Birmingham Rep, a leading producing theatre based in the UK's "second city", has historically had a complex relationship with the cultural priorities of its home city. In recent years, Birmingham City Council has faced multiple challenges represented by debt burden, government-imposed cuts in public funding, scandals linked to failing children's services and fears of Islamic radicalisation in the city's schools. From a detailed consideration of the way the Rep's artistic policy has been shaped in the context of chronic financial instability and these broader challenges, I argue that the increasingly central position youth and community engagement has assumed signals a major paradigm shift in the expectations associated with the role and function of the regional producing theatre in the UK.