Religion
What is going on at the British Council?
Published 13 March 2008
The idea that culture is best promoted by organising effete tours of writers and artists has passed
The British Council has received some severe blows lately. It has been condemned by some of our most celebrated artists for scrapping its visual arts, theatre and dance departments. The council’s offices in Russia have been closed. It is being accused of funding activities in the Muslim world rather than promoting British values. Just what is going on?
The British Council is a vast, incoherent, acronym-riddled bureaucracy. A project that would take perfectly sane people a couple of months to complete requires so much “consultation” and so many “partners” that it takes two years to get off the ground. Its workforce does not reflect the diversity of Britain. And it has too many right-wing nuts for my liking.
The council’s current problems have, I think, something to do with it having finally realised that it needs to change. The old method, whereby isolated “country directors” ran mini-empires, is just not conducive to an interconnected, globalised world. The new century demands not promotion of nebulous British values, but an appreciation of diversity and complexity.
The council is adjusting to change by focusing on regions rather than individual countries, and by concentrating on a few large international projects rather than undertaking numerous small ones. As a result, many cherished projects, particularly adored by writers and artists who have benefited immensely from them, will have to be jettisoned.
Living Together is a good example. It involves more than 30 European states, dozens of working partners, educators, artists and academics, conferences and workshops, and a string of action-based programmes for young people. Add a travelling photography exhibition and educational materials for schools, and you get some idea of how big and innovative this project really is.
The prime focus is on the complex diversity of Europe, how its conceptual space is being utterly transformed by globalisation, and where the past, present and future of its various communities collapse together. Migrants are redefining what it means to be a European, and the continent has become transnational. This is a reality with implications for security and good relations between the different groups. Just how do we cope with this unparalleled ferment?
The project, in which I have played an insignificant role, tackles this question by bringing politicians and decision-makers together to discuss ways of promoting equal opportunities and the rights of migrant and minority communities. It works to ensure that the next generation of leaders is equipped with appropriate intercultural competencies.
Living Together’s programmes for young Europeans work on developing methods to increase minority participation in public life and recording stories of migrant experiences. My favourite is called Leap of Faith Together (LoFT). Groups of young volunteers from different ethnic and religious backgrounds visit each other’s countries and identify a “super-project” they can work on. They plan the project and develop it themselves, raising funds and acquiring all the materials necessary. LoFT volunteers are renovating orphanages in Sarajevo, setting up music workshops in schools for the visually impaired in Skopje, and organising an exhibition of photographs by young people in Edinburgh.
This is what the British Council should really be doing. The idea that culture is best promoted by organising effete tours of writers and artists has passed. The council should not be not just about teaching other people “our values”, but learning from theirs. In the process, we may discover shared solutions – the ultimate test of our ability to live together.
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