Theatre Forum’s purpose – working alongside members and partners – is to strengthen Ireland’s performing arts community, and to advance its interests to ensure a sustainable future. Our values are evident in how we work.

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 – Links to each of the sessions were mailed on Wednesday 3 February at 1pm. Late registrants will be mailed on Thursday at 9am. 

Session 1 – All things digital
Thursday 4 February 10:00 – 11:30, breakout room chats (optional) 11:30 – 11:45
Keynote and introduction to The Space by Fiona Morris. Opportunities and strategies conversation with Lyn Gardner, The Stage; Vicky Featherstone, The Royal Court; Neil Murray, Abbey Theatre; Fergus Sheil, Irish National Opera.

Session 2 – Developing on-line audiences with limited resources
Thursday 4 February 12:00 – 13:30, breakout room chats (optional) 13:30 – 13:45
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.
Rob Lindsay, The Space presentation followed by Michael Barker-Caven in conversation with Maura O’Keeffe, Hannah Mullan, Sian Ní Mhuirí, and Peter Power.

Session 3 – Producing, filming and distributing long-form live content
Friday 5 February 10:00 – 11:30, breakout room chats (optional) 11:30 –11:50
Focus on larger scale venues, companies, festivals and their producers. Using indigenous 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.Natalie Woolman, Magnus Dennison, Sarah Fortescue, Dom Kennedy from The Space in discussion with Fergus Hannigan, Abbey Theatre; Anne Clarke, Landmark Productions; and Diego Fasciati, Irish National Opera.

Session 4 – Marketing communications
Friday 5 February 12:00 – 13:30, breakout room chats (optional) 13:30 – 13:50
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.

Rob Lindsay, The Space presentation followed by Heather Maitland in discussion with Mark O’Brien, axis Ballymun; Louise Donlon, Lime Tree Theatre; and Caroline Kennedy, Dublin Dance Festival.