January ushered in a new year with sweeping disruptions in media, journalism, and public humanities. Technology-driven partnerships, staff cuts, and mergers have redefined the online media landscape kicking-off 2025, calling into question journalism’s position in an age of generative AI. Read the highlights below.
The grant narrative has become one of the most high-stakes tools of communication in the nonprofit fundraising space, driving more than $150 billion in global expenditures. As grant writers adapt their appeals in response to changing funder values, this narrative network gives shape to the nonprofit ecosystem in which many arts organizations operate.
Exposure to nature can positively influence one’s mental well-being. As VR technology seeks to recreate elements of life, its developers and prospective adopters must keep asking one very important question: how deeply can VR impact us? And, what might the implications be for museums?
It is always fun to take a moment as we close out a year to compare our favorite content to the popularity contest of the web. AI, Sustainability, and Preservation with technology led the charge. Keep reading for the most popular articles and podcasts.
As AI continues to integrate into our everyday lives, how does it impact our creativity? Many researchers and scholars agree that the technology may promote significant opportunities in this space. By introducing novel ideas and opportunities to users, it may be most effective as a tool to augment, rather than replace, human creativity.
Ticketing has come a long way: from tearing along a perforated line to using RFID technology to wirelessly communicate with an app on a phone to let you into a Broadway musical. While changes to the industry were happening slowly, primarily switching to a paperless and even contactless system, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the need for change. What place with these changes have in the return to in-person performances?
This is a two-part series exploring how the benefits of incorporating livestreaming technology into theatres. Part 1 of the report documents a history of livestreaming theatre (involving a timeline and the lifespan of the industry’s biggest players) and a brief analysis of what it means to perform “Live!” and its programming potential.
AMT Lab contributor Katie Grennan discusses prevention and damage control strategies with both The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (PBT) and Ballet Austin based on their recent scalping experiences in order to find out how arts organizations can prevent damage to their reputation and to their organization caused by ticket scalpers.
Reselling tickets at prices above face value on the secondary market, otherwise known as ticket scalping, is a common practice in the United States. But how has the internet and advancing technology empowered scalpers at the expense of arts organizations? AMT Lab Contributor Katie Grennan investigates.
Here at AMT Lab we are a little over-fascinated with data. To that end we thought we should start sharing fun observations we are making about data created by our researchers and those across the country. Our premiere Second Sunday Survey (S3) post will share the connections between NEA surveys and the recent AMT Lab Ticketing Software Survey.
Already your responses are providing valuable insight. AMT Lab has extended the 2015 National Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey period through March 7, 2015. Collecting information on the attitudes and behaviors of arts organizations currently using ticketing software, the 2015 National Ticketing Survey will help illustrate the met and unmet ticketing needs of art organizations, and capture how ticketing software uses and needs vary by an organization's discipline, budget, staff size, and geographic location. Clear here for the full announcement.
We are conducting the 3rd National Ticketing Software Survey during the month of February. If you are interested in sharing your experience and your opinions about your software, please let us know. All those participating in the survey will receive a full copy of the report which will provide a national view as well as cluster analyses by discipline, budget size, and geographic region. The data will be useful for both organizations and vendors. Organizations will gain a better understanding of their own practices as compared to their peers and, more importantly, be able to use the findings as evidence for future technology funding campaigns. Vendors will have explicit evidence as to the needs and wants for future software design.
Wearable computing devices--including smartwatches, fitness and health tracking devices, and smartglasses--are projected to quadruple between now and 2018. What does their increased use mean for the performing arts? In their follow-up paper to "Through The Looking Glass: How Google Glass Will Change the Performing Arts," guest correspondents Thomas Rhodes and Samuel Allen explain wearable technology, provide an overview of current experiments with these devices among performing arts professionals, and discuss potential implications and challenges for the field.
By now you may be aware of the Bronx Museum of the Arts' new ticketing initiative. If not, take a look at the Museum's Facebook
status from March 30th: "Starting today, the Bronx Museum of the Arts will be Free to all. Thursday through Sunday, FREE! First Fridays! FREE. Whether you're 8 or 88, FREE! Getting Here: B/D train to 167th St (Unlike the Museum, the train fare is not free)."
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Museum announced just last month it would offer free admission to guests-- this coming at a time when student discounts, twofer deals, good coupons, and gas below $3.99/gallon are at a premium. According to Museum Director, Holly Block,
With our immediate community being the poorest per capita in the nation, and at a time when many are struggling to pay bills…we don't want anyone to have to use (admission costs) as excuse not to visit us.
It is because of a grant from the New York Community Trust that the museum is able to offer free admission to the public- though the grant only covers admission costs up to 15 months. The Museum is hoping to secure a more permanent funding source to be able to continue to provide free admission to the public after those 15 months.
