Sheffield Theatres has reportedly lowered the prices on “thousands” of tickets while simultaneously increasing its ticketing revenue.
The organisation made changes to its pricing strategy following a continued decrease in public funding.
“Public funding accounted for 24 per cent of our income when I arrived at the organisation in 2009,” said chief executive Dan Bates.
“By 2015 that had fallen to 13 per cent – about a £500,000 difference – and we were aware that our Local Authority funding could disappear.
“We didn’t want to become too reliant on increasing ticket prices and were experimenting a lot with different pricing plans, but with so many pressures on our time, it felt like we were just tinkering rather than having a strategic approach.”
In an effort to remain sustainable in the face of declining public funding, Sheffield Theatres began a Capacity Building consultancy in May 2016.
Its new approach included taking a fresh look at scale-of-house and pricing strategies, growing membership, ticket sales, and donations and taking a holistic view of the organisation’s management and operations.
In doing so, the company said it “secured future sustainability” via optimising revenue and strengthening its “core values.”
This led to 10,000 ticket prices dropping alongside a 14 per cent increase in yield. It also helped to secure additional income of £323,000 in 2016-17, while membership rose by 35 per cent.
Image: Rev Stan
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