Sheffield Theatres Host Theatron Culture Shift 2 Conference

6th April 2017

Sheffield Theatres will host the Culture Shift 2 Conference from Thursday 30 Friday 31 March, the final event in the Europe-wide Theatron project; an open forum for European performing arts professionals to exchange good practice and hear the latest insights on audience development and community engagement.

Under the title 'Bringing new audiences into the theatre Bringing theatre to new audiences', the conference will cover topics including developing new audiences, theatre as a public service, pricing and ticketing initiatives, and diversity on and off the stage. There will be case study presentations from Theatron members relating to these areas, expert guest speakers and an opportunity for debate and discussion. Theatron is a network of European performing arts organisations who, over the last five years, have jointly explored creative and innovative ways of engaging new audiences. It has brought together some of the key players in contemporary European theatre and dance. Its members collectively reach an audience of more than 1.6 million per season. Co-funded by the European Union under the Culture 2007-2013 programme, Theatron was conceived out of the desire to make European theatre more relevant to its communities again. As the project has progressed, it has invited a growing number of contributions from associate members and partners. Now in its final funding season, Theatron will continue as a network of performing arts organisations dedicated to audience development. Lars Seeberg, Theatron Artistic Director: -Theatron has enabled a core group of performing arts organisations, directors and creatives to share experiences and to learn from each other how to connect to audiences in new and innovative ways. We are sharing these insights through research studies, educational toolkits and publications from our artistic productions, workshops and events. Culture Shift 2 gives us the platform to reach the wider performing arts community and to hear more from our colleagues. We will also launch the EngagingTheatre Network the home for performing arts organisations that place audiences in the centre of their artistic and strategic vision.