Spektrix Features to Welcome All Audiences

In a test phase, a few loyal bookers - those who regularly called up on the first day of onsales to reserve their accessible tickets - were invited to a special priority booking period, with the opportunity to try out the process and share their feedback. Many of them were able to book successfully even before their instructions arrived, proving to the team that they’d created a process which was intuitive, accessible and informative.

Building on opportunity

After Covid-19 forced the cancellation of Opera Holland Park’s 2020 season, they reopened in 2021 with a newly designed auditorium, designed to feel even more connected to the outdoors. Performance designer takis created a space that made the audience part of the creative experience, gathering chairs from old productions by Opera Holland Park, Welsh National Opera and others, reducing capacity to 400 seats to help keep performers and audiences secure.

That enforced change brought other benefits for the access team. With 20% of seats now step-free, they restructured their pricing to ensure the full range of price bands were offered with level access. With the team working from home it was more difficult than ever to staff box office phones - so the ease of online access bookings proved a real asset to the team, as well as to audience members.

“One visitor had been coming to our events for years, but had an adult autistic son who she didn’t think would ever be able to join her. She brought him to a Discovery Matinee and he had a great time. They stood at the edge of the space so he could dance and sing along, and enjoy an experience together that they hadn’t thought could be possible.”

Meanwhile, Opera Holland Park launched Discovery Matinees - relaxed, audio described performances, with cheaper ticket prices enabling whole families to attend together at an accessible time of day.

Discovery Matinees went on sale on a slightly different schedule to the remainder of the season, allowing the team to build distinct messaging around them at the point of sale and in pre-event communications. That content focussed on using plain English and pre-empting questions about the experience - setting out the sights and sounds that audiences would experience, creating visual stories and introducing characters. And those efforts paid off for the marketing team too, as they realised the visual content they’d created for their access customers was perfectly suited to their mainstream social media campaigns.

The enthusiasm of the whole team has led to a transformation in audience experience and inclusive communications.

Thanks to Chloe Bridgen, Head of Marketing; Doug Mackie, Ticketing and Box Office Manager; and Philippa Peall, Marketing Officer, for sharing their story.