From the last decades of the previous century, the re-examination of the
social functions of cultural institutions began - especially the
institutions of elite art, to which the theatre belongs. In this regard,
numerous researches are conducted focusing on the ?broader? social role of
the theatre, as well as exploring the dynamics and quality of the
relationship between theatre and its audience. Their outcomes are the
recommendations of innovative strategic activities, by which the theatre can
establish deeper relations with the existing and attract new audiences, i.e.
more efficiently realize its cultural-emancipatory, social-inclusive,
social-cohesive, educational, and other similar potentials. Extensive
research of the functional type, which combines the analysis of the process
of theatre production, distribution and reception, and sheds light on the
ways in which theatre functions in the community, has not been conducted in
Serbia so far. However, for many years, there have been conducted researches
that provide sufficiently relevant answers, analysing this topic from
individual aspects of the audience, marketing activities, cultural policy
and theatre management. Their overall conclusion is that theatres in Serbia
must (re)orient themselves to the external environment - (re)define their
social mission and actively approach the process of diversification of the
audience. However, the practical implementation of such recommendations is
still lacking, theatre organizations find it difficult to adopt the idea
that changes must be initiated by themselves, which brings us to the
question of the attitudes on which these organizations establish their work.
In this regard, the paper maps of and analyzes the opinions of managers and
employees of Belgrade theatres on the topic of the role of theatre in the
audience development and generation of the ?additional? social value,
contextualizing the opinions in relation to the current circumstances, i. e.
specific practices of these institutions. In conclusion, an original
theoretical model of ?two-way adaptation of public city theatres? is
developed, recognizing the importance of strategic action in culture both
?bottom-up? and ?top-down?, and proposing exact activities and approaches to
theatre and cultural policy in the field of theater audience development.