Fringe ticketing software gets unrivalled publicity

Faith Liddell, director of Festivals Edinburgh - which represents all the capital's festivals is reported as saying "Some of the things that have been brought up about the Fringe's ticketing system, transport issues; those are all investments for the future and they are investments which will try and retain Edinburgh's position as a world-leading festival city."

Liddell said her focus is to ensure the "best possible audience experience" and that "the world's greatest and most important cultural event goes as well as it possibly can".  But culture minister Linda Fabiani was concerned that ticket buyers would not be short-changed, and she demanded assurances from organisers that they are doing all they can to resolve the issue.

Liddell was appointed in December 2006 to oversee the capital's festivals after the Thundering Hooves report, commissioned by the Scottish Arts Council, warned of the threat to Edinburgh's events from rival offerings in Britain and abroad. The study said that one advantage other cities had was the "competitive edge" gained from much newer IT systems!

When asked if she thought the festival's competitive position had been compromised, Liddell is reported saying: "In a way that's an operational issue that may affect the big picture, and it's an operational issue which the Fringe are addressing." She added: "I think you can only assess the damage once you know there is some and then you ensure you are delivering to audiences across all areas."

The Big Four venues - the Assembly, the Underbelly, the Pleasance and the Gilded Balloon - have their own box-office system, Via, which has been working smoothly. Karen Koren, director of the Gilded Balloon, commented "The Fringe has been going for more than 60 years; I don't think one year of technology breaking down is going to stop it going."

Koren, who took over the Gilded Balloon in 1986, confirmed that a number of shows had been oversold but said her team were going through each ticket sale to check numbers.

Officials with the Edinburgh Fringe festival in Scotland ignored warnings that their new ticketing system may not work correctly, industry officials say. Performers and venue operators say they warned officials with the world's largest arts festival about the untested system prior to its inception, yet their warnings were repeatedly ignored.

"The Fringe Society were warned well in advance about the computer system," said Julian Caddy, whose company, Sweet, maintains performance spaces. "It is something that people have been talking about, and raising concerns about, for many months now."

After the new Fringe ticket system was implemented, consistent problems caused multiple shutdowns of the festival's telephone and counter sales.The resulting backlog was eventually cleared up after Fringe officials used an alternate box office system claimed the Scotsman.

Sources: http://www.scotsman.com
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