Tickets.com and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts Announce Ticketing Extension

Tickets.com and  Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, have extended their ticketing and marketing services partnership to include an upgrade of the Foundation’s ticketing solution to the ProVenue^® platform.

The independent, nonprofit Wolf Trap Foundation, which operates three performance venues: the Filene Center and Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods within Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and The Barns at Wolf Trap, selected ProVenue after an exhaustive RFP process.

“Given the broad range of program offerings across our stages, our ticketing needs are complex,” stated Beth Brummel, Wolf Trap’s Vice President for External Affairs.  “We value the Tickets.com partnership and look forward to utilizing the enhanced integration services and reporting capabilities being offered with ProVenue to provide a first-rate buying experience for our patrons.”

For more information about Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, visit http://www.wolftrap.org/

Wolf Trap Awarded Venue of Excellence by International Association of Assembly Managers, Inc.

Filene Center Wins Performing Arts Center Category

Vienna, VA—The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced today that it has been awarded the inaugural Venue of Excellence award by the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM). These prestigious awards recognize venues that demonstrate excellence in the management and operation of public assembly venues. Wolf Trap was selected in the performing arts category based on four criteria: service to community, team building/professional development, safety and security, and operational excellence. These criteria complement the IAAM Value Statements of integrity, service, safety, education, advocacy, and people first. IAAM is the world's largest professional association, dedicated to issues relevant to the management of public assembly venues.

“The criteria for this award are all directly aligned to Wolf Trap’s mission to bring excellent and innovative performing arts programs that enrich, educate and provide enjoyment to diverse audiences,” said Terrence Jones, president and CEO of Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. “We are honored to be recognized by such an important association and to be in the company of these other excellent venues that have won.”

Wolf Trap was one of five Venue of Excellence award winners. Others include Comcast Arena at Everett, Everett, Washington in the Arenas category; Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon in Convention Centers category; PETCO Park, San Diego, California in the Stadiums category; and Stephen C. O’Connell Center – University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida in the Education Venue category.

“An award committee created criteria that would fairly and objectively score the nominated venues,” said Kevin Duvall, Award Review Committee Chair. “A venue that excels not only within its internal development and operations but also in the local community is one worthy of receiving the Venue of Excellence Award. The competition was top of the line.”

“As we created this award category we wanted to recognize outstanding venues. These venues have demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation, perseverance and unwavering commitment of the highest standards to our industry. They are without a doubt most deserving of this recognition. And I heartily thank them all for participating.” said IAAM Chairman of the Board, Shura Lindgren-Garnett, CFE. She and Past President Robyn Williams, CFE, created the awards.

The Bird and the Bee at The Barns at Wolf Trap

Live!
Who: The Bird and the Bee, Obi Best What: 8 p.m., Wednesday Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap, Vienna
Washington Post
By MARIANNE MEYER

In presenting the highly buzzed-about Los Angeles-based duo The Bird and The Bee, the Wolf Trap Barns are providing a public service to all Northern Virginia suburbanites who fear that living outside the District lessens their indie-music street cred. The group, singer Inara George and keyboardist/producer Greg Kurstin, are at the tipping point of a mainstream breakthrough while keeping one foot -- with happy, tapping toes -- firmly in the hipster alternative music scene.

George, the daughter of Lowell George, frontman for the 1970s blues-rock band Little Feat, met Kurstin, an in-demand Los Angeles studio player, when he was brought in to play on her solo album, "All Rise," released on the small Everloving Records label in 2004. The two discovered a shared affection for old pop standards and began writing together, with George providing lyrics and melodies, and Kurstin overseeing instruments and production.

The couple's delightful self-titled debut arrived in January 2007 on the esteemed Blue Note Records label, and since then, their mix of easy-to-hum melodies and Brazilian tropicalia influences, along with sly, subtle humor and headphone-worthy production elements, have brought them critical acclaim. The two years since have kept the Bird and the Bee busy.

The duo's cover of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" appeared in last year's "Sex and the City" movie and has been featured in promo spots for VH1. Another cover, of Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music," was featured as a free online download, and one can only hope that the pair's lounge-worthy take on Hall & Oates's "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" will be shared down the road as well.

