With projects such as #LoveTheatreDay, National Theatre Live and the recent BBC On Stage programme, the North East theatre industry is encouraging the public to engage more in the arts.
NT Live launched in 2009 and it was the first time that a project of this kind had happened in the UK. Now more than 250 cinemas live stream theatre performances such as War Horse, Hamlet and Frankenstein.
Chris Scott, Marketing Manager for Tyneside Cinema, told SRNews how this project has been beneficial to North East culture.
"It gives the opportunity for theatre lovers to see their favourite shows from London but at our cinema prices, he said "It also encourages them to see other National Theatre performances that are held at the Theatre Royal."
Research conducted by NESTA with National Theatre Live in June 2014, found that NT Live had no negative impact on people attending regional theatre productions.
Last month The BBC brought theatre to centre stage and a number of projects that celebrated the performance arts industry from national to regional theatre.
The BBC On Stage programme turned the old BBC Television centre into a stage and broadcast live performances from psychical theatre company, Gecko, The Redux Project by Richard DeDomenici, Broadcast from Biscuitland and No Guts, No Heart, No Glory by Common Wealth on BBC Four.
Phil Roberts, Head of Regional and Local Programmes in the North East and Cumbria said: "What we discovered about the BBC was when people asked about national arts coverage, people didn't credit us so by branding BBC Arts and having more projects we are hoping to raise our profile."
On a regional level, the BBC produced Hadrian's Wall of Sound which was a part of BBC Music Day. The project featured a variety of performances by artists from the North East and Cumbria performing along the 73mile wall. The BBC Music Day brought people together through their passion of music and performance art.
He added: "You have a national audience who are really passionate about the arts and will appreciate it and go to the arts but what we find with regional audiences is bringing new audiences to the arts, for example with BBC On Stage the North East covered BBC by the Lakes in Cumbria. And all those projects such as BBC Music Day are introducing the arts to a new audience, it's all about connecting people with the arts and making it feel ok for them."
In November, UK theatre industries came together to celebrate #LoveTheatreDay on Twitter, which is an online celebration of performance art. It ran in partnership with the Guardian Culture Professionals Network and Twitter UK. The initiative allowed theatres to collaborate together with other industry networks, it also engaged with new audiences and encouraged them to support their local theatres.
Phil Roberts said: "With the #LoveTheatreDay project, in terms of regional audiences was about opening up more regional theatres. Handing out an invitation saying it's ok to come in and connect and that theatre is not just for the upper class."
The Arts Council England are supporters of BBC On Stage and #LoveTheatreDay, they use initiatives like these to try to engage with new audiences in order to educate them about theatre.
A spokesperson for the North East Arts Council, Fiona Davidson, said: "We certainly support initiatives such as #LoveTheatreDay on our own Twitter channels across England and we try to tie it into our own communications strategy. It is useful in terms of our ambition to engage more directly with the general public and, of course, the BBC On Stage programmes are a great way to enable people to learn more about theatre and hopefully to spark their interest."