Not only does this reduce barriers of entry for Bronx residents, New Yorkers, tourists, and artists, but it also benefits the museum community at large. Many museums have implemented similar free admission pilot programs and have reported varying results. It will be interesting to follow up with the Bronx Museum at the conclusion of the 15 month, free admission period to review its attendance numbers and demographics during that time.
While snooping around for more information on the Museum’s new pilot program, I stumbled upon two special offerings at the Museum. How did I NOT know about these programs?!
1) smARTpo
wer: In conjunction with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, the Bronx Museum administers this cultural diplomacy program. The program funds and provides travel opportunities for 15 U.S. artists to create and work abroad on a community-based art project. smARTpower supports “the development and implementation of community-based art projects that engage youth and other local residents, including artists. The projects are strongly encouraged to create a tangible legacy of the work accomplished through smARTpower in a variety of visual arts media…” The program is open to professional artists only with U.S. citizenship.
2) Artist in the Marketplace (AIM): Established in 1980, the program seeks to provide “networking opportunities for emerging artists residing in the New York metropolitan area" and to introduce "their work to a greater audience.” Thirty-six selected participants attend weekly seminars led by a faculty of specialists. Topics covered in these sessions “address areas of practical concern to artists including: career management and gallery representation; exhibition and public art opportunities; grant writing, copyright law, and marketing.”
It is a hopeful sign, especially in these financially trying times, when a non-profit arts organization remains so concerned with serving its constituents- accessibility for its local audience, professional advancement for its arts community, and greater cultural understanding in diplomacy efforts.
Airlines have been doing it for years. Ticketmaster (in its latest incarnation) recently jumped on the bandwagon.
Dynamic or variable ticket pricing is the strategy of altering ticket prices based on different variables. (As noted in the comments below, "Variable pricing is setting BASE prices according to differences in performances' time of day, day of week, etc as in paragraph 2 (a midweek evening may be less expensive than a Sunday matinee, for instance). Dynamic pricing, on the other hand, changes prices after the initial on-sale in response to changes in demand over the sales cycle." I use the term "dynamic pricing" in this article to discuss changes made to prices once the tickets have already gone on sale, altering FROM the base price. Thank you for pointing this out, Kara!) These can include everything from the number of seats already sold at the time of purchase, the proximity of the show date, alternative entertainment options on the show date, anticipated weather, and any number of factors that the host deems as having an impact on ticket prices. It is perhaps a more realistic and “fair” way to price tickets, allowing the cost of tickets to reflect the actual supply and demand of the market. This should result in minimized dead-weight loss, which benefits but the consumer and the supplier. For performing arts organizations, grappling with decreasing advance-ticket sales and discounting options that gouge profit margins, dynamic pricing might be “just the ticket.”
Unlike regular discounting or promotional pricing, the dynamic ticket model would enable organizations to price each production—and even each performance--strategically and, perhaps, more realistically. Instead of offering incentive discounts, both the organization and the audience would be able to gauge expectations for a show based on the ticket prices. Declining ticket sales and decreased subscription renewals lead marketers to worry and wonder about the most effective way to promote ticket sales. A common “solution” is discounting, which leads to a host of other problems. Ron wrote this piece for Group of Minds outlining what the major drawbacks to discounting. Rather than reiterate what he has already presented so well, I will simply say that I agree with his concerns about this eagerness to discount in order to get butts in seats. Considering these issues may make dynamic pricing a more attractive option for some.
A great example of the potential for dynamic ticketing is its recent use outside of the airline industry-- the newest Ticketmaster/LiveNation partnership is exploring the efficacy of dynamic pricing for sporting events. Last year, an article in Sports Business Journal did a great job outlining the way that dynamic pricing works at the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park.
There are a couple of key sentences in this article that I wish to address as they pertain to the performing arts industry:
Analyzing the results of the 2011 Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey, most respondents indicate that box office systems are either custom-built, cobbled together, or some of the solid, inexpensive options available to organizations. I went through and sent inquiries to the organizations listed in Amelia’s overview of the ticketing software survey results, as well as some others that respondents are using.
Unfortunately, at this time, nobody seems to have an easy-to-use “dynamic!” function in their software that makes it easy for an organization to alter prices without sending an actual staff member in to change them by hand each day. But the conversation is building in volume, and a few companies expressed that they can either design such a component for their clients, are looking into offering dynamic pricing in the future, or would like to know more about the demand for this function before they pursue including it in their products. (Just before posting this, I received the following from ProVenue: “We have no dynamic pricing customers in the UK as yet, however we do in the US. Please click on (this link) for details. We are looking to release in the UK sometime in the new year.” (I learned that ProVenue is part of the company that provides this model to the Giants. How accessible this component is for budgets that may be more modest than those of the Giants, however, is a question that I have yet to get a response to.)
