A Personal Account from Dan Bates

Dan Bates

In February 2018, I took three months off from my work as CEO at Sheffield Theatres to travel, and meet theatres and theatre makers all over the world, with a view to:

• undertake a period of reflection, review personal skills and work ideologies;
• explore new partnerships internationally, to look at possible co-production, collaboration and sharing of ideas;
• discover and implement good management and leadership practice from overseas; and
• bring back this knowledge and experience to create change in my organisation and working practices, to become world class.

I was fortunate enough to begin my sabbatical with an internship working with Benson (Puah) and Yvonne (Tham) at the Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay in Singapore, and after that met with as many AAPPAC members as I could during the remainder of my time.

Esplanade’s Outdoor Theatre (Photo credit: Dan Bates)

In Singapore, I spent four weeks getting to know the workings of the Esplanade and was around for Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts, where I saw some amazing performances from all over the world. The scale of the organisation and the quality of the experience that the audience, artists and staff are offered is exceptional and inspiring.

On the odd night away from the Esplanade, I was also able to connect with other theatres like The Star Theatre, and theatre companies such as Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) and Pangdemonium.

Hong Kong (Photo credit: Dan Bates)

The next stop was Hong Kong where I met with colleagues from the West Kowloon Cultural District.  It was an exciting and busy time for the team, as more and more of the developments are starting and the Xiqu Centre is opening later this year – it’s an amazing project. I also met with Heidi Chu at the Hong Kong Centre of Performing Arts and it was great to hear how the demand for the centre is outstripping its capacity. Heidi helped to open some doors for me with other theatre makers in Hong Kong, such as HK Rep and I also met with So Kwok-wan at the Festival, which was really inspiring. After my month in Singapore, I was amazed at the number of people in Hong Kong and the hustle and bustle!

With the team at National Kaohsiung Centre (Photo credit: Dan Bates)

In Taipei, I had a tour of the National Theatre and Concert Hall, visited the team responsible for the Taipei Music Centre and made a speedy visit to Cloud Gate Theatre. On my last day, I met with Austin Wang and Yuling Chang from the Taipei Performing Arts Centre to hear their plans. It’s another great space and somewhere I am sure we can work together with. I loved my time in Taiwan and it’s a place where I am sure we can collaborate. It seems to me that Taiwan has a very supportive government, which does great things like the Taiwan Season in Edinburgh each year – and which has received a great response again this year. Thank you to colleagues from the Taipei Cultural Representative Committee who helped to set up some appointments as well.

(from left to right) Dan Bates, Austin Wang from Taipei Performing Arts Center, and Louis Yu from West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

I then spent four weeks in China, starting off in Guangzhou, which has some great similarities to Sheffield, such as the fourth largest city, greenest city, etc. The significant difference was the size of the population (c575k in Sheffield v c20million in Guangzhou!).

I was able to meet with Liu Ying and Vivian Yu at the Xinghai Concert Hall and then I went to the Guangzhou Opera House to meet with Ms Chen and her team. Both have very inspiring buildings and people running them. I was so struck by the youthfulness of the audience in China, as this is something we have not yet solved in the UK.

Xinghai Concert Hall (Photo credit: Dan Bates)

I then visited Chengdu and met with some of the theatre community at the Sichuan People’s Arts Theatre, and the growing ZT Yachuang Cultural Centre. Again, these were very exciting visits with new theatres being built. I also visited Xi’an and was able to meet with Felix Lu at the Xi’an Concert Hall and Opera House. It was lovely to meet him and see the spaces he runs (and, of course, I got to see the Terracotta army!).

My next stop was Beijing, where I was lucky enough to visit the National Theatre and the National Performing Arts Centre, as well as the team behind the Tianqiao Performing Arts Centre where we discussed the Silk Road International League of Theatres.

My final stop in China was in Shanghai, where I met with Ophelia Huang at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, visited the Grand Theatre, and met with Richard Fei at Culture Square.  I also got a sneak peek at the model for the new cultural area on the West Bund being led by China Dream Live. These are exciting times and great places to collaborate with.

Sydney Opera House (Photo credit: Dan Bates)

At the end of my time in China, I flew to Australia and spent some time with Fiona Winning at the Sydney Opera House, as well as meeting lots of colleagues from the theatre community in Sydney. I had a great time in Sydney and also managed to make an all too brief visit to Melbourne. I met with Melanie Smith and her team at the Melbourne Arts Centre and Euan Murdoch at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Wow, what incredible venues these two companies have! I also met with the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Malthouse Theatre and spent a stimulating afternoon with the Australian Ballet discussing subscriptions and memberships – two pressing matters for us in Sheffield.

Euan Murdoch from Melbourne Recital Centre

It was an amazing trip and lots of good has come from it already, including great leadership practice from the team at Esplanade, some of which I have implemented in Sheffield (which has been transformational) and we have already hosted two placements from Singapore with more to come I’m sure.

As I said, it was fantastic to meet with AAPPAC members, see the work they do and discuss the potential for working together. It was helpful to learn about the difference with audiences and funding, and although some of our differences are huge, we all share the same challenges. The strongest themes that I have returned to Sheffield with are the power of the audience, the strength of your organisation’s mission and the power of collaboration.

Obviously I must thank the Board and my team in Sheffield for allowing me to go, but also to everyone I met on my trip, for the generosity of their time and their contacts, and above all to Benson, Yvonne and everyone at the Esplanade who made me feel part of their team and gave me the most excellent start on this journey.

I travelled 33,000 miles, on 19 flights, 7 trains and 1 motor bike, and walked over 750 miles.  I visited 47 theatres and met with over 97 theatre professionals – a very busy trip but the most amazing and life affirming journey!

I am sorry I didn’t get to meet every AAPPAC member and I could not get to Auckland this year (for the AAPPAC Conference), but if you want further information please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

Visit Sheffield Theatres Trust’s website here.