Agenda item

Report of the Principal.

The Board received a report of the Principal updating on various items including

awards and prizes, international activity and visual development.

International Activity

The Principal provided Governors with an update on the School's international activity with a particular focus on the School's efforts to raise its profile in China. Given the sheer size of China and the School's limited resources, adopting a  targeted approach to maximise the impact of engagement intelligently would be vital. The Principal took the opportunity to thank the Chinese Cultural Counsellor in London, Mr Xiang Xiaowei, who had provided invaluable advice and assistance to the School to date and also informed Governors of the close ongoing work with the Central Academy of Drama (Beijing) and the Shanghai Grand Theatre. These two high-profile institutions would help to raise the School's profile in China substantially; in addition, recent talks had taken place with the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House which could see the School delivering a significant technical theatre training programme to Chinese practitioners on behalf of the latter institution.

Annual report

The School's annual report had now been published and all Governors should have received a copy; the School had received positive feedback to date on the quality of its new visual identity and corporate publications.

Committee of University Chairmen

Reference was made to the recent issuing of robust guidance on university governance by the Committee of University Chairmen. These new governance requirements would need to be complied with and the Principal had been speaking with Sir Andrew Burns with a view to programming appropriate discussions at meetings of the Board's Governance and Effectiveness Committee in the autumn.

Reflective Conservatoire Conference

The Principal commented on the success of the School's recent Reflective Conservatoire Conference, which had been attended by a large number of delegates from across the world. A Governor who had attended the Conference took the opportunity to echo the Principal's comments, congratulating the School on its success and noting the importance of such events in maintaining the institution's status amongst the world's elite conservatoires. She suggested that the focus of the Conference, which had looked at drawing together artistic research from across the globe, would be of significant interest to Governors and could form the basis of a forthcoming Away Day.