Performing arts management is responding to changes in demographics, culture, and technology that have effected audience member’s expectations and desires. As a result, it is paramount for performing arts spaces to change both their thinking and their practice. This essay studies the participatory forms of performance through events produced by cARTel and Grand Park in Los Angeles and a literary review of literature on performing arts participation and immersive performance. Drawing from the late Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, this paper compares the relationship between teachers and students to those between artists and audiences. This essay takes a Freierian approach to performing arts management and focuses on creating safe spaces and animating unconventional spaces. These approaches can lay the foundations for a change in the audience experience.