An audience is the/a group of people who participate in and experience or encounter a work of art, literature, theatre, music or academics in any medium. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art, with some kinds inviting overt audience participation and others allowing only modest clapping and criticism and reception.

One of the most well-known examples of popular Audience Participation is the motion picture The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its earlier stage incarnation The Rocky Horror Show. The Audience Participation elements are often seen as the most important part of the picture, to the extent that the audio options on the DVD version include the option of callbacks being included in the audio.