KIT has had a pioneering role in bringing a wide range of performers to Denmark; it is considered a cultural festival with global influences as much as it is a theatre.
The Nordic Council of Ministers' programme ran for a two-year period in 1998 and 1999, and encompassed more than 50 exchange projects in dance, theatre, music, literature and photography.
It was followed by Shuttle 02, a Danish initiative which concentrated on dance and music as two vital art forms in the South African cultural heritage.
Thiesen lived in England for several years before taking up an appointment in 2005 with the Danish Arts Agency, an arm of the Ministry of Culture.
This was part of a programme in which three Danish children's theatre companies initiated a two-week-long tour to China, with visits to Beijing, Shanghai, Hefei and the old cultural capital Xi'an.