Some may balk at the idea, as Diane Ragsdale does in this article on dynamic pricing in the non-profit sector. She quips, “Let’s call a spade a spade. Dynamic pricing is a method for maximizing profits….Suddenly increasing ticket prices in response to high demand, and selling ‘premium’ seats priced as high as people are willing to pay, strike me as questionable practices in a nonprofit organization.” What will it take for people to stop associating “non-profit” with “NO profit”? She likens dynamic pricing in the non-profit performing arts sector to soup kitchens charging for certain perks. What an unfortunate and offensive comparison. Non-profit arts organizations are businesses, regardless of their tax status or their primary sources of funding, and selling tickets is a fundamental component of what they do. Certainly, there are organizations whose missions might preclude them from dynamically pricing their tickets (e.g. “free art for all”), but there are others for which dynamic pricing could help generate more revenue (not a bad thing) and bring in more audience. As Lori Kleinerman of the Goodman Theatre remarks in her compelling talk on the Goodman’s use of variable and dynamic pricing, “We are aware of our civic responsibilities as a not-for-profit institution, so it’s important that we are accessible while still optimizing our income.”
There are many ways to apply dynamic pricing within the performing arts sector, and with more use some things may become evident. It is possible that it is a practice best suited for venues that do not scale their houses, or best applied to the “nose-bleed” sections, or only effective for the blockbuster shows. Of course, the key word there is “possible.” As we lament the decline of ticket sales, the loss of revenue when we discount with programs like Groupon and LivingSocial, and the oh-so-onerous epidemic of last-minute-ticket-buyers, why not consider dynamic pricing as an alternative model for revenue generation? After all, we may be “non-profits,” but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t subject to the supply and demand curves that drive for-profit business economics.
The following is extracted from one of our recent reports, the 2011 Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey. Download the full report here.
Choosing a new ticketing system can be a daunting prospect! There are hundreds of systems out there which offer a variety of functions and features, and it's sometimes difficult to tell which would be best for your organization. In the following article, we have broken down this sometimes arduous process into five "easy" steps, including a list of subject areas to consider when embarking upon a ticketing purchase, as well as sample questions to ask.
2011 Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey Promo from Technology in the Arts on Vimeo.
Step 1: Determine needs and priorities Because of the wide range of ticketing solutions available, determining your organization’s needs and priorities is the first step to choosing an appropriate software system. It is a good idea to seek input from every department you expect to use the system—not just ticket agents. The following is a list of common organizational needs and priorities:
Step 2: Identify vendors
Your prioritized list of needs will help you begin to identify systems that are more likely to be a good fit your organization. A list of vendors included in this survey is also available on page 41 of the report. Visit their websites and research them to help you narrow your list to a few possibilities.
You might also start by looking at the systems commonly used by organizations in your budget category. The following systems were most commonly used by respondents to our survey:
*Because respondents do not represent a true cross-section of the arts and culture community, this list cannot be used to infer market share.
Step 3: Contact vendors
Once you have narrowed your list to a few possible systems, begin to gather first-hand information from the service providers. You might do the following:
Technology in the Arts has also compiled a two-page list of questions to ask a ticketing software vendor, on subject areas like pricing, data integration, tech support, reports, and more! It's too long to include in this blog post, but see page 38 of the report for nearly every question you may need to ask a vendor before purchasing a ticketing system.
Step 4: Weighing Your Options and Making a Decision
Revisit your list of priorities and, based on your findings from talking to vendors and organizations who use your system, rank your top choices. You might also seek input again at this point from people who will be using the system to see if your priorities are still in line with theirs.
Keep in mind that price is not always the best indicator of quality. Even if price is your organization’s primary concern, it is still worth researching and evaluating other aspects of the system before making your final decision.
Step 5: Prepare for installation
Changing a ticket system is a major organizational change, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Timelines for implementing the new system will vary from organization to organization, but here are some things to consider:
• How long will it take to transfer your data from the current system to the new system? • How many years of data do you want to migrate from your current system to the new system? • Will the data need to be “cleaned” or modified in any way before transferring it? • How long will it take to install any software on staff computers? • How much time will it take to create usernames for staff and adjust their profiles so that they have access to the proper data? • How long will it take to fully train staff on business-critical functions? • How close are you to the starting a new season and how long will it take to build a season with the new software?
From these questions, you can determine the best time in your season to install your new system, migrate any data from your current system, and start to train employees. Remember to inform your patrons of any new features that may interest them, like online subscription sales, choose-your-own-seat functions, or mobile integration.
