Venues Can Work With Artists — Not Just as Landlords of the Arts

“Venues can work with artists, not just as landlords of the arts. ”It’s a statement that has followed me across continents — from Perth to Mumbai — and one that continues to invite reflection on how we sustain the arts.

It asks a deceptively simple question: What happens when venues and artists move beyond rental transactions to form genuine partnerships in creation, development, and community engagement?

The Shared Challenge

In India — and especially in Mumbai — the arts pulse with relentless creative energy. Theatres and studios are filled with resourceful artists who work with heart, grit, and limited means. Venues too, have the challenge to operate under immense pressure, managing rising costs and an unpredictable audience base — often (or mostly) without the safety nets of public funding.

In this landscape, collaboration isn’t a luxury; it’s survival. The absence of traditional arts funding can, in fact, become an opportunity — a chance to forge new relationships where artists and venues share vision, responsibility, and reward.

From Perth to Partnerships

In the 1980s, I was part of the small group of theatre makers that instigated The Blue Room Theatre in Perth, Western Australia — a space born from the same necessity. Artists needed affordable venues; venues needed engaged artists.

Instead of a rental model, The Blue Room became a co-producer: providing rehearsal space, technical assistance, marketing support, and a fair box-office split. The theatre’s success was tied directly to the artists it housed.

Decades later, that model continues to thrive — not because of large grants, but because the venue embedded itself in the creative process. It became a collaborator, not a landlord.

“Venues thrive when artists thrive.”

Mumbai’s Moment

Mumbai, with its vibrant cultural heartbeat, is ready to take this conversation forward. The city’s audiences are not passive; they’re curious, loyal, and hungry for live, meaningful experiences.

Yet the dominance of short-run productions — one or two nights only — limits how far theatre can travel into the wider public imagination.

Short seasons risk turning theatre inward, where artists end up performing primarily for other artists rather than for the general public — the audience that matters most.

When this happens, the stage can become an audition rather than a dialogue. The focus shifts from creating art to be seen to being seen as an artist.

But the true purpose of live performance has never been self-display. It’s to help others see — to awaken empathy, spark emotion, provoke thought, and build shared understanding. Theatre educates and entertains; it challenges norms and humanises difference. Its real power lies in the collective experience of performer and public.

The Case for Longer Seasons

Longer seasons are not just economically sound — they are artistically essential. They allow work to evolve through repetition, feedback, and audience response. They also make practical, financial sense: extended runs enable sustained marketing, press coverage, and the most valuable promotion of all — word-of-mouth.

Mumbai audiences, when moved, bring others. They return, they discuss, they advocate. Over time, that loyalty builds both reputation and revenue.

For venues, longer runs mean less logistical 'churn' and a more stable flow of income. Venue teams settle into rhythm; marketing efforts mature. One production nurtured properly can do more for a venue’s profile than ten short engagements ever could.

“A longer season allows theatre to mature — artistically, financially, and emotionally.”

Opening the Doors Wider

To become true partners, venues must open their doors beyond performance nights. They can offer rehearsal rooms, host readings, invite the community to observe work-in-progress, or hold conversations around art and society. Some, thank goodness, have started venturing into this open door theory.

By doing so, they transform from venues into homes — places audiences AND artists feel they belong to, not merely visit.

When a community begins to say “our theatre” rather than “a theatre,” sustainability takes root.

Collaboration as Sustainability

True sustainability in the arts rests not only on funding but on relationships:

• Between artists and venues.

• Between venues and audiences.

• Between art and the communities it represents.

  
  

India’s arts ecosystem already runs on collaboration and generosity. What’s needed now is a shared mindset — from my venue and your show to our ecosystem.

Reimagining the Relationship

Across continents, the same question echoes: How do we sustain art not just by making it, but by making it matter? The call that venues can work with artists, not just as landlords of the arts is not a critique — it’s an invitation.

Mumbai, with its inventive artists and receptive audiences, can lead this reimagining. Sustainability won’t come only from larger budgets but from deeper relationships — from time, care, and collaboration.

Because ultimately, theatre is not about being seen. It is about seeing — each other, ourselves, and the world we share.

“Theatre’s greatest currency is empathy — and empathy grows only when artists, venues, and audiences share the same space for long enough to feel it.”

It would be fantastic if venues, artists, arts managements and administrations, businesses and the greater community could come together in a forum to stratagise the sustainability of this very necessary thing called arts.

Views expressed are my own.