Politik im Freien Theater

“Politik im Freien Theater” is a theatre festival organised by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, held every three years in cooperation with local venues and the independent scene. Each edition explores a central theme – most recently Wealth, Power and Borders – through artistic and discursive formats. The aim of the evaluations and surveys was to shed light on the festival’s structure, the experiences of attendees, and audience perceptions, as well as to support the ongoing development of the festival. The primary target groups were festival visitors, as well as the organisers and partner organisations who would use the findings to inform their strategic work.

Across multiple festival editions, we developed and refined a survey and evaluation design combining paper-based and digital questionnaires with supplementary qualitative elements. For each edition, we set different focal points according to need, for example:

• Focus on audience composition, reach, and access
• Focus on perceptions of the respective theme and its connection to artistic and discursive formats
• Focus on perceptions of the partnerships and audiences of the regional programme
• In-depth questions on the relationship between political and cultural education, participation experiences, and festival identity

The analyses provided insights into the composition and motivations of the audience, perceptions of the festival’s profile, and evaluations of individual programme elements. Through our recommendations and proposed courses of action, we supported the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the festival partners in developing “Politik im Freien Theater” in ways that make civic education through the festival programme even more accessible and impactful.