Theatre Forum Annual Conference

The conference is in June every year and the biggest gathering in the theatre calendar. It’s a mix of polemical soapboxes, seminars, public interviews, inspirational talks and networking opportunities.  The conference takes place over two days and attracts more than 300 arts professionals.

In 2012 it will take place in the Lyric Theatre Belfast, 14 & 15 June in partnership with the Northern Ireland Theatre Association and Audiences Northern Ireland.

Public Interviews, Seminars & Discussions

Theatre Forum organises a variety of these events during the year.  Past topics include a look at different models of production, touring, leadership in the arts and discussion events in relation to the sector and funding. Details of upcoming events can be found on the Theatre Forum Notice Board. Our annual fixed programme of events include 

• Artist development programmes such as The Next Stage in October and MAKE in March. 
• Regular meetings of venue managers 
• Training for producers and emerging independent artists 
• General members meetings where members share and update each other on new initiatives  
• Regional ‘Open Space’ meetings outside Dublin for members and non members

 This training is further supported by our model contracts and factsheets.

Audience Development & Marketing

We organise seminars and training on arts marketing.  This covers internet marketing, audience research, front of house and box office training.  

We organise one-on-one ‘marketing surgeries’ with Heather Maitland. This is linked to our annual Audience Benchmarking Research.  The project analyses box office records from 45 member venues and 16 festivals. In 2011 we analysed the 2.3 million tickets worth €45.7 million bought by 455,000 ticket buyers. 

A summary of the research is in the members only section.