‘How do we bridge the gap between theatres, audiences and artists?” This question is posed by Matt, one of the people making those connections at York Theatre Royal. I’m in its cafe chatting to a handful of new recruits to its programming team: audience members.

Matt, Lucy, Elaine, Hazel and Joanne are just a few of the members of Visionari. For the last year or so, the Theatre Royal has not only been asking its audience what they think of their shows – it has invited them to make programming decisions themselves. They’ve attended workshops, met everyone from the artistic director to the graphic designer, and taken responsibility for a week-long festival in the studio. John Tomlinson, who set up the scheme while working as a producer at the theatre, describes it as “revolutionary”.

York Theatre Royal … catering to all ages. Photograph: John R Saunders

This model is not entirely new. At Contact in Manchester – where Tomlinson was involved as a youngster – the target audience of 13- to 30-year-olds has been guiding the direction of the venue for the last 20 years. “Contact’s engagement with young people as decision-makers is at every level of the organisation,” says its artistic director Matt Fenton. As well as taking an active role in programming through Contact’s Re:Con scheme, young people are represented throughout the organisation. “We’re not trying to programme work to reach a particular audience,” explains Fenton, “we’re just asking an audience what it wants to do and see and get involved in and present.”

There are different challenges for York Theatre Royal, which caters to an audience of all ages. This is reflected in the Visionari group, which is intergenerational and represents a range of backgrounds. Though the focus has been on programming, the scheme has rippled out through the theatre’s decision-making, instigating other changes such as bringing the price of studio tickets down to £10.

Bryony Kimmings performs I’m a Phoenix, Bitch at BAC in London. Kimmings was among the artists programmed at Contact by Re:Con. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

One of the most interesting things about Visionari is the scepticism with which some of the group embarked on the project. Before Matt joined, he always travelled outside York to see theatre, having visited the Theatre Royal and concluded “there was nothing here for me”. Similarly, Joanne previously assumed “all kinds of stereotypes about what was on here”. Hazel admits that she was “a bit cynical” at first, wondering if the programme was simply a box-ticking exercise. No one holds back with their criticism, suggesting an open and honest relationship with the theatre. “I still feel there’s work to do,” says Hazel frankly, explaining that theatre staff “are always here, looking out; they’re never on [the other] side looking in”.

Visionari has levelled the playing field for artists, who can no longer rely on reputation or connections. “It’s about their ideas,” stresses Tomlinson. The group has so far been responsible for bringing 18 artists and companies to the Theatre Royal, such as White Tree Theatre, Dom Coyote, Feat. Theatre, Caitlin Gleeson, Not Now Collective, Massive Owl and Spiltmilk Dance. Several of them had no previous relationship with the building.

Massive Owl’s show Castle Rock was performed at York Theatre Royal and the company was then accepted on to Visionari’s residency programme. Photograph: Paul Samuel White

Similarly, Manchester’s Re:Con programming group often spot artists and companies that staff aren’t yet aware of. “It brings people on our radar all the time,” says Fenton, pointing out that Kate Tempest, Bryony Kimmings and Chris Brett Bailey were all first programmed at Contact by Re:Con.

Crucially, these theatres are genuinely receptive to audiences’ opinions. “We really have been listened to,” stresses Elaine. “I thought, well, if they believe we can do it, perhaps we can,” says Lucy. Nasima, who was involved with the theatre over several years, likens Contact to a family. “I remember coming into the building and feeling really at ease because it was the first time I’d been to an arts organisation or a theatre where people looked like me,” she says, adding that at Contact her voice matters. Elete, one of the new Re:Con cohort, says: “I feel like all four of us who are part of the programme are part of Contact”.

Is this a model that more theatres could put into practice? The real question, Fenton suggests, is: “Why are there not more examples we can point to that demonstrate this way of working?” He believes that trying to programme for any audience without input from that demographic or background is doomed to fall flat: “I think that’s the root of why British theatre has failed, really, to genuinely reflect the cities around us.”