Audience Engagement in Lithuanian Theatre Activities: Q Sort Methodology Research

Proceedings of The 5th International Conference on Advanced Research in Business, Management and Economics

Year: 2022

DOI:

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Audience Engagement in Lithuanian Theatre Activities: Q Sort Methodology Research

Skaistė Jurėnė

ABSTRACT: 

There is a unanimous agreement that audience engagement (AE) is currently and will be one of the most important challenges for cultural organisations. Thus, this paper presents the concept of AE, identifies AE tools and their categories, presents the contributors of audience preparedness to engage and the types of behavior of AE. Q sort methodology research was held with the Lithuanian theatre audience. The main goal of this study was to determine audience engagement in theatre activities. During the period of this research, a new category of AE tools (social interaction-promoting) and factors important for audience engagement in the theatre has been identified. Moreover, five theatre audience groups found out – theater lovers focused on themselves, company-loving theatrical backstage experts, theater elite, theater education and ritual believers, theater intellectuals. Those groups excel by different existing contexts and relevance. Also, they tend to use distinct kinds of AE tools.

keywords: audience engagement; tools; contributors; theatre; Q sort methodology.