The two also marked the year with side projects: George released her second solo album, "An Invitation," collaborating with reclusive composer/arranger Van Dyke Parks. Kurstin, who has written and produced tracks for Britney Spears, took on production duties for singer Lily Allen's highly anticipated second album, "It's Not Me, It's You."

George and Kurstin also made their first appearance at the prestigious Coachella festival as part of a wide-ranging tour that spawned "Live at the Sands," an exclusive live EP for iTunes. Two other EPs bridged the gap between the debut album and the act's second full-length album, "Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future," released a few weeks ago (also on Blue Note).

While holding firm to the pair's penchant for airy vocals, lightly psychedelic pop and bubbling electronic beats, the new CD offers a bigger, bouncier sound, which the band's press bio attributes to honing material on the road in front of audiences willing to dance.

The album's first single, "Love Letter to Japan," is an irresistible chant-along appreciation of the island nation and "all the gifts that you have given me/the patience and the peace, cherry blossoms and the candy."

"Witch" has a sultry, cinematic sound that could serve as the theme for a James Bond movie, and "Polite Dance Song" gives George the chance to coo, with playful irony, "Shake it like you just don't care" and boast of the tune's "crazy, kick-ass beat."

Such incongruity is part of the Bird and the Bee's charm, with deceptive lyrical barbs under the placid surface, as in the first CD's club hit, "[Expletive deleted] Boyfriend," a remix of which went to the top spot on Billboard magazine's Hot Dance Club Play chart. What sounds like lightweight pop at first grows more intriguing with each new spin. A song such as "Lifespan of a Fly" is whimsical but not wimpy, and for all the sweetness of George's soprano, the results are never saccharine.

The Bird and the Bee's current tour is a short run -- 11 cities (including a show at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum) -- which will wrap up in New York three days after the Wolf Trap show at Carnegie Hall's intimate Zankel Hall. Having the act play at the Barns is a coup. Don't miss it.


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The Barns at Wolf Trap are at 1635 Trap Rd., Vienna.

Tickets are $20 through tickets.com, 877-965-3872, or through http://www.wolftrap.org. Obi Best, a Los Angeles-based quartet led by another intriguing female vocalist, Alex Lilly, will open the show with selections from its just-released debut album, "Capades."

Tickets.com and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts Sign Long-Term Contract For Exclusive Ticketing Technologies and Services

COSTA MESA, CA – December 10, 2008 – Tickets.com, a leading worldwide provider of integrated ticketing solutions, announces an exclusive ticketing services agreement with Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia. Recognized as America’s only National Park for the performing arts, the non-profit entity includes the 7,028 seat Filene Center amphitheater, Children's Theatre-In-The-Woods, The Barns at Wolf Trap and Wolf Trap’s Center for Education. The park is managed through a public/private partnership between Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts has been allied with Tickets.com since 1992 and was the first Tickets.com client located in the mid-Atlantic region, as well as the first performing arts organization to use the company’s Private Label, Shopping Cart, and Virtual Waiting Room features and functionality. Other Tickets.com patron experience enhancing products available for use by Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts include: Tickets@Phone, digital ticket delivery to a consumer’s mobile phone; and ProVenue® Automated Kiosks, offering 24/7 self-service stand-alone box office facilities. Additionally, in the fall of 2009, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts will upgrade their current ticketing system to the latest, most advanced ProVenue solution.

“We appreciate Tickets.com’s ongoing commitment to developing leading edge technologies and ensuring their ease of use,” said Beth Brummel, vice president for External Affairs, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. “This allows us to provide the best possible customer experience for everyone who attends concerts, events, and educational programs at Wolf Trap.”

Tickets for a number of 2009 Filene Center season events went on sale November 22, including A Prairie Home Companion – Garrison Keillor, Face of America – Glacier National Park, High School Musical, Riverdance, and pop/world acts Gordon Lightfoot; Peter, Paul & Mary; and Pink Martini.

“We are honored that Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts has continued to entrust Tickets.com with providing ticketing solutions and customer service for its facilities,” said Brian Roberts, vice president of sales, Tickets.com. “It is exciting to be part of the organization’s continued growth, and to offer its customers new breakthrough technologies that will further complement their patronage of Wolf Trap’s beautiful venues.”