Please don't price locals out of events!

[PJJ]

"Because we can raise the prices and people will still pay them" and "you live in an expensive area" are not valid arguments IMO - especially in the current economic climate.

They might not be valid arguments in your opinion, but based on the relative inelasticity of demand for such events, they are not only valid arguments, they are correct. Price is determined by what the market will bear, not cost plus a margin, otherwise we'd see a lot more luxury condos.

Edit - also attending such events shouldn't be compared to keeping one's home, feeding one's children or heating one's home.

 

[30A Skunkape]

Yes, those 3 months of tourists erased every ill in Sowal. Noone is getting foreclosed on, no kids are going to bed hungry, noone is worried about paying bills, everyone can afford to heat their homes, the unemployment rate is at 0%, and the effects of the housing market crash and the BP spill have completely vanished.

Give me a break. You know better than that.

I'm thinking anyone facing homelessness, starvation or death from exposure probably isn't frequenting the high brow party circuit. If anything, people are not getting foreclosed on quickly enough, but that is a whole other subject! The county fair and mullet festival are options, you know.

 

[Kurt]

There is a lot of cake in SoWal.

Overheard on the WaterColor bridge the other day: "so much building going on you'd never know there was a recession down here."

 

[Mango]

Unless it was a first time for an event, and even with all the planning in the world, the event was overwhelmed the first round, then charging 25% -50% doesn't seem appropriate. If you want to eliminate the snoot factor, explain in your advertising the rationale for the large increase, otherwise you run the risk of alienating people.

I have to say that I am surprised that the Johnny Cash show sold out. The price without serving food of some sort seemed extremely high, even in light of the amount of bands attending. My first thought was how many people could sit that long waiting for ALL those bands to finish singing A song and did one want to hear bands of different genres sing music that may not suit their voices. IMHO, The sell out probably has more to do with the amount of bands playing and their friends and families attending, as well as frequent Rep contributors, than it had to do with the value of hearing Johnny cash songs by artists that you can see frequently for free around the area while enjoying a meal or drinking at a bar.

There may be many events that are free admission, but, let's not kid ourselves, people who attend spend money in some shape or form at them which is good business practice.

 

[30A Skunkape]

Unless it was a first time for an event, and even with all the planning in the world, the event was overwhelmed the first round, then charging 25% -50% doesn't seem appropriate. If you want to eliminate the snoot factor, explain in your advertising the rationale for the large increase, otherwise you run the risk of alienating people.

I have to say that I am surprised that the Johnny Cash show sold out. The price without serving food of some sort seemed extremely high, even in light of the amount of bands attending. My first thought was how many people could sit that long waiting for ALL those bands to finish singing A song and did one want to hear bands of different genres sing music that may not suit their voices. IMHO, The sell out probably has more to do with the amount of bands playing and their friends and families attending, as well as frequent Rep contributors, than it had to do with the value of hearing Johnny cash songs by artists that you can see frequently for free around the area while enjoying a meal or drinking at a bar.

There may be many events that are free admission, but, let's not kid ourselves, people who attend spend money in some shape or form at them which is good business practice.

If you think it was too expensive you are missing the big picture-it was a FUNDRAISER!
And there were no 'bands'. Musicians only, acoustic guitars, and they all sat on the stage together and awaited their turn to sing. And who has a voice not meant to sing a Johnny Cash song? Damn, I can't sing a lick but I like to sing some of them when nobody is around-Cash is an American treasure who transcends genres! And since I was there, I can tell you with 100% certainty, the sell out had NOTHING to do with families, friends and freebies. It was a great event.

 

[Jdarg]

The Cash for the Rep fundraiser sold out in 48 hours. Rep members received advance notice of tickets going on sale (and this is not unique to the Rep- many organizations give their members first crack at events or have members-only events). The audience ranged from many of our members who attend every single production and event to brand new members to fans of the musicians- it was a great audience who were excited to see these 10 fantastic local artists on the stage at the same time. Something that has not ever happened, and the artists were just as excited to be up there together. Wish the Rep had more than 75 seats- especially since the phone rang off the hook for a solid week and we had people come to the door to see if by chance anyone had turned in their tickets- I think the price point worked out pretty well.

And every artist would have made Johnny Cash proud. We are lucky to have such talent here.

Thank you Skunky and all the great people who attended, thank you to the sponsors of the show, the artists who gave up a night of their time because they understand the value of the arts in this community, and Mark Schnell, a great community member who came up with the brilliant idea! We hope to have more music events- it is a great venue to see a concert!

Back to the topic at hand- most of the events here that are community-spirited are low-cost or free. Many of the big ticket events are fundraisers- and fundraisers these days are high risk to the organization in terms of up-front cost. You don't see the really way-out expensive ones that were prevalent just a few short years ago- most parties now are under $100 tickets, so there are quite a few more affordable options than there were before. This town has so much going on for free or low-cost that if you can't find something to do just about every night of the week, you are not looking very hard! There is not a week that goes by where I wish we could do everything that I see listed here on SoWal.

 

[Kurt]

REP shows are awesome. Especially when there's free cash.

 

[scooterbug44]

A small one time fundraiser is not the type of event I was talking about. (Especially since the reason they had it was to help keep ticket prices low for paid events and let them put on free events.)

It was more the popular events that are attended by hundreds of people and have (IMO at least) significant price increases each year AND an extra $5-10 in "processing fees" tacked on as well.

 

[John R]

Many completely underestimate the costs that go into producing events such as Mountainfilm, Digital Graffiti, 30A Songwriter's Festival, and Noche de Los Muertos(which I assume this thread is about). Also, production specifications increase also. Each of these events has grown each year, with some changes obvious, and some more subtle. The goal is to give more. Our audience deserves it. Ticket prices go up with costs. It is a given. I probably wouldn't go to all of these events, if I wasn't working them. I choose which events to be involved with, either by working, or buying a ticket.

 

[Kurt]

That's right John R needs to be paid and he's worth every penny.