Ladies and germs, here's a preview of an article that will be running in tomorrow's Chronicle about Duke Performances. DP has offered free tickets for several recent shows; officials are citing an overbooked season, entertainment fatigue after the presidential election and lots of local options as reasons for slow sales. For the full scoop, read tomorrow's paper. In the meantime, here's DP Marketing Director Ken Rumble's Nov. 17 e-mail to DP patrons offering the free tickets:
Hello Friends of Duke Performances:
We have both good and bad news. The bad news is that ticket sales for our upcoming presentations of Chava Alberstein/Greg Brown and Fred Hersch/Christopher O'Riley have not been as high as we expected. We occasionally risk this situation because of our mission to present the best, forward-thinking contemporary artists of our day. While it may be easier and more profitable to present the biggest, best known names, we believe that our audience is better served by a more discerning eye, that our audience deserves something beyond the everyday.
We also recognize that the global economic downturn is pinching everyone's pockets and that different choices must be made as a consequence -- we try do whatever we can to make ticket prices reasonable, but when times are tough, times are tough. And the subject of economics brings us to the good news -- we are giving away complimentary tickets to both the Chava Alberstein/Greg Brown and Fred Hersch/Christopher O'Riley performances. To claim your tickets email performances@duke.edu with your name and the number of tickets. All tickets will be available at will-call before the performance. Ticket requests must be recieved by 5pm today for Alberstein/Brown.
As always we appreciate your support, and while giving away tickets to these shows puts us in difficult financial circumstances, we are very happy to provide access to two performances that won't be forgotten any time soon. There is a sustenance provided by the arts that no other experience matches -- we hope that during these difficult times we can continue to provide experiences to our audience that enable and encourage us all to dream, imagine, and creatively explore our lives with eyes, hearts, and minds wide open.
Duke Performances is happy to provide complimentary tickets to other performances in our season to anyone who has already purchased tickets to the Alberstein/Brown or Hersch/O'Riley performances.
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