huge loss of life, the British Council set about disseminating
British culture. In the years immediately after the war, the Sadler’s Wells Ballet Company
visited Paris, Ghent, Brussels, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, Poznan, Malmo and Oslo. And
under the auspices of Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Sybil Thorndike, the Old
Vic Theatre Company went to Paris, Brussels, Australia and New Zealand. In her history
of the British Council, Frances Donaldson remarked “it is doubtful the British taxpayer is,
or ever has been, aware of how much he owes these two companies in international renown”.
Over the same period, the British Council was instrumental in the creation of the first
Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. Today of course, the Edinburgh Festivals are
the world’s largest arts festivals and a bulwark of the Scottish economy.
These days the work of the British Council, across the spectra of English language learn-
ing, higher education, civil society and the arts, is about a lot more than simply “show-
casing” the best of British, whether in theatre or in any of the myriad of art forms we
work in: our own kind of Wagnerian gesamtkunstwerk, if you like! We don’t act as a
touring agency for one thing; most of our work is done in partnership with others, con-
vening, connecting, yes funding too, but in a much more nuanced way, looking at cultur-
al relations as of genuinely mutual and reciprocal benefit.
With all the turbulence and uncertainty in the world today, it’s arguable that the role of
the arts, and theatre in particular, is even more important to any country’s engagement
in international relations—the UK in particular, since our creative sector is so strong.
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