Arts Access

Our first proposed outcome was that we will expand our relationship with the clients of Second Harvest North Central Food Bank (SHNCFB) by offering the largest free ticket program in our history. We accomplished this goal by blocking out 10 seats for all 42 events in our 2013 calendar year. We then created vouchers for the free seats and delivered them to the staff at SHNCFB who, in turn, distributed them to their clients. SHNCFB staff maintained a system whereas they could track who received vouchers to ensure as many new people as possible were able to attend live performing arts events. We feel our collective efforts created a very successful partnership and a valuable community service. 2: When we created our estimates, we had only one half of our season booked (Jan-June, 2013) as we run on a fiscal year of July 1 to June 30 versus a calendar year. As we rounded out our new season and included the requisite July to December events, we came up with a total of 42 events at ten tickets each, or 420 total vouchers distributed. That said, the vast majority of voucher holders redeemed their vouchers the night of the event, and due to congestion in the ticket lines on event nights, we complete a quick sale action in the box office that doesn't allow us to record names, addresses, and demographics. That being said, we can't be 100 certain that we eclipsed our estimate of reaching 25% or more new patrons, but many of the voucher recipients were first timers by their own verbal admission.