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In September 2014, the Flemish government announces it has to cut down on its expenses. The arts survive mainly thanks to public funds. This announcement immediately starts a heavy debate in Belgium. Questions concerning the relevance of theatre, and the arts in general, for our society are raised. Therefore, I decide to study this topic objectively. In this master thesis, I explore if there is - or isn't - a relationship between the arts and society. This thesis researches whether or not theatre in Flanders and in the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium, influences the city it is located in and vice versa. To study this matter, I focus on two theatre companies. The first case study is Braakland/ZheBilding (BZB), the city theatre of Leuven, Flanders. This company is located in OPEK, Openbaar Entrepot voor de Kunsten (Public Warehouse for the Arts) in Leuven. Steigeisen is the second case study in this master thesis. This small theatre company is more of a freelance group which mostly works together with the bigger Brussels theatre KVS, Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg (Royal Flemish Theatre). I do research on both case studies by examining their subsidy files, websites, brochures... and by doing an open interview with a key player of each company. These key players are Stijn Devillé, the director, artistic and general head of BZB, and Thomas Bellinck, one of the two founders and members of Steigeisen. The results from this research are verified against the theory Pascal Gielen unfolds in the introduction 'Mapping Community Art' of the book Community Art. The Politics of Trespassing. In his theory, Gielen makes the distinction between allo-relational and auto-relational art and between digestive and subversive relational art. I use this theory to try to define what kind of art both theatre companies make in relation to society. In the conclusion of this master thesis, I state that theatre definitely does influence society. Both case studies prove that there are theatre companies who try to have a firm connection with the society they live in and thus with their city. This is mostly done by using social issues people are confronted with in their daily lives as topics for (theatre) performances. The theatre companies also try to start a dialogue with their spectators and with (the inhabitants of) the city. Hereby, the theatre companies hope to help create a critical state of mind. Yet, even though those two companies both want to make art as a contribution to society, they do not necessarily do this in the same way. According to the theory of Gielen, Braakland/ZheBilding most likely makes digestive auto-relational art, whereas Steigeisen leans more towards digestive allo-relational art. A clear distinction between the four forms of art, however, cannot be made. Both case studies show elements of all four types of art. The distinction Gielen makes is only to be used as a tool to help analyse art. A final conclusion in this thesis is that the city has an impact on theatre too. On the one hand, the everyday life of a city can inspire theatre makers. On the other hand, the cultural policy of the city (counsil) can influence the cultural life both financially and materially. This could have a great impact on the functioning of a theatre company.