About Free Night of Theater
The idea for Free Night of Theater is so simple, it can be easy to miss how ground-breaking it is and how remarkably effective it has proven to be. Many individual theatres and regional service organizations have free ticket giveaways or discounted ticket programs, but Free Night has several unique components that set it apart from those programs.
First, it is a nationwide program offering tickets to a broad range of performances. Second, from the outset, the program has gone beyond one-night success stories to focus on what happens after a participant sees a show for free. Participating theatres are offered tools, suggestions, and training on how best to work with Free Night patrons to encourage them to return, and retention rates and patterns are carefully measured. Finally, Free Night is aimed at people who can (and do) become paying customers, while still successfully reaching groups that are currently under-represented in theatre audiences across the country.
Put together, these elements add up to what really makes Free Night unique as an audience development initiative--it works. Year after year, in city after city, this program has reached people who don't go to the theatre, given them a memorable cultural experience, and converted a startling number of them into regular attendees. In 2008, TCG has continued to work closely with APASO (Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations), city and state arts councils, and city and state government agencies as managing partners to produce the Free Night of Theater program.
About TCG
Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is the national organization for America's not-for-profit professional theatres. For nearly 50 years TCG has helped an ever-expanding number of theatres and theatre practitioners pursue their goals while creating a powerful voice for the field.
When TCG was established in 1961, there were just a handful of resident companies spread across the nation. As more companies opened, differing structures and aesthetics evolved and a more diverse range of voices emerged. From the beginning, TCG has been the connecting force, a touch point for knowledge and information sharing. We've helped give definition to the not-for-profit professional theatre industry, not only as a collection of individuals and organizations, but as a national movement.
In our nearly 50 years, TCG has arranged gatherings and education programs, kept its finger on the industry's pulse through research studies, advocated for federal policy and free speech, published some of the field's best writers, given grants for artistry and professional development and helped cultivate generations of artistic and administrative talent. Over time, these practical acts have unified to create a powerful leadership entity for the field.
As our industry grows, diversifies and expands its reach to embrace a global stage, TCG continues to facilitate theatre's ever-evolving impact in people's lives. We now connect hundreds of organizations and thousands of practitioners. Together we define our nation's theatrical landscape and are continuing the movement within our borders and beyond. For more information on TCG and our programs visit www.tcg.org.
| Teresa Eyring | Executive Director |
| Phillip Matthews | Director of Audience Programs |
| Mark Gordon | Director of Web Services |
| Linda Jacobs | Public Relations Director |
| Corporate Sponsorship | Allied Live |
| Graphic Design | Roger Eckersley Design (RED) |
| Internet Marketing/Web Design | Art Meets Commerce |
| Public Relations | Joe Trentacosta, Springer Associates |
| Management Intern | Ben Crop |
The History of Free Night of Theater
Free Night 2007
The Free Night of Theater 2007 program was introduced selectively into regions of the country that had not previously participated in the program, concentrating our expansion efforts in the Midwest and southeastern states. TCG continued its relationship with Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations (APASO) organizations to produce Free Night in local communities and introduced arts councils as management partners in 2007. Free Night 2007 was presented in over 70 cities, offering more than 30,000 tickets to 600 performances that were presented by 398 theatres from coast to coast.
Free Night 2006
Building on the success of the 2005 pilot program, Free Night expanded to include the pilot partners plus thirteen additional communities: the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Lexington, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Seattle and Washington, DC; and the states of Connecticut, Oregon, New Jersey, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Launched nationally on October 19, the 2006 campaign offered 35,627 free tickets to 522 performances presented by 387 participating theatre companies from coast to coast.
Free Night 2005
On Thursday, October 20, 2005, over 150 theater companies -- large and small -- in Austin, Philadelphia and San Francisco joined together to present the pilot program for Free Night of Theater. Reports from all three cities revealed that nearly 8,000 theatergoers attended over 120 performances on October 20. Also, as an unexpected result of the early success of the program, an additional 30 theater companies added post-October 20 performances to the Free Night of Theater event creating additional buzz that ultimately increased the image of the event as a hot ticket.