Who is the audience for the independent performing arts community? What can cultural participation in the independent performing arts look like? What competencies do members of the community who are active in the field of communication need? Beyond this, we also support members of the independent performing arts community in building up their knowledge of their audience as well as caring for the relationship with their audience.

Each month, Theater Scoutings Berlin puts together a diverse schedule of programming and offers exchange and outreach formats within Berlin’s independent performing arts community that accompany productions. Within this framework, post-performance discussions, experimental communication formats, tours of performance venues, workshops, visits to rehearsals as well as target group-specific communication format for primary and secondary school students, college students, youth groups or singles and those learning languages take place and are moderated by a team of scouts. The competencies of the scouts are strengthened over the course of regular workshops and all aspects surrounding the topic of audiences are reflected upon and further developed during events for professionals.

The annual festival Freie Szene Tage Berlin (Berlin Days of the Independent Performing Arts Community) and the community and neighborhood projects have the goal of creating more space for encounters and social transformation. With a wide range of audience and communication actions, such as open rehearsals, workshops, art in public space and neighborhood projects, the projects strengthen the exchange between the independent performing arts community and civil society with its diverse communities.

Publications

The knowledge surrounding communication, collected in a variety of formats, is summarized in handbooks. The handbook Between Audience and Stage – Communication Formats for the Independent Performing Arts (2018) and the publication PERCEPTION(S) – Experimental Communication Formats, Discussions and Observations from the Independent Performing Arts (2022) contain descriptions of experimental communication formats that have been initiated, tested and further developed within Berlin’s independent performing arts community. They are framed by empiric reports, reflections and observations which are dedicated to a variety of aspects within the topic of audience engagement and serve as an invitation to think about the interaction with the audience in a new way.

Audience Insights – Valuable Insights Into Audience Structures

The audience research available to us has, up to now, provided only a few figures and qualitative insights for the independent performing arts. Data-based strategic development, however, can be extremely valuable to cultural institutions and culture makers. Over the course of a series of events for professionals and other measures, the Berlin Performing Arts Program supports members of the independent performing arts community in getting to know their audiences better by deepening the knowledge as well as the discussion regarding methods of audience surveys, audience research, audience engagement and community building and outreach.