Technology Focus: Ticketing and Box Office Systems

Partnering with the Flint Cultural Center, Media Genesis was asked to implement a system that would provide, among other features, online booking, subscription services, and list management services. To accomplish this, we worked with Tessitura.

Tessitura is a product uniquely suited to the needs of the Flint Cultural Center. Not only does it provide all of the desired functions, but it was developed by and for the Metropolitan Opera and has been used by arts and cultural organizations for more than a decade. Some of the features it provides are:

• Ticketing, subscriptions, box office operations
• Complete customer relationship management
• Marketing and list management
• Fundraising, memberships, sponsorships, contributions
• Flexible reporting, executive information systems, and analysis tools
• Extensive web capabilities – full NO FEE internet transactional capability for ticketing (including select-your-own seat), subscriptions, memberships, donations and much more

Features list from www.tessituranetwork.com

Tessitura is a nonprofit corporation with an elected board and a broad member network. The open environment that they use in their organizational structure is paralleled in their product. Tessitura is a flexible platform that is customizable and scalable. In addition, Tessitura has no transaction fees, no user limit, perpetual license terms, and a database that is fully integrated and web enabled.
When Media Genesis begins assembling the components to be incorporated into a web development project, we consider the mission and message of our client. These ideas are more difficult to pin down than, for instance, the functional features of a website, but they guide the design and development of a web presence or online tool.

The mission and message of an organization are specifically important when we work with clients in arts and culture. Media Genesis has ample experience in these areas, having partnered with the Detroit Science Center (www.sciencedetroit.org), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (www.detroitsymphony.com), and many other organizations, both local and global, that need a web presence to champion their message. The harmony of Tessitura and the Flint Cultural Center was apparent, and Media Genesis integrated Tessitura into the solution we prepared.

This box office application, complete with a ticketing system and client relationship manager tools, may have been developed as a performing arts application, but has been used in organizations as diverse as the University of Notre Dame, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and the City of Huston. Tessitura is one of the many tools that Media Genesis can customize and implement for our clients.
For more information on Media Genesis or the tools we work with, please visit us at mediag.com. You can also find us on Twitter (@MediaG) and Facebook.