Digital Forum by Theatre Forum

Following a tough and restrictive start to 2021, this online initiative aims to share digital thinking and resources to support everyone in the performing arts community through and beyond this crisis. We’ve partnered with The Space and know that the speaker line-up of artists, experts and makers will be an inspiration to us all.

A programme of four sessions
This event is a modular one, designed so you can you pick ’n mix the sessions to best suit you. Feel free to share this invitation with friends and encourage them to do the same. The programme consists of four formal sessions with some time before and after for the all-important catch up with colleagues and speakers. Here’s an overview of the programme and times of each session. Zoom sessions are deliberately limited to one and a half hours, they will be captioned, recorded and available to view afterwards. You can choose to attend some or all of the sessions.
Registration is below – Zoom links will be sent on Wednesday morning.

Session 1 – All things digital
Thursday 4 February 10:00 – 11:30
Keynote and Introduction to The Space by Fiona Morris. Opportunities and strategies discussion with expert group including renowned commentator Lyn Gardner, The Stage.

Session 2 – Developing on-line audiences with limited resources
Thursday 4 February 12:00 – 13:30
Focus on smaller scale companies and independent artists followed by moderated panel and audience discussion.Identify your audiences online, decide those platforms on which to focus your energies, particularly to build sustainable communities rather than one-off spikes in engagement. Explore how you define strategically “successful” content for each major platform. Ensure what you produce and publish works as hard as possible, particularly in the context of limited time and budget.Legal overview of publication, rights and contracting from the artists’ perspective.

Session 3 – Producing, filming and distributing long-form live content.
Friday 5 February 10:00 – 11:30
Focus on larger scale venues, companies, festivals and their producers.Using indigenous case study examples, the session includes three discursive presentations about different aspects of producing and distributing ‘captured’ content.Conversation with expert panel including artistic directors and producers to follow presentations.

Session 4 – Marketing communications
Friday 5 February 12:00 – 13:30
Focus on marketing and communications teams in mid to larger scale arts centre, festival and production companies.Rethinking how to identify audiences online, deciding which platforms are important to build sustainable communities rather than one-off spikes in engagement and engaging with existing as well as new audiences in 2021 and beyond. A facilitated discussion with contributions from marketing teams successfully navigating the online environment while deepening and strengthening engagement with audiences.

Registration
This event is open to all though we ask you to register simply to enable us to better prepare speakers and topics. Links to each of the sessions will be mailed on Wednesday.

Useful resources from The Space

• A guide to low-fi and low-cost options for streaming arts events – How to get started with streaming your events
• Audiences in a digital era – how to gain a deeper understanding of your audience
• A guide to podcasting – How to get started with podcasting
• Case study in live-streaming – what Complicité learnt from their first live stream event

Toolkits
Comprehensive guides to help with audience development, rights and more…

• Online Audience Development– advice on how to find your audience online, engage them and measure your success
• Digital Rights Toolkit – What rights to consider when sharing your work online
• Planning and running an online campaign

Acknowledgements
With thanks to Michael Barker-Caven and The Space team for generously sharing their resources and expertise with us and to the Arts Council’s for their funding and ongoing support of Theatre Forum and make it possible for us to deliver events.