Working with community audiences

What community work usually looks like

Community work for arts organisations tends to cover some or all of the following.

• Reaching out to community leaders and group organisers with a brief that respects their time
• Bringing groups in to specific shows, exhibitions or events at a price that works
• Coordinating workshops in community settings or in venues
• Supporting first-time visitors with practical detail and warmth, so they feel welcome
• Signposting access performances, including relaxed and chilled performances, so groups with sensory needs feel comfortable to attend
• Building the longer-term relationship so the group comes back without my encouragement next time

Access performances and community comfort

A growing number of theatre productions now offer access performances within their runs. They are called relaxed performances or chilled performances, and they make a real difference to who can come and who feels comfortable being there. The audience can wander around. They can vocalise how they feel without anybody telling them to be quiet. They can step out of the auditorium if it gets too much, often into a different space with bean bags or comfortable chairs where they can watch the show on a screen in a calmer environment.

Part of my community work is signposting these performances to community groups and family workers so that the people who would benefit most know they exist and feel invited.

Questions community-facing clients often ask

How do you reach community leaders we have not been able to reach? Through decades of trust. Most of my contacts have come from one introduction leading to another, slowly, over years. That is the relationship I bring with me when you engage me.

Can you support an access or relaxed performance push? Yes. I regularly disseminate access performance offers to community groups and family workers, including those supporting young people with SEND.

Do you work with faith communities? Yes, and with cultural and intergenerational communities across the UK. Diversity in the widest sense is the lens I bring to all of this work.

Will the audience come back next time without you? That is the goal. The whole point of doing community work properly is that the next time the group does not need me to bring them. They come because they know the venue is for them.