5 Things Community Theatre Could Learn from Local Football

If you attended school in Australia, you were likely forced to miss numerous days in the classroom to partake in sporting events – cross country, swimming carnivals, athletics days, to name a few. If you were anything like the Theatre Haus team, you caught yourself wondering why the whole school didn’t take a day off to workshop a musical, learn a series of dance styles or hold a talent show. In Australia, theatre, and the arts in general, are not at the forefront in education (nor in politics, it might seem). But what can we do about it? What are sports organisations doing differently? What can community theatre groups, for instance, learn from their local football clubs?

1. When you’re part of a club you support one another’s businesses.

Check out your local football club’s website. They not only list their sponsor’s organisations, but they also highlight the businesses and workplaces of their members and associates who make their whole organisation great. Sports clubs don’t just promote the businesses, they use them. Need an electrician? Ask a teammate. Need a plumber? Ask the coach. Theatre should be no different, in one show alone you can have a retail manager, a graphic designer, two engineers and a checkout assistant. Support one another’s businesses by promoting them in your programmes, on your sites, or better yet, hiring them for the services you need.

2. If you have the ability, you provide employment opportunities.

Some coaches get paid, some players get paid. Not all organisations can afford to do so, but there are some that can. They may pay according to the crowd a player brings, or their track record. A little pay here and there can produce a larger profit elsewhere (like at the bar or on ticket sales). Making the leap from amateur to professional football or theatre is huge, but there is a diversity of different business models in between. Provide employment opportunities, and nurture the independent sector.

3. When times are tough, you share your spaces with others.

In the past decade of pandemic, droughts, bushfires, and floods that ravaged Australia, there were many stories of local football clubs sharing their fields with other teams that had been impacted. Not just teams from afar, but competitors. They could have managed the upper hand, but instead, they expanded their community. In Brisbane, rehearsal and performance space is hard to come by, particularly at a fair price. Sharing space is the way forward, and to ignore that is to the detriment of everyone involved. By sharing your facilities and resources, community theatre could become a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention, it will help many groups flourish. 

4. You make the community strong by keeping it mentally and physically healthy.

Quality football clubs train harder than they play. They train more often, more intensely, and with a whole-body perspective. Some coaches provide diet routines, advice on personal fitness goals, or even just hear the issues their players face. The holistic approach to the community’s health makes the individual feel valued. In theatre, the rush to arrive on time after work, and the lure of McDonald’s post-rehearsal is often a physical burden. Even with consideration of the hours put into choreography runs, the physical health of the cast and crew is not always priority number one for the creative team. Mental health awareness is something the arts do well, but maybe it is time to think about physical health as well. Create strong individuals for a stronger community.

1. You create a sense of community pride by celebrating achievements.

There are a lot of football clubs that hold annual awards nights. Go to any school awards ceremony and the list of sporting achievements will play out for the majority of the evening. Celebrating the achievements of whole teams, and individuals, is something football clubs do well. It instills a sense of pride, both in oneself and in the community at large. In recent years, local theatre awards have popped up around Australia, some with long histories, and some that grow larger annually. However, there is a shortage of community theatre’s holding events of their own, to celebrate their members, their season, and the successes they’ve achieved as a group. Create a sense of community pride and celebrate success in every regard.

Now there are many other great things that local football clubs are doing, and many amazing and unique things that theatre groups are too, but here’s just a few to think about the next time your committee or leadership team comes together. Do you have some ideas to share? We’d love to hear how you are building community and creating a legacy with your local theatre!