It's play time for theatres in Chennai, with one of them catching the attention of angel investors (names withheld). Evam Entertainment, an English theatre group, received a funding of Rs 40 lakh for its venture Sideways Training. Sideways provides training to corporate houses using theatre as a medium. It has already conducted workshops for IT majors such as Google, Cognizant and Sify.
The funding – claimed to be the first for a playhouse – is significant considering such moves will help theatre as a sector to move away from a patronage-based to a revenue-generating model. Most theatre groups are sponsorshipdriven . “We are moving away from the sponsorship model,” says Karthik Kumar, co-founder of Evam, whose major productions include Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone.
Last year, the company's turnover was Rs 70 lakh, with sponsorship accounting for about 10% of revenues. “In the coming years, our revenues would largely be feebased ,” says Kumar. Now, revenue from ticket sales is still minuscule in Chennai with footfalls not exceeding 8,000 for a show and ticket prices around Rs 200.
Source: Times of India