A new theatre venue has opened where all tickets for performances will be free, but how will The PurpleDoor be viable? And will it, as some say, devalue the product and undermine the industry which provides the framework for creation in the first place? The PurpleDoor makes the case for theatre as community-based social enterprise.
What is the purpose of culture? Since the announcement of our new theatre venue, where all tickets for performances will be free, we have received numerous messages in support of this ‘radical’ new model, with many wondering how we would achieve it and why this felt so different. A couple of messages have disagreed with the principle of this idea: claiming that free art devalues the product and undermines the industry which provides the framework for creation in the first place.
In constructing this model for our theatre, we went back to the question above, as a way of ensuring we were tackling problems afresh and not simply resorting to tired norms or archetypes. Clearly, no definitive answer exists, and each of us will reflect different values, principles and expectations in trying to answer it. Merriam-Webster offers six separate definitions for ‘culture.’ Joshua Rothman, of the New Yorker, writes that, ‘if anything, its value as a word depends on the tension between [the different definitions].’
For us, culture and its purpose are entwined... Keep reading on The PurpleDoor