Harvest Media Center
Harvest Invests In Patron and
Service Comfort in '09
June 16, 2009
When it came to planning this year's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, organizers set themselves a serious goal: substantially enhance the patron experience. It's not an easy target when the event is about to shake off its extended adolescence and come of age with its 19th birthday, but the Festival didn't grow to become Atlantic Canada's premier international music experience by being afraid of shaking things up.
So today the Festival announced major investments in patron comfort and service, including significantly increased seating in its two biggest venues, a Room-to-Groove philosophy, new ticket buying options, and improved admissions designed to shorten line-ups at the door.
"We knew coming out of last year's Festival that we wanted to improve the experience. Harvest has always been about two things: seeing great music and having a great time. We needed to put some increased emphasis on the great time and enhance patron comfort and service," says festival chair Patti Graham.
After the 2008 Festival, patron surveys showed that fans wanted more seating, more elbow room and less waiting at the doors. So organizers are spending heavily to make improvements into those areas this year.
First and foremost among the changes in 2009 is a new, Room-to-Groove philosophy that will ensure that venues maintain that famous Harvest energy while providing patrons enough room to dance and socialize.
The Festival's biggest venue, the Budweiser Blues Tent, will have a new, free-standing look. That means no tent poles between the artists and their fans. The new, slightly larger tent will also allow organizers to create more patron room by better locating staging, sound systems and backstage green room areas.
The Festival will also enhance patron comfort by providing more seating. The event is buying several sets of portable bleachers and additional picnic tables for its two largest tents. The bleachers will go around the perimeter of the venues so fans can rest their feet and enjoy a drink during evening shows.
"We thought a lot about how to place the bleachers in the venues so we maintain the festival's energy. We didn't want to create a theatre-like environment. This is Harvest, after all," says Graham.
New ticketing options are also part of the enhanced customer service package. The Festival has contracted TicketPro to provide a print-your-ticket-at-home option. TicketPro will become the Festival's online ticket provider and will also offer tickets at 22 outlets throughout Atlantic Canada. Online tickets will still be purchased via the Festival's website at www.harvestjazzandblues.com.
Tickets and passes for the Festival go on sale Saturday, July 18th, at 8:30am. Tickets are available online, toll free at 1-888-NBLUES and at the Festival Store at 81 Regent Street in Fredericton.
"We've negotiated with TicketPro to ensure that service fees are kept at a minimum. And we think the idea of printing your ticket at home and bringing it right to the venue is a service our customers want. Of course, you can still buy directly from us at our store and that way you'll avoid any fees altogether," says Graham.
The Festival will use the new print-at-home bar-coded tickets to improve wait times at the Festival's admissions entrances. This year, patrons will also be streamed into lines with passes, advanced tickets and those looking to buy tickets. The streaming is expected to shorten processing times once venue doors open.
"We think overall we're addressing the concerns coming out of the 2008 Festival and gone several steps farther in enhancing overall patron comfort and the Harvest experience. We feel with our intimate venues, incredible artists and now improved comfort, we've got the best Festival experience in Atlantic Canada," says Graham.
"Even in the midst of this recession when people have wondered whether Harvest would retrench, we've invested more in patron comfort and in music programming," adds Graham.
This year's headliners include Los Lobos, Susan Tedeschi, Davy Knowles and Backdoor Slam, Eric Bibb, Nikki Yanofsky, Michael Kaeshammer and Hey Rosetta! The full Festival line up will be announced on July 14th.
