Help patrons feel safe to return
The performing arts attracts a decidedly mature audience. In fact, the Monterey Symphony reports the average audience member is 71, and 55 is the magic number for classical music fans. While 41 is the average age for broadway performances, community theatres worldwide generally skew a bit older. This is the group at greatest risk from exposure to COVID-19, so helping patrons feel safe with social distancing seating is of paramount importance for their return to theatre.
Social distancing seating for the performing arts
The CDC has suggested that tight spaces with sustained contact facilitate the spread of the coronavirus. Given the close proximity of standard auditorium or theatre seating, the fears patrons may have about returning to the theatre are justified. We've worked to address reserved seating in a way that allows your customers to visually see spacing for social distancing seating. The new tool launched in response to the coronavirus will prevent the ability for patrons to be seated next to parties or families they do not know. We've also made the process effortless to maintain social distancing with reserved seating diagrams.
Show social distancing seats with clear visual cues
As administrators of your upcoming events, you can now block seats for social distancing with clear visual cues to show why seats are not available for public purchase. (This is quite different from the standard blocked seats that display as sold or unavailable when reserving seats in advance.) We used different visual cues that show each blocked seat with an "X" and a key indicating they are seats for social distancing. Most assigned seating venues will begin by blocking every other row for an event. Entire rows can be blocked with a single click to ensure patrons have ample space around them.
Considerations should be made for the distance between the performers on stage to the first row of available seating for patrons. If the stage is quite close to the first row of seats, we recommend blocking the first row or more to achieve the necessary six feet of social distancing between performers and patrons. For faith-based organizations taking advantage of reserved seating for weekly services where there are multiple services in a single day, consider alternating which rows are blocked for social distancing between services so members of the congregation are not seated in the same row of seats as the previous service.
Automated seat blocking as purchases are made
In addition to allowing you to mark a single seat for "social distancing", ThunderTix will automatically block adjacent seats to the left and right of any seats purchased as seats for "social distancing". For example, a family of four can buy seats, and when the order is complete, we'll block seats to the left and right of the five purchased seats. The social distancing tool when enabled allows complete flexibility in the size of each family attending the show.
When enabling the social distancing tool, select how many seats should be blocked automatically with each ticket order. Depending on the layout of your venue, the distance between seats, and the size of each seat, select whether you want one, two, or three seats blocked on each side of a seat reservation. Coupled with the blocking of every other row, patrons will be assured that your venue is taking the necessary precautions and will feel safer maintaining adequate distances in order to come back to live, in-person, performances at your venue.
Social distancing seating for theatres
You can sell upcoming shows and season passes with new social distancing in your reserved seating venue. Your patrons will feel safer to return especially when you share the additional protocols your organization has implemented such as mask requirements, entry to the theatre through multiple access points, hand sanitizer stations, and touchless credit cards. If circumstances change to conspire against your event forcing additional cancellations or postponements, take advantage of our new batch refund process or even better, the ability to batch refund ticket orders to a gift card to be used at a later date. Alternatively, our mass email integration allows you to invite patrons to convert purchases to a donation.