If you enjoyed this article, you can find more information on ticketing systems in our report. Download the full report here.
Some folks have had difficulty opening the report within the Firefox browser. We are working to resolve the situation. In the meantime, you can right-click on the link and select "Save Link As" to download the report to your computer. You can view the report without issue via Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer. Thank you for your patience.
The 2011 Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey Report is now available! In it you can find information on the most popular ticketing systems for organizations of your size, rankings of popular features and functions, and a 5-step guide to choosing a ticketing system, complete with questions to ask vendors.
Based on feedback from last year's survey, we added several questions to this year's survey:
Key Findings: There were several findings of interest that resulted from the study:
If you are a ticket vendor, box office manager or staff member, house manager, business manager, executive director, board member, marketing staff, or anyone else who has contact with a box office ticketing software system, then this report is for you.
Download the survey report today!
And please share with colleagues by clicking the "ShareThis" icon below.
Ticket_Force_Logo
TicketForce
Concert promoters, venue managers and artists are still reeling from the historic LiveNation-Ticketmaster merger. Many feared that the merger would result in a ticketing monopoly that would force venues to raise ticket prices and only use the Live Nation-Ticketmaster service if they wanted to book a Live Nation artist. Almost a year later, a recent Chicago Tribune article indicated that ticket prices have not yet skyrocketed and independent promoters are still thriving. While there is still a fear that the worst may be yet to come, the merger hasn’t deterred venues from pursuing other options when it comes to choosing a ticketing platform.
One of the more innovative platforms is Arizona-based company, TicketForce, which describes itself as a ticketing solution for venues and promoters of all sizes. The company designs fully customizable ticketing applications that allow venues and promoters to effectively build their own brands. They recently launched a Facebook app that will allow clients to sell tickets directly from a Fan Page. This application allows clients to add a ‘Buy Tickets’ tab on their Facebook Fan Pages so that fans won’t have to leave Facebook.
The app has several benefits:
As the company illustrates: With 500 million Facebook users, more than 600 tweets every second, and 665,000 blogs posted every day – social media is your most powerful sales tool. TicketForce's latest innovation is capitalizing on social media sales opportunities and making it easier for small and mid-sized venues to find viable Live-Nation/Ticketmaster alternatives.
The 2011 Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey is closing Friday, February 18!
Now in its second year, we designed this short survey to see how satisfied arts and cultural organizations are with the ticketing software products they are currently using. Many ticketing software vendors have used the results of last year’s survey to find out what is important to arts and culture managers. This survey is your chance to tell them, and the field at large, how satisfied (or not) you are with your current system.
If you are a box office manager or staff member, house manager, business manager, executive director, board member, marketing staff, or anyone else who has contact with a box office software system, then this survey is for you! Results will be sent to survey participants in April 2011.
If you have already filled out the survey, please share with colleagues by clicking the "ShareThis" icon below.
The 2011 Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey is now live! Now in its second year, we designed this short survey to see how satisfied arts and cultural organizations are with the ticketing software products they are currently using. The survey will close on February 18, and results will be sent to survey participants in April 2011.
Many ticketing software vendors have used the results of last year’s survey to find out what is important to arts and culture managers. This survey is your chance to tell them, and the field at large, how satisfied (or not) you are with your current system.
If you are a box office manager or staff member, house manager, business manager, executive director, board member, marketing staff, or anyone else who has contact with a box office software system, then this survey is for you!
And please share with colleagues by clicking the "ShareThis" icon below.
The debate over dynamic pricing continues. Back in March, Gene Carr from Patron Technology wrote a great overview of dynamic pricing and voiced his support for the practice. Last week, Trisha Mead at 2am Theatre challenged the naysayers with a post about her own successful dynamic pricing experiment. And The Mission Paradox responded by cautioning readers about dynamic pricing’s potential to tarnish a non-profit’s image. While there has been plenty of discussion about audience impact, what I haven’t heard much about is the technology behind dynamic pricing. Many ticketing systems are not designed to handle fluctuating ticket prices. Work-arounds can be frustrating and confusing for the ticket seller. Particularly in outlet situations, where ticket sellers handle the sales for many different groups and venues, the seller’s level of comfort with your ticketing setup and policies can make a huge difference in the customer’s experience.
In addition, as Carr notes, there is no “magic computer program” determining the best prices for your tickets at any given time. Organizations and consultants may have their own formulas or schedules, yet for the most part such changes are not programmed to occur automatically. A dynamic pricing strategy may have an effect on an organization’s bottom line, but it will likely have some impact on your staff’s time as well. How to implement dynamic pricing may be as important a discussion as whether to implement it at all.
What is your experience with setting up dynamic pricing? Do you know of a ticketing system that makes dynamic pricing simple?
