On 20 August 2009, Visiting Arts hosted over 170 producers and promoters at our annual breakfast event in the context of the Edinburgh Festivals.

Attenders had the opportunity to network with colleagues from all over the UK and the world over coffee and croissants, as well as engage with speeches on 'nationhood' and 'identity' in theatre, and engage with the work of three Iranian theatre directors participating in the Contemporary Myths workshop. The directors, Nasim Ahmadpour-Samani, Kumars Moradi and Mohammad Aghebati, screened footage of their latest productions Home, Molla Nasreddin and Sky of Snowy Days. They spent a total of one week at the festivals and more can be read about their experience in the article on Contemporary Myths in this newsletter.

The breakfast speeches started off with Jonathan Mills, director of the Edinburgh International Festival, who gave a warm welcome that set the context for the discussion in one of the world's most dynamic international theatre festivals. Ruth MacKenzie, expert advisor to the DCMS and dramaturge for the Vienna Festwochen, then spoke of the responsibility that touring productions had as ambassadors for their home cultures and offered an invaluable list of do's and don'ts for anyone in such a position. John McGrath, artistic director of the National Theatre Wales, spoke of his work with the new national company and provoked an insightful discussion on the significance of language in theatre. Finally, Tay Tong, producer at Theatreworks, Singapore, spoke of his experience working internationally and particularly of producing Diaspora, a new commission by the Edinburgh International Festival that was performed at this years' festival involving a 75-piece strong Singaporean-Chinese orchestra, film projection and live acting.

The speeches provoked a great deal of debate and thoughtful conversation amongst the breakfast attenders, and were streamed live on our website - our first foray into the use of live stream technology, and one we'll continue to develop! The footage is still available to watch and re-watch here.
 

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