ENCATC Members Talks - How can we become better in audience development?

Chris Torch is the former Head of Artistic Unit/Timisoara 2021 and Program Director/Rijeka 2020. Co-author of EU Audience Development Study (2017) . He is an independent cultural expert, project designer and policy consultant. He has broad experience with audience engagement, artistic curation and intercultural policy. 

He led the Artistic Unit at Timisoara 2021 - European Capital of Culture (Romania), during the StartUp Phase, Feb 2017 - July 2019 (www.timisoara2021.ro)

In 1996, he founded Intercult (www.intercult.se), a production and resource unit focused on culture, ideas and arts. He acted as Artistic Director until February 2017.

Torch has initiated and led co-productions within the European Neighborhood, reflected in the long-term project SEAS, 2003-2010 (www.seas.se) and CORNERS, a complex partnership of cultural organizations at the ”edges of Europe”, 2011-2018 (www.cornersofeurope.org), both financed by the EU Creative Europe program.

Torch joined the artistic leadership for winning bids to become European Capitals of Culture at both Matera 2019 and Rijeka 2020. In Rijeka, he served as Program Director, until December 2016, when he was recruited to Timisoara.

He co-authored, in 2016, a major study on Audience Development, commissioned by the EU.(http://engageaudiences.eu/2017/05/05/study-on-audience-development-at-a-glance) Apart from large-scale project design, Torch contributes to intercultural policies. He served on the Executive Committee for Culture Action Europe (2006-2018), earlier on the Boards of The European Museum Forum and IETM.