Hi Everyone,
We're wondering, does anyone routinely hold seats close to the stage for patrons with visual impairments or other special needs to purchase? If so, are they sold at the same price types (single ticket, subscriber and discounted) that are available to the general public or do you have a Special Needs discount of some kind?
We currently hold seats in multiple sections for patrons using wheelchairs or requiring aisle seating, and of course hold a block of seats for our Sign-Interpreted performances, but nothing in the first couple of rows for patrons who may have reduced field of vision, extreme nearsightedness, Autism etc. We get a few requests like this each season, and while accommodations are made on a case by case basis, it would be helpful to have a more consistent policy in place.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Lilaia New 42nd Street/New Victory Theater
We do hold some seats for customers who are visually impaired close to the stage. We will be moving toward having some seats in an allocation instead of a hold in the near future so that customers can purchase them on the web as well. This is a complicated issue that I am happy to report will be a topic at the next Tessitura conference.
Thanks Nicole, I'm sure we'll have someone attending that conference session!
Do you sell those seats at regular prices, or do you have a special needs discount?
Lilaia
Regular price. There are some instances where it could be reduced to match the price level of the seats the customer wanted to purchase but could not access due to inaccessibility, but the overall concept is equal access not preferred, or special access.