Inviting people to a ticketed event

[LifeOnPluto]

I'm not at all familiar with how the art world works internally, but in the theatre/dance/music world, it's extremely common to be in a performance that requires people pay to see it. Standard procedure among my friends is to send out mass mailings, facebook invites, etc, with all the details of the show (including ticket price details).

You're not inviting people to a social event, you're inviting people to attend a show you're in. It's not expected that you pick up the cost of everyone's ticket yourself. That would be insane. But don't tell them you're on the hook for X tickets, I agree with Yvaine that that will definitely read as a guilt trip.

Oh, it's not the selling of tickets that bothers me--it's that it's really an entry fee for Kitchcat that she can then offset by selling tickets. It felt to me like paying to act in the play, to extend the metaphor. I mean, if you're in a play, yeah, it will cost your friends to attend, but they don't have a quota of tickets you have to sell or else you as the actor owe them money. As far as I know, anyway. It's not the admission fee for attendees that bugged me. It was the entry fee for artists; it seemed weird.

But if this is normal, then I'll shut up now.

Edited to add: I like PPs' wording for letting them know about indicating you without laying on a guilt trip.

I agree. I'm not an artist, but it does seem "off" to me.

OP, if you don't sell all the tickets, and cannot pay the short-fall, what happens? Do they bar you from exhibiting your paintings?

[mrs_deb]

I have no knowledge of this insofar as the art world in concerned, but when my SS was a teenager and playing in a "band" he'd often play at these clubs that featured a half dozen teen bands and each band was responsible for selling x number of tickets, or they'd have to make up the difference.  And in Little League, each player was responsible for selling x number of raffle tickets every year or his family had to buy what wasn't sold.  Kind of 'pay to play' in both cases. 

So I'd guess it's not a totally foreign concept to a lot of people and they won't be surprised if you tell them the truth about the situation.  A few PP have come up with great wording!

[WillyNilly]

My DH is in a band as a hobby and they play bars and other music venues.  Its not uncommon for the door person to ask attendees "what band are you here for?" The more 'ticks' the band gets, the better they get paid, some bars have a minimum draw the band must provide in order for the band to get paid at all (and some bars might even not let a band go on at all if they have no or too few ticks).  He also does stand up comedy and again, he needs to provide a minimum number of paying audience members (who also have a 2 drink minimum once inside) in order to get to perform.  If they require 8 audience members and he brings 7?  Too bad, so sad, he doesn't get to go on stage.

So yeah, in the arts word its pretty common for artists to have to bear some responsibility for providing a paying audience.

[Yvaine]

My DH is in a band as a hobby and they play bars and other music venues.  Its not uncommon for the door person to ask attendees "what band are you here for?" The more 'ticks' the band gets, the better they get paid, some bars have a minimum draw the band must provide in order for the band to get paid at all (and some bars might even not let a band go on at all if they have no or too few ticks).  He also does stand up comedy and again, he needs to provide a minimum number of paying audience members (who also have a 2 drink minimum once inside) in order to get to perform.  If they require 8 audience members and he brings 7?  Too bad, so sad, he doesn't get to go on stage.

So yeah, in the arts word its pretty common for artists to have to bear some responsibility for providing a paying audience.

Interesting! I've never been asked this when I went to a bar for live music or comedy, so maybe it's a venue-by-venue thing. And the art gallery setup the OP describes was unfamiliar to me from my experience with the "arts arm" of what I do at work, but that's a nonprofit, so maybe it's different.

[TootsNYC]

I'll confess to a nitpicky objection to the use of the word "invite" here.
I personally prefer "suggest" or something. To keep the distinction between a *true* invitation* and this situation in which you are not actually hosting.

[delabela]

I have no knowledge of the way the art world works, so I can't speak to that. 

I wouldn't think it at all rude if a friend sent me a message like those suggested earlier in the thread - and if I was planning on going, I'd definitely want to make sure that you got credit for my attendance. 

[LifeOnPluto]

My DH is in a band as a hobby and they play bars and other music venues.  Its not uncommon for the door person to ask attendees "what band are you here for?" The more 'ticks' the band gets, the better they get paid, some bars have a minimum draw the band must provide in order for the band to get paid at all (and some bars might even not let a band go on at all if they have no or too few ticks).  He also does stand up comedy and again, he needs to provide a minimum number of paying audience members (who also have a 2 drink minimum once inside) in order to get to perform.  If they require 8 audience members and he brings 7?  Too bad, so sad, he doesn't get to go on stage.

So yeah, in the arts word its pretty common for artists to have to bear some responsibility for providing a paying audience.

Interesting! In the example you've described, would your DH get reimbursed the amount he paid for the 7 tickets? Because otherwise, it seems like a lose-lose situation for him. He's out the cost of 7 tickets, and he doesn't get to play.

[jpcher]

I would definitely avoid the "I have a certain number of tickets to sell" idea. It does tend to put a guilt-trippy thought to the guests mind.

I suggest (maybe?) purchasing a few tickets for the "important*" people that you would really like to have attend such as a professor or critic. These invites should be formal and personally addressed. Ask for an RSVP, so that you can pass the tickets on to someone else if they choose not to attend and the tickets don't go to waste.

(Maybe?) include, with the invite of the gift tickets, information for purchasing a guest tickets if they chose to bring a guest. Others can chime in on the etiquette of this, but it's just a thought.


(I know all guests are important . . . but if there's a choice of purchasing tickets for certain people in order to do the networking thing? I think I would do that.)