The concept of participation is a strong element in contemporary culture: the Internet made us become accustomed to publicly expressing our thoughts and taking an active part in choosing what we see. Cultural funders often seek projects which have an impact on the neighbourhood or the settlement they take place in, or / and involving the local communities. At the same time, theatre and other forms of time-(specific) art are going through difficult times, in part also because of a reduction in their audience’s attention span. So, what does it mean to involve the public in the arts? Should the audience be part of the creative process? To what cause? What are the best practices for encouraging participation and what are the failed ones? Should we develop tools to measure the audience’s engagement, and what would we like its legacy to be?  We will explore this topic with a few concrete examples from Portugal and contributions from participants.

This venue is not accessible for wheelchair users.