The Importance of Small Theater Companies

In his post The Importance of Ecosystem, Jim pointed out how the success of a theater community depends on more than just the success of the theaters in it. He wrote:

“I say this all the time and every year on stage at TEDxBroadway, but every year people think it’s a new idea.

It’s not a new idea, but it is a VERY important one. Theaters, restaurants, homes, academic institutions, hotels, tourist destinations, stores, public spaces, social services and everything else that people need and want exist together and affect each other. It sounds obvious, but the health of the ecosystem around a set of organizations, like theaters, has perhaps the biggest influence on success.”

Trip Venturella is very interested in ecosystem, specifically, making space for theater in Boston. His HowlRound article lists some ideas for helping small theater companies — which he believes are important avenues for young artists and new audiences — thrive.

more space for theatre arts in a small city
How can we make more space for theatre arts in a small city? – See more at: http://howlround.com/dispatches-from-the-hub-of-the-universe-making-space-for-theatre-in-boston#sthash.pJEaEnz9.dpuf
How can we make more space for theatre arts in a small city? – See more at: http://howlround.com/dispatches-from-the-hub-of-the-universe-making-space-for-theatre-in-boston#sthash.pJEaEnz9.dpuf
How can we make more space for theatre arts in a small city? – See more at: http://howlround.com/dispatches-from-the-hub-of-the-universe-making-space-for-theatre-in-boston#sthash.pJEaEnz9.dpudid a lot of research and wrote a very extensive piece on the theater community in Boston for HowlRound. Last week, as the host, curator and co-organizer of TEDxBroadway, I talked about the Broadway Ecosystem.

TEDxBroadway 2015 is fast approaching (February 23), and once again, the topic of ecosystem is likely to be on the agenda. If you don’t have tickets to the sold-out event, please follow the discussion at #TEDxBway.

Because, as Jim wrote in his post TEDxBroadway Is Not a Theater Conference:

“TEDxBroadway is a conference about a neighborhood, where theater happens to be quite important.

This neighborhood, in turn, has a really big impact on the city it’s in, and by impacting the millions upon millions of people that visit this neighborhood, and through the intellectual property it generates, it has a big impact on the world.

That’s why we talk about Broadway as a place, not “Broadway” as a symbolic term for the theater business in New York. And more than that, Broadway, the neighborhood, is an ecosystem of people and organizations, businesses, governments, residents, entrepreneurs, tourists and others.”

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