Free Night of Theater 2010

Audience development has long been identified by American professional not-for-profit theatres as one of the most pressing and ongoing issues facing our field and it continues to be an integral part of TCG's long-range vision and strategic plan for the organization. Given the uncertainty of today's economic environment, attracting new audiences to our theatres has never been more vital.

Introduced as a three city pilot-program in 2005, the goal of Free Night has been to increase public awareness of our national theatre community, while in turn attracting new and non-traditional audiences to our theatres.

The concept behind the Free Night program is so simple that it can be easy to miss how ground-breaking it is and how remarkably effective this national audience development program has proven to be. In fact, annual research continues to report that one out of three Free Night patrons return to the theatre they attended and purchase tickets.

Now presented in more than 130 cities, by over 750 theatres, the program provides a unique opportunity for theatres, service organizations, arts councils and even city governments to collaborate on a nationwide iniative that increases their visibility, provides new sponsorship opportunities and introduces new audiences in their community to the joy of theatre for the first time.

Participation in the Free Night of Theater 2010 program will be limited to organizations and theatres that meet the program participation guidelines. Complete 2010 program guidelines and participation criteria are available on the TCG Free Night web pages under Guidelines. For more details about past Free Night campaigns, please visit the annual program Overview pages located on the navigation bar to the left.

Free Night of Theater 2010 will open across the country on Thursday, October 14, 2010.