Theatre audience development as a social function of contemporary theatres

Abstract

From the last decades of the previous century, the re-examination of the social functions of cultural institutions began - especially the institutions of elite art, to which the theatre belongs. In this regard, numerous researches are conducted focusing on the ?broader? social role of the theatre, as well as exploring the dynamics and quality of the relationship between theatre and its audience. Their outcomes are the recommendations of innovative strategic activities, by which the theatre can establish deeper relations with the existing and attract new audiences, i.e. more efficiently realize its cultural-emancipatory, social-inclusive, social-cohesive, educational, and other similar potentials. Extensive research of the functional type, which combines the analysis of the process of theatre production, distribution and reception, and sheds light on the ways in which theatre functions in the community, has not been conducted in Serbia so far. However, for many years, there have been conducted researches that provide sufficiently relevant answers, analysing this topic from individual aspects of the audience, marketing activities, cultural policy and theatre management. Their overall conclusion is that theatres in Serbia must (re)orient themselves to the external environment - (re)define their social mission and actively approach the process of diversification of the audience. However, the practical implementation of such recommendations is still lacking, theatre organizations find it difficult to adopt the idea that changes must be initiated by themselves, which brings us to the question of the attitudes on which these organizations establish their work. In this regard, the paper maps of and analyzes the opinions of managers and employees of Belgrade theatres on the topic of the role of theatre in the audience development and generation of the ?additional? social value, contextualizing the opinions in relation to the current circumstances, i. e. specific practices of these institutions. In conclusion, an original theoretical model of ?two-way adaptation of public city theatres? is developed, recognizing the importance of strategic action in culture both ?bottom-up? and ?top-down?, and proposing exact activities and approaches to theatre and cultural policy in the field of theater audience development.