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Flexible thinking replaces old subscription models

The pandemic has forced new ways of thinking, including new approaches to subscriptions and seasons.

14 Jan 2022 12:58

Richard Watts

The four members of the Australian String Quartet sit under a bridge holding their instruments.

Performing Arts

Instead of being overshadowed by old ways of thinking, the Australian String Quartet are taking a new approach to subscriptions in 2022. Photo: Jacqui Way.

The changes wrought by COVID have been felt far and wide across the sector. While the rise of live-streamed performances has been a welcome and overdue adjustment to business as usual in the performing arts, other impacts – such as rehearsals held via Zoom – have been disruptive and draining.

Sydney Theatre Company, for instance, is presenting its 2022 season across a series of acts, with only the details of Act One currently announced. A different approach has been taken by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, which has responded to our uncertain times by offering a flexible Compose Your Own subscription season. For others, it’s very much business as usual.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's former National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in early 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association in 2021, and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Photo: Fiona Hamilton. Follow Richard on Bluesky @richardthewatts.bsky.social and Instagram @richard.l.watts