Tessitura is a software package for

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

arts and culture organizations, marketed as "arts enterprise software." Tessitura was initially developed by the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

for its internal use, and integrates ticketing,

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, and

customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a strategic process that organizations use to manage, analyze, and improve their interactions with customers. By leveraging data-driven insights, CRM helps businesses optimize communication, enhance cus ...

functions. Since 2001, Tessitura has been developed and maintained by the nonprofit company Tessitura Network, which was founded by 7 major arts organizations in the United States. Tessitura's business model is unique, as it is developed by a nonprofit organization and marketed solely to the nonprofit sector. The software's integration of ticketing, marketing, fundraising, and CRM is unique among its competitors, which include major CRM and ticketing providers. Users of Tessitura include

opera companies Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

aquariums An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

, and

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

Features

Tessitura integrates multiple functions undertaken by large nonprofit organizations in the field of arts and culture.

Performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

organizations were the first users of Tessitura, as it was developed by the Metropolitan Opera, and its feature set reflects the unique needs of nonprofit performing arts organizations. The unique funding model of these organizations combines donations from donors of all sizes, individual ticket sales, and subscription tickets. Tessitura supports these needs with a

solution, which integrates ticketing, fundraising, and subscription ticket sales.

Business model

Tessitura Network is a nonprofit organization, registered as a

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

. Users of the Tessitura software, themselves nonprofits, are members of the organization and direct its activities. The "Tessitura" trademark is owned by a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Opera. Tessitura's business model is also unique among ticketing service providers due to its pricing structure. Tessitura sells its software with a lifetime license, and does not charge yearly or per-ticket fees. Pricing information is not publicly available, but a 2008 survey of Tessitura users indicated that pricing is linked to an organization's annual revenue. The 2008 survey estimated that startup costs for the software ranged from to $500,000, or about 3-5% of the organization's annual operating budget.

History

In the mid-1990s, the

sought a new solution for its marketing, fundraising, and ticket sales to replace its existing collection of disparate systems. The search for a new ticketing system was part of a broader program of reorganization and technical improvement, begun in 1990 by general manager Joseph Volpe. The Met researched existing CRM and ticketing systems, and investigated how to integrate them together to meet its needs, but concluded that no commercial product would be appropriate. Development of the system took four years, and cost over $5 million, a significant sum for even an organization the size of the Met. The system launched in phases from 1998 to 1999, and quickly drew attention from other major arts organizations. By early 2000, the Met had licensed Tessitura to the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

, the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Hayes Valley ne ...

, and the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

. The three initial licensees of Tessitura collaborated with four other major arts and culture organizations to launch the Tessitura Network in 2001. Tessitura Network, a nonprofit company, was formed to operate and further develop the Tessitura software and to ensure that it retained its focus on the nonprofit sector. The

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

, a Tessitura customer since 2006, presented a major issue with the Tessitura software's architecture in 2011. With the growing popularity of web ticket sales, which represented 60-90% of the ROH's business in 2013, its infrastructure was under stress during peak periods. Demand increased by a factor of 30 during certain peak periods, and customers faced system crashes and hours-long waits to purchase tickets. This prompted the ROH to move its Tessitura instance into the cloud in 2012. The Royal Opera House used scalable services from

Amazon Web Services Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Amazon that provides Software as a service, on-demand cloud computing computing platform, platforms and Application programming interface, APIs to individuals, companies, and gover ...

to adapt to demand, which it found were more cost-effective than expanding its internal infrastructure. Tessitura began offering its own cloud-hosted version of its software in 2021, using services from Amazon Web Services in collaboration with

Rackspace Technology Rackspace Technology, Inc. is an American cloud computing company based in San Antonio, Texas. It also has offices in Blacksburg, Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia and Austin, Texas, as well as in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Dubai, Sw ...

Users

The

developed Tessitura. Its initial licensees were the

, the

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an American opera company based in Seattle, Washington. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of eight to ten performances each, often featuring double casts in major roles to all ...

, the

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama, and the New York City Center 55th Street Theater) is a performing arts center at 131 West 55th Street (Manhattan), 55th Street between Sixth Avenue, Six ...

, and the

Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox (Chicago opera), Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, w ...

. Since the software's launch, Tessitura has targeted additional markets, including museums and zoos, which operate on a similar model of ticket sales and donations. Tessitura had 150 licensees in 4 countries in 2007. , it has over 750 licensees in 10 countries.

References

External links

* * {{YouTube, user=TessituraNetwork Customer relationship management software 2000 software Metropolitan Opera