How many of you were at a Barns show this season when you suddenly began to wonder what shows are coming to the Filene Center this summer? I began pondering this question immediately after the conclusion of the '07 summer season, and it makes my heart race a little bit everytime our programming dept. sends a "confidential booking information" email for the upcoming season announcing a recently booked gig. Having this information is a bit like knowing the ending of a highly anticipated movie before your buddy, or being the first to know out of all your siblings that your parents are taking you to Disney World when you were a kid....which brings me to the topic of today's post.
If you are a frequent patron of the performing arts, whether it be at Wolf Trap, 9:30 club, Kennedy Center, or Nissan Pavilion, you know that membership has its benefits. This "membership" comes in different permutations. The 9:30 club for instance offers advanced tickets to its email blast list subscribers prior to the hard sale (which I love) and many of the bands that play there offer advance tickets to their fan clubs.
Wolf Trap, has a very robust member, donor, and sponsor program. This system is in place, because like many non-profit institutions, we rely heavily on contributed income to support our year-round operations and our mission of providing accessible and affordable arts and education experiences to the broadest possible audience. The giving levels are tiered and customizable, offering increasingly attractive benfits for members who contribute at higher levels. I don't have the space here to go into great detail about all of our fund-raising efforts. My intent, rather, with this brief post is to educate everyone about the advanced ticketing benefit associated with the $125 giving level. This isn't to assume that you aren't already a Wolf Trap member, if so - beautiful. I'd just like give those who aren't in the loop a chance to bask in that exclusive feeling!
Beginning this week, if you become a Wolf Trap member at the $125 level ($125 per year) - among many other benefits - you instantly acquire advanced ticket access to our 40+ summer shows booked thus far, none of which are available yet to the public. This allows you to plan for performances anywhere from three to six months in advance. Our President and CEO, Terre Jones, will announce our summer 2008 season to the public at the National Press Club on March 17th, with the general on-sale scheduled for March 29th giving you more than a month of advanced knowledge and ticket buying opportunities. You would also receive priority ticket handling for the group of 2009 performances that we will likely put on sale to the general public in December of this year (typically select musical theater performances).
So, I'm interested in hopefully sparking a discussion from two different perspectives. First, if you are currently a Wolf Trap member, I'd love to learn a little more about your experience. How long have you been a member? Why did you choose to become a member? etc...
Second, if you are considering membership, what is it that would push you over the edge to make the committment? Advance access to certain shows?, Learning more about Wolf Trap's mission and education programs for underpriveledged children in our area and around the country? etc., Would you prefer to see the schedule before making your pledge so you know ahead of time what the summer will bring?
If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of our member programs, you can ask me here on the blog, check out our web site, or give our membership office a call at 703-255-1927. ...and if you can already obviously see the benefit of having early access to all of our summer performances, you can join online anytime.
Hope you're gearing up for a great summer at Wolf Trap.
Graham
I'm a member at the conductor level, this is my third year at that level, before that three years as a curtain raiser.
ReplyDeleteI became a member because I go to a lot of shows in general, and I liked the idea of a) knowing what was coming and b) good seats.