Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Lyn Gardner: Will free theatre tickets make a difference?
guardian.co.uk: "So, as everyone expected, the idea of an annual 'free week' of theatregoing proposed by the McMaster review has been declared a dead duck. In its place rises Andy Burnham's proposal in which 18-to-26-year-olds will be able to access free theatre tickets at 95 theatres across the country. Over a two-year period beginning next February, Burnham hopes to give two million tickets away in a government scheme funded to the tune of £2.5m."
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8 comments:
People that go and see a show more than once will pay for tickets, and the people that will only go for free will see it once. The money made from WOM advertising is minimal in this case so free tickets don't turn profits.
I do not think that the price of theater tickets is the primary reason why the 18-26 yr old crowd is not going to the theater. Free tickets will not be enough incentive for audience members. Besides, free tickets will not return profits.
Obviously this free ticket idea is not a scheme to turn profits, and I have a feeling they're not too worried about that. They're trying to bring young people to the arts again, to bring back a generation that has been turned away, and I think it's a great idea. I haven't seen a play in well over a year, and not for lack of trying. Theatre is becoming prohibitively expensive, and if even theatre kids are being turned away, there's a serious problem.
There is a saying, you have to spend money to make money. The theaters may no be getting as much money, but maybe they will gain a greater youth population to the theater going audiences. This could have a fantastic long term effect. I have to agree with the end of the article. The price is not the only thing that matters, but also the content. I was surprised to see that taken a step further referencing the arts programming in schools. Very Impressive.
I agree that money is not the only reason why there has been a decrease of young theater goers. However, I do believe that free tickets would serve as a good starting point to both encourage old theater goers and along with a change in environment and programming, as proposed, entice new ones.
I completely agree with Michael darling theatre is expensive as crap. Wicked is here touring now and the bad tickets are $50 each. I understand shows have huge budgets to pay for, but what college kid honestly had $50 to spend on maybe 3 hours of entertainment. I don't know how well a completely free system would really turn out, but here the festival of first had $10 tickets for student. Because I can afford them, I am planning to attend 3 different shows. If these were the $25 dollars they normally are I would maybe go to 1. Not only are college kids poor, but a lot of us are cheap too...we have to be. Its a wonderful idea to try to cut down these prices, or make them free, so that college kids can go. If they get in the habit as teenagers of going to shows, when they are adults they will still go see shows. So it seems like a win, win to me.
I think Free tickets is an interesting idea worth taking the time to experiment and flesh out a full idea. I agree with the author of the article who thinks that the content needs to be deemed worthy by the younger crowds as well. I know that I would be all over free theatre for sure and would definitely go out of my way to make it.
i agree with Michael also. I wish I could go to more shows, but the costs prohibit me. Especially when its usually more than the cost of the show (transportation etc.) I think that free week actually would make more people interested. If someone, who might not normally see a show goes to see it because its free, and gets excited by the lights, sound, set or raw emotions, he or she might buy tickets in the future or even becoem a theatre kid themselves. I wish that we had something like free week around here.
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