Behind the Scenes is a a professional development and capacity building initiative of the British Council. UK professionals deliver practical workshops and seminars in different areas of management, audience development, producing and programming, for instance, with a focus on dance and theatre. It has taken place thus far with local partners in 13 countries working in dance and theatre.
The programme has been featured in the Arts and Humanities Research Council‘s Cultural Value Report (2016) written by Geoffrey Crossick and Patrycja Kaszynska. Their discussion highlights how the goals of such projects have appeared to move beyond promoting political and economic power and aim to facilitate more personal outcomes such as mutual trust and reciprocity. However, the report concludes that the effectiveness of such projects in this regard have “proved difficult to demonstrate…[due to] the complexities of evaluating perceptions and practices”. (p. 57).
An example of the work is here, where practitioners from Jakarta reflect on a presentation from former Director of the Liverpool Biennial and Tate Liverpool, Lewis Biggs: