In the 2021/2022 academic year we are opening a series of seminars for university students: Introduction to Audience Development. The course is co-organised by the Department of Drama in Education. Students of selected university study programmes can enrol at the course for credits. The two-semester course covers an introduction to the evolving field of theatre audience development, its basic principles, and actual audience development projects in the Czech Republic and abroad. We will deal with the concept of audience development as a transition of the audience from a passive consumer role to an active partner of the creators. You will gain the basic skills of a theatre educator which are crucial in helping theatres define their needs and develop a strategy for audience development or the whole audience development department. You also learn to analyse a theatre production from the perspective of a theatre educator.

The course consists of seminars and discussions, as well as trips to drama performances and special events at theatres. The outcome of the course is creating your own strategy for audience development for a chosen production or theatre.