Future investment at Lilla Teatern / Lilla Teatern launches a development project

Press release / Press release 10.6.2019

Helsinki City Theatre and Lilla Teatern are launching a development project called “Audience Focus at Lilla Teatern“. The project’s three focus areas are on audience outreach, service design and communication. The project is a three-year project and will be led by Johanna Welander , who has extensive experience in cultural administration and strategy and fire development.

Lilla Teatern’s outgoing artistic director Marina Meinander has initiated the project, which has been backed by the board of the Helsinki Theatre Foundation.

“The wishes and habits of the public have changed in recent decades, and the competition for people’s leisure time has increased significantly. The development project gives us the opportunity to make Lillan a vital and relevant stage for an ever-growing audience. As a Swedish-language stage, we have a smaller audience base than the other stages at the City Theatre. This makes us sensitive to trends, but it also means that the solutions we now find can be solutions that can be implemented on other stages in the future. The development project makes Lillan a laboratory for the future, and the goal is to increase the relevance of the performing arts in the 2020s,” says Marina Meinander.

“It’s fantastic to be able to continue with cultural administration and to be a cog in Lilla Teatern’s development is almost solemn! I feel that Lillan is facing an exciting phase and really has a unique chance to invest in audience development and service design on an unusually broad front – as a strategic investment, not just complementary activities in the margins. As one of the stages of the Helsinki City Theatre, Lilla Teatern is part of a larger context. There is a sense of belonging here that enriches, and at the same time allows Lillan to emphasize her own distinctiveness,” comments project manager Johanna Welander, who will take up her position at the beginning of August. She will work closely with the new artistic director Jakob Höglund , who in turn will take office in November.

The project is initially supported with significant sums by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and the Tre Smeder Foundation.

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Helsinki City Theatre and Lilla Teatern are launching a development project “Audience at the centre of Lilla Teatern“. The project is a three-year project and is led by Johanna Welander, who has extensive experience in cultural administration, as well as strategy and brand work.

The main focus of the project is on audience outreach, service design and communication. Marina Meinander, the outgoing artistic director of Lilla Teatern, is the initiator of the project, which is supported by the Board of the Helsinki Theatre Foundation.

“The wishes and habits of the public have changed over the past few decades, and the competition for people’s leisure time has intensified considerably. The development project will enable Lillan to become a vibrant and meaningful stage for an even wider audience. As a Swedish-speaking stage, we have a smaller audience base than the other stages of the City Theatre. It makes us vulnerable to trends, but it also means that the solutions we find now may be solutions that can be implemented in other stages in the future. The development project will turn Lillan into a laboratory for the future, with the goal of increasing the significance of the performing arts in the 2020s,” says Marina Meinander, Artistic Director of Lilla Teatern.

“It’s really fun to continue in the cultural field, and it’s almost festive to be part of the machinery that develops Lilla Teatern! I feel that Lillan has an exciting phase ahead of it, and now there is a unique opportunity to invest in the development of audience relations and service design in several ways – as a strategic choice, not just as a complementary activity on the margins. As one of the stages of the Helsinki City Theatre, Lillan is part of a larger whole. It is an asset, and at the same time it allows Lillan to realise its uniqueness,” says Project Manager Johanna Welander, who will start at the beginning of August. He will work closely with the new Artistic Director Jakob Höglund , who will start at the beginning of November.

The project is initially funded by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and the Tre Smeder Foundation.

Further information, interview requests and press tickets: Lilla Teatern, Ida Virkkunen, PR & Marketing, ida.virkkunen@lillateatern.fi, 050-3574250.

Pictures can be found in the image bank.