Case studies

by: SANOU Aguibou Bougobali

The In-Out Dance Festival is an international dance meeting in the public space of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, which takes place every February since 2014. It started with a weekend of meetings, then it became 3 days and from 3 days it went to a week then two weeks. The festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2023. To mark 10 years, in 2023 it will take place the whole month of February as dance month in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

"This case study will lead us to explain to share our experiences [as organizers], that is to say how we were able to develop our audience, how we were able to maintain this relationship between the spectator and the artists and also make In-Out Dance Festival, an event from the community. It should also be noted that In-Out Dance Festival brings together , in all 5 cities in western Burkina, more or less 80,000 actors and spectators for 2 weeks each year. The development of audience retention, the relationship with the local population, of the community is set up, is built little by little over several years, it is not done in a single edition. It's a long journey together, it's a partnership. It is the establishment and maintenance of trust between festival organizers, the local community and the artists that is built over several years.

We, the In-Out Dance Festival committee, start more or less a year before the festival. That is to say the pre-festival and we maintain this relationship during the festival and especially after the festival by monitoring and evaluating. By following up, we  prepare for the next festival at the same time, so it's really a job that doesn't stop, it's a continuous job.

The pre-festival

Before the festival we prepare, we organize a series of meetings initially internally by and for the organizing committee to propose and select local sites, common family courtyards, urban spaces, markets and any other venues that will host performances. Then we organize series of meetings with the local population, with the traditional chieftaincy, the traditional notability because it should be noted that always in Burkina Faso, we have a strong attachment to the traditional culture which coexists very very well with the so-called Western or modern culture and for me it is very important to further highlight these traditional values ​​which are us, our identities, our history, our heritage which we must very jealousy safeguard and of course share with the world.

So the meeting with the notability and the meeting with the traditional customary chiefdom allows us to prepare the population little by little and to inform them about what is going to happen, that is to say the festival and its content. These meetings also allow us to know how far we can go, to ask for the agreements, the blessing and above all it is to explain the merits of what we are going to do what is the festival brings in terms of social and economic stability, what does the festival bring in terms of permanent and/or partial job creation, what does the festival bring in terms of social cohesion, etc.

So we ask for the support of the traditional local authorities but also of the national authorities.

The pre-festival is also this series of the three which I mentioned a little earlier with the religious leaders, the family courts and the local community to ask them where there to ask them for their blessing and to explain the festival to them again but above all to present them with apologies, many apologies.

Each time I tell them personally that we are going to make noise, we are going to make a lot of noise, that we are going to make a lot of noise and all this for 2 weeks, that is to say on working days and weekends . once we have the agreement and the blessing of the local population, the heads of the courts, the district chief, the village chief, various heads of structures, regional communal authorities and religious and customary leaders, we can say that we are launching what we call the pre-festival communication campaign through radio and TV ads, social networks and web TV. That's it and all we call in our own jargon information and blessing-taking meetings. All these steps are undertaken at least six months before the start of the festival so that we can find all the answers and all the support and support possible. you have to get there a lot in advance.

And always during the pre-campaign and throughout the festival, personally as the first person in charge of the event, I travel for what we call door to door. It's about going to meet the families individually, taking the time to sit down and share their meal with them. It is a question of inviting oneself into the family, exchanging and explaining again and again the social economic contributions of the festivals the merits of the festival the creation of jobs the things that I mentioned before explaining but take the time to discuss d exchange to understand what we do because it is not obvious that the population understands what we do. The population sees the rather festive side and not necessarily the opportunities. This door-to-door from individual to individual in the neighborhood where the festival village is located is very, very important and I think that's what keeps this good relationship between the festival and the local community, and what makes that ' today in-out Dance festival is no longer the festival of the tamadia company and thought and created by Aguibou Bougobali SANOU, but rather seen as the festival of the community of sector 9 and 10 of Accart-Ville. In-Out has become a festival in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso, a festival in Burkina Faso and even more than that, a world event.

During the festival

In Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), we say that: “if you see someone say to go back to yesterday's site again, it is certainly because yesterday was very interesting for the person” so through this sentence metaphorically what I mean is that throughout the festival we also try in any case as best as possible to provide content that can interest our audience and while respecting the diversity of our proposals.

