Screenshots courtesy ArtsWave/phone images via Adobe Stock
ArtsWave’s Cincy A&E calendar debuted in summer 2024, and the app followed in October to allow arts and entertainment organizations to highlight their events and to offer free tickets and flash sales to ArtsWave donors. There have been more than 16,000 app downloads so far, with between 350 and 450 app users on any given day.
“We’re thrilled to see people using the calendar and responding to the ticket offers,” says Jeni Barton, ArtsWave’s director of digital products. “One of my favorite days in the past year was when Cincinnati Ballet made free tickets available to a performance and more than 400 were claimed through the app in two hours.”
Barton considers the app a tool for recruiting more individual ArtsWave donors since ticket deals and enhanced content become available once a user gets an ArtsWave Pass ($100) or makes $10 one-time donations. As workplace culture changes post-Covid, ArtsWave’s annual corporate campaigns reach fewer people; Barton says it’s key for ArtsWave to be able to build direct relationships with individuals through the calendar and app.
Two big app upgrades are on deck in the coming year, she says. The site will begin incorporating natural language search to make events and venues easier to find; the app will learn that CSO and Cincinnati Symphony, for instance, are the same organization. And gamification will be added to provide rewards for frequent users and to introduce fun digital experiences at live events. “I kind of envision a Pokemon GO for the arts,” says Barton.
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