Arts@TheCore increases Carolina Performing Arts ticket sales

Lauren Farrington, now a sophomore, took a first-year art seminar in spring and attended a dance show at Memorial Hall with her class. After attending a show with her class, she and a friend decided to attend an orchestra show.

“The student price is really good, so I’ve never thought about (not being able to attend a show),” she said.

Farrington is not the only student to return after a Carolina Performing Arts show for class. Since the 2012-13 season of Arts@TheCore, ticket sales have increased from 390 to 1,473 in student tickets sold for the 2014-15 season. Student involvement in Arts@TheCore increased from three percent to 10 percent in those years.

Although the student ticket scheme has changed for the 2015-16 season, the student ticket will still remain $10. But students are limited to one ticket per UNC One Card, as opposed to two tickets in previous years, to serve more students.

“We really want to offer it to students who are enrolled in the University because it is funded by student fees,” said Mark Nelson, director of marketing and communications for CPA. Nelson noticed most students were purchasing additional tickets for non-UNC friends and felt the policy was not benefitting CPA’s mission.

But students will still be able to bring outside friends by using another student’s UNC One Card to purchase the second ticket.

Another change for this year is a new ticket scheme to reward students who buy their tickets early. The first 50 students who purchase their tickets will get premium seats in the section directly in front of the stage. The exact number of seats guaranteed for students changes depending on the show.

Nelson said CPA is not revenue-based but mission-based. According to him, only 25 percent of the total revenue for CPA shows is University-driven. CPA is taking its two major identities — an arts organization and an organization within a university — and combining them to delve beyond the arts and academics.

Its recent Arts@TheCore initiative includes artist-in-residence programs, professor discussions and partnerships with other arts organizations.

This initiative is not only incorporating art in all fields of academia and encompassing nontraditional subjects, like business and medicine, but is also selling tickets.

Aaron Shackelford, a postdoctoral fellow for CPA, works to build connections between the curriculum and performances offered by CPA. Shackelford worked with faculty to find ways to connect the season opener, “Antigone,” with the medical school curriculum.

Shackelford said he believes performing arts can offer ways to explore creativity and make connections the classroom might not always provide in the traditional format through nuance and ambiguity.

For longtime patron and UNC graduate Linda Butler, CPA offers a variety of premier entertainment that is not available anywhere else.

“I think it is important — since we have this available right here in the middle of our own town — to stay a participant and to frequent what’s offered there as often as you can,” Butler said.

“As we bring these performances to campus, it’s not presenting just to present; it’s not bringing an artist here just to say an artist is coming here,” Nelson said. “It’s about making connections.”

arts@dailytarheel.com