It is to bring professional non-standardized content which can also arouse the curiosity of the public and generally the public of the festival is very diversified starting from early childhood to youth, adults and people of the 3rd age.

For example, to have more and more audience, we program local or national artists who will share the stage with international artists. this means that each artist, company or project also brings its audience, its audience who will also discover a new project and little by little curiosity leads this new audience to want to discover more.

Together I would say that during the festival it is the content that will be able to maintain and increase the audience, it is the content that will be able to create the new audience. it is the content starting from the animations to the quality shows, the music concert, the community meal and professional meetings, the sharing of experiences between professionals and amateurs at the dance workshop, sound and light techniques, projection movies. 

During the festival we initiated a program called Demba-Don Dance Exchange, a festival program that brings the show directly into the family, into family courtyards, into bedrooms. The concept of Demba-Don is taken from a traditional concept that we had in Bobo-Dioulasso. It is the dance of rejoicing of the godmother who expresses her joy at seeing her godson go to a home to marry.

So the Demba-Don Dance Exchange is to bring a play to a short version of a play in a family run with a limited number of spectators.

There are no restrictions in the family, we let family activities go on as usual. That is to say that if there is someone who wants to get up, go and have a drink to see if there is someone who wants to go get a plate to eat, but naturally we have noticed that the shows bring families to remain calm, very attentive and follow. that's something that is very interesting and after the performance the artists stay and an exchange between the population between the inhabitants of the court and the artists on the artistic approach, the creative process, on the choice of artists, the course, the theme on the how since when the why and here it is and that also creates an awakening of consciousness and more or less artistic in the different family courtyards in any case that we had to experiment with Exchange dance sticks

For the development and retention of the audience, it should also be noted that we are in the digital age and today it is very important to combine the virtual and the real because the 2 go hand in hand and for that we we also use the channels of social networks to disseminate many press releases on the festival we use these practically social networks (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram...).

This allows us to increase day by day and year by year

The after festival

The post festival is the period of gratitude this is the period of recognition this is the period during which we still travel to visit traditional religious authorities we travel running visiting the local community in the family courtyards we send letters of thanks we send certificates of participation to some others we show the population how satisfied we were with their participation with respect to their cooperation with their multiple multifaceted support and so we send thank you letters it's meal sharing time it's time for sharing it's time for emotion it's time for recognition and all of this also translated well by physical mails as virtual mails by physical messages in person of current current and that by virtual messages and at the same time that this thank is happening around 'a friendly dish over tea at the same time we introduce the next edition yet.

To conclude, we will say that developing and retaining audiences at festivals is a long-term job, a meticulous job. The audience is built step by step. It is from year to year and with teamwork that we manage to create loyalty and retain this audience it is an inclusive work which must also lead the population to know to realize that the event in question has been thought by an individual, of course, but the fact that it has gone beyond the framework of individuality and becomes at the same time municipal, regional, national or even more international this is just a sharing of experience starting from the international dance meeting festival in the public space in outer dance festival which takes place in Bobo-Dioulasso, the 2nd largest city of Burkina.

it's just a sharing of experience and I hope that it will be useful in any case for one and the other. It can perhaps serve as an example to also build   and maintain a good relationship with the audience for your event."

By Carly Findlay, Melbourne Fringe’s Access and Inclusion Coordinator10 

Melbourne Fringe’s vision is cultural democracy – empowering anyone to realise their right to creative expression. We support the development and presentation of artworks by, with and for the people of Melbourne, running the annual Melbourne Fringe Festival for three weeks in Spring, the year-round venue Fringe Common Rooms at Trades Hall, and a range of arts sector leadership programs. 

Due to Covid-19, our events have gone online, and our venue has temporarily closed. But we are continually engaging with artists, venues, and the sector, to provide support through this uncertain and difficult time, and access and inclusion is always a priority.   

We’ve had an Access and Inclusion program at Melbourne Fringe for almost three years. As Access and Inclusion Coordinator, along with all of our staff, I ensure access and inclusion is part of every decision we make, and that disability and Deaf are common words in the office. 

We: 

• work with independent artists to advise them on how to make their shows more accessible. 

