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Arts United introduces consolidated box office

Sean Bueter
/
WBOI

Five of Fort Wayne's arts organizations will soon share a single box office and a new online presence.

At a media event Friday morning, Arts United President Jim Sparrow announced the creation of the new ArtsTix Community Box Office.The system will allow patrons to buy tickets for the Fort Wayne Ballet, Philharmonic, Civic Theatre, Youtheare and Dance Collective at a single ticketing location. The initiative will also add online ticketing for those organizations.

Arts United Executive Director Jim Sparrow says ArtsTix will make it easier for patrons to buy tickets and create savings for the organizations involved.

He also hopes it boosts ticket sales.

"We do expect that to be a possibility," Sparrow said. "It's actually one of the chief reasons we felt this was an opportunity to move forward with it."

Sweetwater Sound founder Chuck Surack provided a $100,000 grant for ArtsTix that will go toward the initial implementation of the program. He says it will allow Arts United organizations to make their dollars go further.

"It's not a secret that all the groups today are struggling and trying to make ends meet," Surack said. "Any time you can create some efficiency like [a community box office] and create as good, or even better service, I think it's a win-win for everybody."

While ArtsTix is not yet active, those looking to buy tickets once its running will pay a little more. Sparrow says there will be a small fee on each ticket sold to help cover the cost of the program.