This is all the audience work at the Helsinki City Theatre
In 2024, Helsinki City Theatre’s audience outreach department organised more than 60,000 events or public events aimed at different target groups, with more than 23,4,000 participants. Finland’s largest theatre audience outreach department Diverse socially responsible work in the field of performing artswill continue in 2025. In addition to its own events and public events, HKT’s audience work is an active part of city-level and national projects.
Helsinki City Theatre offers a diverse and participatory programme that invites people of all ages to enjoy art and theatre. Some of the events are open to the general public, and some are aimed at certain groups of participants, such as groups of daycare and school children, work communities, the elderly or residents of a certain residential area. Larger projects are carried out together with partners and various networks. What’s coming in spring 2025? Through the eyes of Minna Canth – Excerpts and discussion of Minna Canth’s works: On Minna Canth’s Day, 19 March, excerpts from Minna Canth’s works will be read by actors in the balcony foyer of the main stage and the reading from the perspective of equality will be discussed. The readers and discussants are actors Tiina Peltonen and Martti Manninen. The event will be hosted by audience worker Reetta Kankare. The free event can also be followed via a live stream on HKT’s YouTube channel or on the Foyer platform. Coffee with a writer events: At the events led by three actors Heidi Herala, Aino Seppo and Eija Vilppas, the trio of actors interview a guest author. The guests of spring 2025 will be author Antti Heikkinen on 3 March, first-time author-actor Mikko Kauppila on 17 March, and first-time author Salli Kari on 7 April. The events held in the balcony foyer of the main stage are free of charge. Backstage tours: The City Theatre organises open backstage tours as well as behind-the-scenes tours for groups. On the tours, you can get to know the theatre house and various workshops, such as the set design and costume design, and take a peek behind the scenes. HKT also organizes accessible behind-the-scenes tours. Cooperation between schools and educational institutions: As part of the basic activities of audience outreach, day-care centres, schools and educational institutions are offered various ways to get to know theatre and theatre making. Among other things, theatre workshops, performance and workshop packages and an extensive learning material bank are available. In March, 900 eighth-graders will also come to the theatre to see the performance of My Brother the Lion’s Heart. Culture Sponsors: Helsinki City Theatre is one of the actors in the Culture Sponsors project and one of the theatre sponsors of children born in Helsinki in 2021. The sponsor theatres offer two events a year in which the sponsored children can participate with their families. In 2025, HKT’s godchildren will be invited to watch Molli’s Evening Hepuli performance in the foyer of the small stage. Malmi in the lead role: Helsinki City Theatre will continue its regional Malmi in the Main Role art project in the 2025–2027 season. In the spring and autumn of 2025, the project will implement Art for Homes events, in which ordinary homes and home environments will be transformed into stages and venues for art events. Anyone living in the Malmi area can register their home. The schedule of the events and instructions for spectator registration will be published later in the spring. In the main role, Malmi is one of the Helsinki Model projects funded by the City of Helsinki . Art for the homes of the elderly: The project, which was launched in 2021, brings participatory art activities into the everyday lives of the elderly in Helsinki. In the spring of 2025, the From Story to Theatre groups will meet at senior centres in Helsinki, where the elderly will act as story theatre actors and make improvised performances of the stories told by the audience. During the spring season, the performing group will tour around Helsinki to make theatre based on the experiences, thoughts and feelings shared by the customers of the service centres. In addition, as part of the project, participatory interaction training will be organised for students and employees in the city’s social and health care sector during the spring in cooperation with the City of Helsinki’s development services and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. Metropolia’s gerontology and music pedagogy students also plan and implement participatory remote sessions for the elderly under the guidance of the instructors. The project is funded by the City of Helsinki. @hkt_yleisötyö @hktfi @paaroolissamalmi #kahvillakirjailijankanssa #minnacanthinsilmin #kulttuurinkummilapset #pääroolissamalmi #taidettakoteihin #taidettaikääntyneidenkoteihin #tarinastateatteriksiIn the photo in the press release: The From Story to Theatre group from the Kinapori Service Centre. Photo: Sonja Tolonen. Helsinki City Theatre ticket sales and customer service by phone (09) 394022 Mon-Fri 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Ticket offices First line 2, Mon-Fri 11 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Eläintarhantie 5, Sat (on performance days) 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and one hour before the performance and Lippu.fi, Mon-Sat 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sun 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., tel. 0600 900 900 (€2/min + local network charge) www.hkt.fiFurther information on audience outreach at the Helsinki City Theatre:Mirja Neuvonen, Audience Outreach Coordinator, mirja.neuvonen@hkt.fi, 040 352 3969 Further information on the Malmi in the Main Role project: Audience Worker Jenny Jumppanen, jenny.jumppanen@hkt.fi, 040 652 9932 Further information about the Art in the Homes of the Elderly project: Project Coordinator Reetta Kankare, reetta.kankare@hkt.fi, 050 434 4930