• advise independent venues on best practice accessibility. 

• listen to Deaf and Disabled audience members about what they would like to see. 

• provide artistic development opportunities to Deaf and Disabled artists. 

• skill up the arts sector with accessible public workshops and knowledge sharing. 

Through having Deaf and disabled staff at Melbourne Fringe, we have an insight into and trusted connections with the Deaf and disability arts community and sector. We also have an understanding of the barriers faced, and thus a commitment to dismantling these. This section will look at some of our successes and lessons, and what we want for the future. 

Here is what we have learnt: 

• Consult with the community. Listen to their needs, barriers, successes and hopes.   

• It’s important to make your events accessible – for wheelchair users, Deaf and hard of hearing people, Blind and visually impaired people, neurodiverse people and people with invisible disability. If you’re just starting to make events accessible, pick one type of accessibility provision and aim to do it well. 

• Make online access a consideration – even post-Covid.  Book Auslan interpreters, organise captioning, live stream or record events to host online, include image descriptions. Check out Accessible Arts NSW’s useful guide. 

• The experience of disability and Deafness is not homogenous, and so not everything will be accessible to everyone. 

• Communicate your accessible and disability and Deaf led events to Deaf and disability communities. Communicate them to mainstream audiences too! 

• Deaf and disabled performers need accessible performance spaces – including stages, backstage areas, toilets and green rooms. 

• Listing what is not accessible is just as important as listing what is accessible. Providing all of the information about accessibility saves performers and audience members from the arduous task of chasing up. 

• Provide information in a range of formats – Word documents, PDFs, Auslan videos with captions, audio with transcripts plain text and plain English. 

• Provide a range of ways to register and apply for opportunities and jobs – for example, Deaf job applicants can apply by filming themselves using Auslan; and Festival staff can assist with over the phone registrations. 

• Deaf and disabled audiences want choice in the shows they see – where you can, be led with what the audience demands. 

• Share knowledge and resources with the arts sector. Hold meetings about accessibility with similar organisations and open up professional development opportunities to artists and arts workers. 

• Encourage non-disabled artists to engage with the idea of aesthetics of access and embedding and budgeting for access from the start of the art making process. 

• List access and inclusion as a regular agenda item at your staff meetings, where all staff are welcome to lead discussions. 

• It is important that Deaf and disabled artists are given the opportunity and funding to make ambitious work – both about Deafness and disability, and also on any theme they choose. This will raise expectations of the capabilities of Deaf and disabled artists. 

• Ensure that Deaf and disabled artists can trust the arts institutions and feel welcomed and heard –that they are culturally safe spaces. Employing Deaf and disabled people as arts workers is part of the strategy to achieve that. Make your organisation, festival, and arts sector safe to discuss disability and Deaf identity, culture and pride. 

• Document progress about access and inclusion. Keep social media posts, anecdotes, feedback, questions. This will help your Festival improve and also track your progress.   

These learnings are important for a festival context because we work with independent artists and venues. Budgets are small, and artists are often doing much more than just creating the art – they’re producing and marketing their shows, often on top of a day job. And not all venues are fully accessible. As a festival, we have to help support artists and venues in creating accessibility – through providing useful resources, funding and networking opportunities. 

I am a disabled artist, and this means I have first-hand experience of many of the discriminatory barriers faced by disabled and Deaf artists. However, I only know my own experience, and so I work closely with the disability and Deaf communities to gain further insight and expertise into how we can dismantle barriers. Working at Melbourne Fringe means I don’t have to leave my disabled identity at home – I can openly talk about my experiences and access needs while feeling supported. 

Access and inclusion make all artists feel welcome. It shouldn’t be an afterthought, and it’s such an opportunity to grow audiences and engage with diverse communities. 

Some of our resources: 

• Producers guide to access  

• Image descriptions info session (Video)  

• Deaf cultural awareness (Video)  

• Arts x Access at VCR Fest (Video) 

• Access and Inclusion in the Arts – an artist perspective (Video) 

Useful organisations 

• Arts Access Victoria: www.artsaccess.com.au 

• Unlimited https://weareunlimited.org.uk 

• Disability Arts Online: https://disabilityarts.online/ 

• A visual guide – with image descriptions our Common Rooms venue, to prepare people for the visit. 

