Photo courtesy of Live Action Set, one of ARTshare’s 15 resident companies

Just a few years ago, Minneapolis’ Southern Theater was at the brink of bankruptcy, but after years as a venue-for-rent, the Southern just might have found a way to turn its fortunes around permanently. The theater’s new ARTshare venture upends the usual show-by-show, butts-in-seats business model rooted in individual ticket sales. Instead, in partnership with an impressive cadre of Twin Cities theater and dance companies, the Southern will support itself through a combination of artists’ residencies, revenue sharing, and core audience buy-in based on purchases of subscriptions to the Southern’s full season of productions.

It’s a great deal for theater-goers: For a monthly fee of $18, ARTshare audience members buy an annual subscription that affords them open access to upwards of 150 nights of performances. Each of the 15 resident companies will have access to the Southern’s stage for 10 nights a year to mount their works. In fact, the 200-seat theater is only making 2,100 audience memberships available for purchase to ensure seats are freely available to subscribers through the 2015 season. In addition, to guarantee access to a particular night’s show, ARTshare members will be invited to reserve seats before ticket sales open to the general public. Or, members can just stop by on a whim and see what’s playing.

In an interview with MPR’s Euan Kerr, Southern Theater’s executive director, Damon Runnals, explains: “They are going to be able to show up any night they want to, if there is something happening at the Southern, they show their member card. They walk in. They take a seat. It’s that simple.”

The Southern’s 2015 roster of resident performing artists is impressive, including some of the most innovative small and mid-sized companies in the cities: ARENA DANCES, Black Label Movement, Blue Water Theatre Company, Four Humors, Independent Movement Group, Live Action Set, Main Street School of Performing Arts, Sandbox Theatre, Savage Umbrella, Sossy Mechanics, Swandive Theatre, Theatre Forever, Theatre Novi Most, TigerLion Arts, Workhaus Collective.

If it works, this business model not only provides welcome stability and support for locally produced new and experimental performance, in a way that poses little risk to subscribers, the venture also meaningfully brings audiences into the process of sustaining both the work and the storied venue that houses it.

For more information on ARTshare, visit the Southern Theater’s website.