The ticketing system which powers the
iconic Edinburgh Fringe is poised to change the way South Africans experience
the arts from 2014, with the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown being the
first to introduce its audiences to “one of the world’s most efficient, robust,
versatile and secure systems”.
The Scottish event, the largest arts
gathering in the world, sells over 2.5 million tickets each August. From next
year, the same software that powers those sales will be used in Grahamstown, in
terms of a new partnership between the Festival and Edinburgh-based technology
company Red61.
“This is an amazing, world-class system,
unlike anything we’ve encountered,” said Festival CEO Tony Lankester. “The
software was custom-written specifically to simplify the experience of
attending a Festival such as ours, which has many venues and hundreds of
performances taking place in a concentrated period of time.”
The partnership will save festivalgoers
valuable time and effort, while bringing a streamlined and simplified planning
and booking experience to their desktops, smartphones and tablets without
compromising on security. Lankester maintains: “Security was our number one
priority. We wanted to introduce a system which protected the private data of
our customers and of artists. The next thing we looked for in a system was
simplicity. Customers don’t want to spend hours navigating a cumbersome site
with archaic rules. This system will let our audiences plan their Festival
visit online and then book quickly and securely using their phones or tablets,
wherever they are. While this technology itself isn’t new, the way the customer
experience is put front and centre of this software is unlike anything on offer
in the South African marketplace. It is easy, quick, safe, intuitive and is an
absolute joy to use.”
Only a couple of years since its
introduction, the software has become the de facto standard for arts events
around the world. “We sell tickets not just in Edinburgh, but also in Adelaide,
Brighton, Perth and Abu Dhabi,” said Red61 Managing Director Tony Davey. “While
it was designed and built for Edinburgh, it is scaleable so that it can handle
one production or venue in one day as easily as it can a multi-venue environment
like Edinburgh which has hundreds of performances on at any given moment
throughout August.”
Grahamstown is the first African festival
to use the software, a fact that means a lot to Red61. “One of our early
investors and our current Chairman, William Burdett-Coutts who runs the iconic
Assembly venues in Edinburgh, performed at the inaugural National Arts Festival
when he was a Rhodes student in 1974,” Davey adds. “The fact that we are
introducing Via to Grahamstown 40 years later makes us proud.”
Behind the scenes, the software will give
organisers and artists performing at the Festival better access to instant
sales figures, analysis and reports.
“We’ll be able to see at a glance which
shows are selling well, which ones aren’t, and we will be able to adjust our
marketing on the fly to respond,” Lankester said. “Importantly, the pricing
structure of the system is such that we will be able to drastically reduce the
commissions and fees built in to every ticket, meaning more money goes into the
pockets of the artists.” While some of those savings will flow to artists in
the first year, it is expected that the commissions will reduce even further in
future years as the Festival’s initial investment in hardware infrastructure is
recouped.
“We like the system so much we have decided
to invest in the future of the company, and the National Arts Festival will
license the software to festivals, theatres, sports events and concerts across
the country through a new non-profit joint venture with Red61,” Lankester continued.
The venture will be launched in South
Africa once compliance testing is complete.
Apart from licensing the software, the
Festival will be commissioning South African developers to come up with
innovations that add value to the system – planning tools and web functionality
that can then be offered to Via users in other countries, showcasing South
Africa’s IT talent. “We are convinced that Via is the future of ticketing and
will become the global standard – and we want everyone to experience it knowing
full well that the system speaks for itself. It makes organisers, artists and
audiences happy the moment they come into contact with it,” Lankester said.
The 40th edition of the National Arts
Festival, Grahamstown will take place from July 3 to 13, 2014. See www.nationalartsfestival.co.za,
or the National Arts Festival Grahamstown on Facebook, or @artsfestival on
Twitter, for more information.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard
Bank, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Eastern Cape Government,
Department of Arts and Culture, National Arts Council, City Press and M Net.
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