• How to get to Common Rooms, highlighting public transport and parking  

By Jiyoung Chang 

The Feminism Theater Festival in South Korea was first held in 2018, in Seoul, South Korea and aimed to bring up Feminism to the theatrical world and gather Feminism play at one place so that more audiences can notice them. During the three years the festival has been running we have tried several ideas to develop and retain audiences, and here are some strategies we use: 

Making crowd funder our sponsors 

For the first two years of the festival, we raised funds through crowd funding websites. However, the basic idea is that audiences are buying their tickets in advance, but at the same time, the audiences who bought tickets for the festival become sponsors of the festival at the same time. The funders can receive our newsletters regularly and get some information about other feminism plays from us. 

Since the festival is about 'feminism', me and my co-workers have close relationship with other feminist artists in South Korea. Last year we issued 'certificate' to our supporters. (If you donate money over 30 US dollars, you can get the certificate.) When they got the 'certificate', they could get discounts for other works of our fellow feminist artists' and if someone show us the tickets of other feminist's works, he/she can get discounts for shows of our festival. 

Broadening the targets 

From the very beginning, we defined “feminism play” as “the works that accuse of discrimination and oppression which have existed against gender, that don't follow patriarchal system and that raise voice for gender equality”. We strongly believe that feminism is not just for women but for everyone. So, we tried to broaden the audiences to the feminists in general (not limited to the theatregoers), as well as the ones who have interests in feminism. 

We promote this festival through various feminist event such as women's film festival, feminist forum and Pride Seoul. This year one of our shows released only online, and we didn't use YouTube as our platform, instead we partnered with a movie streaming website that shows female artists' films. So, some of the film fans became our audience, too. (Of course, the members of that website can get discount for our off-line shows.) So whole 'new' audiences, who are feminists but not theatregoers, have come to our festival, some of whom had never come to the theatres before. (We don't have the specific data, but we assume that about a third of the audiences were new ones.) 

As we promote this festival as a 'feminist movement' as well as a theatre festival, we tried to work with other feminist artists and scholars. We also collaborated with other festival called 'Seoul Marginal Theater Festival' last year. Through that, we sent a message that we not only focus on women's issue but on other minority issues as well. The thing is that we tried to tell people that our festival is not just a theatre festival but a kind of activism for everyone's life. 

Building trust with the audiences 

My festival team thinks that “trust” between the festival and the audiences is one of the most important things because we, the festival team, and the audiences, are the “feminists”. When there is strong backlash against feminists in South Korea, we think this festival should be a safe place for artists and audiences. So, from the first year, we have tried to share as much information as possible with our audiences and supporters. First year, we made a rule with the members of the artists (about how to make a festival production safer place) and shared the rule book with everyone. Actually, we had to cancel one of our shows because there was violence inside the team. We had to investigate what had been going on in the team and had to decide to cancel the show. We share all the reasons for cancellation and the course we've took with our audiences. Some audiences said that they have trust on the festival, so it was totally understandable to cancel the show and were happy to wait for the next festival. For three years of the festival, I think this festival made a strong bond with the feminist artists and the feminists, and that is one of our strongest drives for the festival. 

By Angele Galea, Artistic Consultant at Science in the City 

In our attempt to keep audiences engaged in science and the arts, we develop a series of events throughout the year under the title of STEAM @ Spazju Kreattiv. This brings together a whole series of events that engage citizens in science and arts, in collaboration with the Malta Chamber of Scientists. From puppet theatre for kids, to theatre on hard-hitting social issues and mental conditions on film, there is something within the programme for everyone. The season is comprised of four strands: Science in the City, Malta Café Scientifique, ĊineXjenza, and Kids Dig Science. 

1. Science in the City

Science in the City happens on the last Friday of September alongside over 300 other European cities, as part of European Researchers’ Night. In 2020, due to the pandemic, it has been extended to the last weekend of November, taking place over three days, for social distancing purposes. Science busking, music, art exhibitions, children’s puppet shows, live experiments, talks, comedies, films, and theatre performances are genres utilised to communicate current research that is changing the world around us.  Our Capital city, Valletta, is transformed into a celebration of arts and sciences from 6pm till midnight. There are events for all ages from children to teenagers to professionals, with creative jazz concerts, dance, science shows, magicians, augmented reality, science theatre and more. 

