Art Tickets

The development of a commercially viable ticketing solution is no mean feat, especially one for the museum and galleries sector. Traditionally, online ticketing systems tend to focus on the one bum one seat approach or the theatre performance model as it's often called. Museums and galleries however do not primarily operate in the same way. They may hold a number of specific events at a set time on a particular day for which the model would apply, but how do you sell tickets for general entry or for an exhibition that runs for several months, or manage capacity in gallery rooms?

The OS team in partnership with Art Fund and Oxford University (sponsored by NESTA) embarked on a yearlong research and development project working closely with a number of museums and galleries across the UK to establish what it was that the sector actually needed and technically, how could this be achieved. After numerous interviews, workshops and research investigations, a new data schema was created that could support the system, mapping out exactly how data should be structured to accommodate the vast array of needs of the system's potential customers. One of the many challenges encountered during the project was that unlike theatres, museums are rarely the same – and the needs of each needed to be carefully considered and enveloped into the solution.

Gordon Cummings at Fry Art Gallery spoke to Apollo Magazine praising Art Tickets in a recent interview regarding the re-opening of museums and galleries to be covid safe and the role that Art Tickets played in the process. You can read the full article here.

The OS team were very pleased to hear that the Arts Council UK rated Art Tickets highly when compared to other online booking and ticketing systems, and performed well across all categories. It always good to know that your work stands up against the competition. You can read the full article here.

To find out more about Art Tickets and how it could benefit your organisation, please visit artfund.org/arttickets