Opening Gala was featured with a special showing by Pożar w Burdelu, themed with Shakespeare.
- Our new premises will help us deliver the British Council mission which is building trust and understanding between the people from the UK and other countries – Simon Gammell, Director British Council in Poland. – We will continue creating cultural relations through our work in three areas: English, Arts and Culture, Education and Society.
HM Ambassador Robin Barnett, special guest of the evening, has welcomed guests, highlighting a long history of Polish-British relations and an importance for young people to learn foreign languages.
The new British Council Teaching and Examinations centre’s design creates a sense of space and openness. It is equipped with more classrooms for learners of English, and technologies which support learning. A computer based testing room is available for examination candidates. The new building is also more accessible to customers and staff with special needs.
Shakespeare
The evening’s theme was Shakespeare, the UK's greatest cultural icon according to the British Council research . A humorous history of young Shakespeare was presented by the Warsaw comedy group Pożar w Burdelu. British Council has announced Shakespeare Lives – a global programme of events and activities celebrating Shakespeare’s life on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his death in 2016.
- Shakespeare Lives is the biggest ever global celebration of Shakespeare organised by the British Council together with British Embassies, theatres, museums, educators and artists – Simon Gammell said. – The programme aims to reach over half a billion people around the world.
Shakespeare Lives will run throughout 2016, exploring Shakespeare as a living writer who still speaks for all people and nations. Activities across English, education and the arts will explore the story of how a playwright from England came to be shared all over the globe. A major highlight will be All The World’s A Stage, a mass participation project that will invite people from all over the world to upload and share clips of themselves performing lines from Shakespeare plays. It will culminate in a record breaking, crowd-sourced performance and a new digital version of Shakespeare works.
Smart working Back office area has been designed as a smart working space - working environment and work-style that enables people to work more efficiently and effectively. It promotes more flexible and creative ways of working in global teams. Staff members do not have assigned desks - they choose desks that suits them best depending on their work style which supports integration. Technology is supporting the system: a screen with desk booking system, docking stations for laptops, wireless throughout the office, multi-function printing and copying devices .