In order to reach out to our audiences, we have a massive PR campaign in the build-up for the actual night, where we have researchers and artists interviewed on TV, radio, for printed media (magazine, newspaper), blogs, advert campaigns and documentaries aired on our national TV station. 

We also provide an all-year round calendar of events and outreach programmes, to keep in touch with our audience, comprising over 30,000 people (which for a country with less than half a million population is quite a feat). 

We have a very active Facebook page, filled with the latest research news. We also have researchers specialised in science communication featured in local media throughout the year, an Instagram page which keeps the younger generation engaged, and lately, we have also started posting on Tik Tok to get the even younger ones as well. 

We create projects with schools during their scholastic year in their classrooms (this year, this will be done virtually), where we align research with their curricula and feature their final outcome during the festival itself. Funds are competed for as part of Arts Council Malta, the Kreattiv strand. Local artists and researchers are brought to schools to bring a rich environment of learning to our students. 

We publish a quarterly magazine, called Think Magazine, which is distributed freely in university, high schools and selected shops around Malta. The idea is to reach out and keep developing our audiences, at their working spaces. 

2. Malta Cafe Scientifique 

Malta Café Scientifique which is an informal place where anyone can discuss the latest ideas in science and technology. Malta Cafe Scientifique takes science out of cloistered universities and into an informal space. We feature interesting talks about the latest science, followed by a discussion with the general public. Meetings usually take place on the 1st Wednesday of the month at 7.15pm (talk starts 7.30pm) at the Cinema Room, St James Cavalier, Valletta. 

3. CineXjenza 

CineXjenza regularly screens movies followed by discussions afterwards ranging from science to philosophy to our mental health. CineXjenza, is a new concept which is being worked on by the Malta Chamber of Scientists, Spazju Kreattiv and S-Cubed. The idea behind it is for discussion and debate on what current research and technology can achieve, while comparing this to what we are seeing in the movies, being presented to us. From new radical technological advances to incredible biological discoveries or simply discovering new laws of science. ĊineXjenza aims to spark discussion and debate around current scientific research and technology through movies. A film is first screened followed by a discussion moderated by an expert. With this series of events, we tackle singular films, watching them together and afterwards, professionals in the area will tackle the movie with the current state of research if it is or is not possible to achieve what is presented to us and kick start a discussion. 

4. Kids Dig Science   

Kids Dig Science is coordinated by the Science in the City team at the Malta Chamber of Scientists. This season, the team will once again meet with the scientists to find out the latest in all things science, then cut it down to size for children above the age of 6. It was conceived to inspire curious little minds, to ignite their passions and foster creativity.  

5. Associated Events

Other than on European Researchers’ Night, there are several other activities you may be interested in. Science in the house is an exhibition that includes some of the most recent research carried out at the University of Malta, from all fields and disciplines. The event brings Members of Parliament and researchers together to discuss research on the eve of European Researchers’ Night. The exhibition in the foyer of the Parliament Building is then open to the public during Science in the City.  

Alongside the release of each issue of the University of Malta’s research magazine, THINK, there is a SoapBox event where researchers get 5 minutes on the box to talk about new projects or ideas over a drink at a bar.  

STEAM School Malta goes to Maltese schools with creative STEAM activities for students. The activities are run by University of Malta students, staff and researchers.  

The team (with international trainers) run STEAM Summer School which offers a transcultural science communication intensive course to people from all over the world. It was  held online in January 2021. We also collaborate with research outreach programmes in our bid to help in the communication of science through artistic expression. The aim is always to Engage, Empower and Enable our audiences, which in 2020, we adopted as our festival’s theme. 

By Daniel Maposa, Festival Director at Harare International Festival 

The Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) is one of the biggest festivals, not only in Zimbabwe, but in Africa. When the festival was launched in April 1999, it changed the landscape of the arts in the country, in terms of festival organisation, programming and attendance. HIFA was not the first festival to be held in Zimbabwe, but its launch attracted huge audiences, majority of whom had never been to a festival before. Year after year, the festival continued to grow its audience base both locally and internationally. This became a festival not to miss for festival lovers of diverse backgrounds, age, class, and race. Regardless of the socio-economic challenges that the country is faced with, HIFA continued to scale beyond any other festival in the country, making it one of the biggest and most attended festivals not only by Zimbabweans. 

The success of any festival in growing and retaining audiences is hinged on vibrant and exciting programming and aggressive marketing that mainstreams continuous arts education. Good artistic programming that is supported by innovative marketing strategies that seek to develop deep relations with current and prospective audiences could be argued to be at the centre of HIFA’s audience retention strategy. 

The Harare International Festival is known for its consistent, vibrant, and exciting programming. Through the years, audiences got to know that at the HIFA, you experience diverse, cutting-edge, and top-drawer artistic products. The Harare International Festival of the Arts became a space for launching new and exciting products. Many audience members come to a festival to watch new and exciting work every now and then. Others are also interested in watching their favourite artists in a festival setting. The belief and confidence in the artistic milieu of the festival made many people want to attend the festival year in, year out without any much disappointment.  It became a “go to” festival where audiences knew that they would get value for money through experiencing new, exciting, and cutting- edge artistic products. The festival diligently commissions and selects high quality productions that they program with an aim of satisfying their audience. 

HIFA programming also has diverse artistic products for different kinds of tastes. In their music programming for example, HIFA populates its programme with diverse musical genres that cater for different age groups, races, tribes, and tastes. It is one of the few festivals that programme local music in its diversity to cater for local and other international audiences interested in experiencing local music. It also programmes African and Eurocentric music to cater for different local and international audiences as well. This therefore means that everyone has a slice to enjoy at the festival, making people wanting to continuously attend the festival. 

Another key factor to HIF’s audience’s retention was providing a memorable experience to festival goers outside of the actual artistic performances. It is argued that many people attend 

festivals not for the artistic offerings but for the experience that they derive from such attendance. The ambience created outside of the actual performances is important for many festival audiences. These can be activities that are outside the performances or exhibitions. The HIFA attracts people who sometimes do not want to attend performances, where various hangouts spots where people would network and or discuss various issues freely were created. One such space is the Coca-Cola Green where people just hang out, eat, drink network, and relax. One can access the Coca Cola Green after paying a nominal general entrance fee, and a lot of people paid to just get into the Coca-Cola Green to have fun. In between the main programme performances, there would be free musical performances by mostly upcoming but exciting bands, poets, and Deejays. The Coca-Cola Green is very popular with young and middle-aged people. In the Coca-Cola Green, there are also Food stalls, Café’s and beer drinking spaces. Within this space is also the Green Room where producers, directors and HIFA VIP members meet to discuss business and network. This Green room is a controlled space for those who want to discuss serious business without disturbances. The environment and ambience at the Coca-Cola green therefore provides an unforgettable experience to all people who attend the festival. 

Another key factor to audience growth and retention by HIFA was the creation of an accessible and safe space for festival goers. The Harare Gardens where the main festival is held is usually known for muggings and car break ins at night. However, the festival employed security personnel from the police, private bouncers and street kids who usually stay at the Gardens. Many people allege that some of the street kids are sometimes responsible or know who is responsible for muggings and break ins. By employing them and branding them as security, it brought safety and confidence to the patrons, who rarely experienced muggings or break ins. 

The HIFA also managed to create visibility of the festival at various levels to the extent that the majority of people in Harare and beyond got to know about the festival. HIFA markets the festival strongly, so that you would think it is the only thing happening in the country. 

The festival, however, went beyond just creating visibility to building deeper relationships with the current audiences. The festival created different packages for its audiences with different benefits.  The festival’s unique audience outreach through packages for troubadours and HIFA amigos created a loyal fanbase that is prepared to spend in advance on the festival. The Troubadours and Amigos pay a certain amount every year to the festival, and they get benefits like getting first preference at the Box Office, discounts on many shows, free access to backstage to meet artists of the mainstage and also access to the green room where VIPs mix and mingle. Both amigos and troubadours would have their names listed in the HIFA booklet which was honourable for them. These packages ensure that the festival has a loyal base of fans that are committed to the festival always. 

By Martina Missel, Katharina Wolfrum, Laura Martegani 

1. Who we are: 

Theaterbüro München is an advisory office for the independent performing arts in Munich. We offer individual consultations as well as workshops on topics such as fundraising, networking or project coordination, which serve to strengthen the artistic production process and the artists themselves. 

Since 2020, we also organize the audience development program Schau mer mal (Let’s see), which has formerly been hosted by Rat & Tat kulturbuero. Our office as well as this particular program is funded by the cultural municipality of the City of Munich. This funding makes it possible for us to offer the program free of charge and thus easily accessible. 

2. What we do: 

Despite solely being famous for the Oktoberfest and FC Bayern, the Bavarian capital offers a wide range of cultural activities and performances. But most of the Munich audience for the performing arts only visit shows in big state or city theaters such as Residenztheater, Kammerspiele München, Bayerische Staatsoper and Gasteig. In order to inspire change in this field our goal is to highlight the flourishing independent performing art scene that is spread throughout the city and offers performances in a great variety of formats. The audience development program Schau mer mal features selected performances of Munich’s independent art scene to stimulate a dialogue between the Munich community and its artists – thus creating long-lasting relationships. Through guided tours, introductory talks and other formats, the various performative approaches become more accessible, and the different venues gain familiarity for a broader audience. 

3. Learnings: 

In every task around communication, relationship-building, and audience development it is important to establish long lasting partnerships. Schau mer mal built cooperation with well-known organizations and artistic newsletters to distribute the information about this program to as many people as possible. Among them is Theatergemeinde München, a monthly newsletter offering selected performances to roughly 25.000 people by granting a discount on ticket prices to their subscribers. 

This newsletter usually focuses more on state theatres and opens up an audience of more conservative theatregoers. We also cooperate with the Goethe Institute for our international productions with a bilingual program in German and English as well as the Studentenwerk München, which provides a biannual cultural program to students enrolled in Munich Universities. Another partner is Evangelisches Bildungswerk, an institution funded by the church that offers activities and workshops. 

We also cooperate with a group that organizes leisure activities for members of Deutscher Alpenverein, a national hiking and climbing organization. The effort to find these cooperations is an ongoing one, we are constantly looking for new fields to tackle and partnerships to engage in. Our goal is to reach audiences with various interests, to meet them at what they know and then spark interest in performing arts from there. 

With these cooperations however comes the obligation of fitting our „production-schedule“ into theirs. 

These institutions usually work with early deadlines, which is no problem for a state theatre and its seasonal planning, but the independent art scene is often producing on shorter notice. If we want our selected productions to appear in their newsletter or program, we have to plan ahead and involve the artists as early as possible. This often means that we need fixed dates, announcement texts and pictures before the production even started their artistic process, sometimes up to 14 months before the premiere. Many artists in Munich are still having difficulties with this schedule, because fixing an aspect of their production this early feels like it takes away from their artistic freedom to develop in every possible direction. 

When it comes to our audience development formats, we are mainly focusing on establishing a connection between the audience members and the artists to spark interest in one another. We offer tours behind the scenes, rehearsal visits, physical introductions, and most of all informal conversations with the artists themselves about their visions, their artistic process and their difficulties. These conversations seek to be honest and personal to create accessibility to the performances as well as a bond between artists and audience members. We are not only hoping to have the audience watch the shows, but also to empower the artists to connect more with their audience in the future by providing them with tools and possibilities. The goal would be that more and more artists think about how and who to reach out to while working on a project, because they had a fruitful experience with Schau mer mal. 

4. Future plans: 

The Covid-19-Pandemic has made planning more and more difficult since the productions don’t know if they will have the possibility to show in a theatre venue or stick to their schedule. We are currently working on creating online-solutions or formats that follow the current hygiene rules. But for now, we take it step by step. However, we are still reaching out to institutions and organizations to further our reach and we will start to plan the next season when the project funding for 2021 is announced. 

For examples of our audience development formats you can visit here.  

Feel free to contact us with input or questions at vermittlung@theaterbueromuenchen.de