Can a performing arts organization reach millions of buyers without spending a penny on advertising?

Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) and Segerstrom Center for the Arts have done just that. They increased their ticket revenue with a significant rise in first-time buyers. How? They were able to reach customers on their preferred ticketing marketplaces like StubHub and SeatGeek with Tessitura’s strategic partner Victory Live. 

Victory Live helps performing arts organizations get audiences into their seats. Tessitura equips them with the resources that keep bringing them back.

Expanding reach: taking control of the secondary market

CAPA and Segerstrom Center shared a common goal: to increase their ticket sales. Limited staff time and budgets posed a challenge. Each required a solution that melded with their existing operations.  

What if they could distribute and sell tickets on popular ticketing sites through Tessitura? Victory Live promotes tickets on 15-plus major marketplace sites via open distribution. A bonus for Tessitura members: Victory Live does not charge to install its integration. Now, CAPA and Segerstrom Center can reach new audiences and channels directly through a real-time API. 

Because of Victory Live’s close integration with the Tessitura platform, CAPA and Segerstrom Center can now maintain control of their inventory. They monitor sales, adjust prices and deliver customers’ tickets just as they do for in-house transactions.

That integration means both organizations can take advantage of the events they’ve already set up in Tessitura. Tickets can appear simultaneously on their websites and on sites such as SeatGeek, StubHub, Vivid and Gametime. Every ticket sale, from any of the marketplaces accessed via Victory Live, is recorded seamlessly in their Tessitura databases.

In the past, the secondary market caused box office horror stories at CAPA and Segerstrom Center. Resellers often charged exorbitant prices. Failed ticket delivery led to challenging front-of-house situations for both guests and staff. Because of Victory Live’s close integration with the Tessitura platform, CAPA and Segerstrom Center can now maintain control of their inventory. They monitor sales, adjust prices and deliver customers’ tickets just as they do for in-house transactions. Both organizations have seen a decrease in customer service issues at the box office.

CAPA and Segerstrom Center saw a significant return on investment from working with Victory Live. From January to September, CAPA sold over 3,000 tickets through Victory Live for $200k in revenue. 

In their 2025 fiscal year, Segerstrom Center used Victory Live to sell nearly 17,500 tickets, amounting to $1.2 million in revenue.

William Olivieri, Marketing and Advertising Specialist at Segerstrom Center, credited Victory Live’s open distribution for a boost in sales. In their 2025 fiscal year, Segerstrom Center used Victory Live to sell nearly 17,500 tickets, amounting to $1.2 million in revenue.

Strategic distribution fills slow-to-sell seats

CAPA and Segerstrom Center know selling out a show is easier said than done. No matter the size of an advertising budget, those funds have their limits. So, both teams used resources available to them through their Tessitura membership. They decided to experiment with Victory Live to cast a wider net on the secondary market.  

Katie Cullen, Director of Marketing, Digital and Analytics at CAPA, said this strategy proved effective for rental performances in their theaters. While CAPA does not handle marketing for rental events, the team manages their venues' box office sales. 

From January to September, CAPA sold over 3,000 tickets through Victory Live for $200k in revenue.

“Since Victory Live is a no-cost solution for us, we decided to trial it out for a few rentals to help expand their reach in our market and as a potential future offering to improve our relationships with them,” Katie said.

Such was the case with one rental at CAPA featuring Fortune Feimster. The show sold quickly at first but lagged as the date approached. CAPA decided to list the remaining inventory with Victory Live. As a result, they sold 186 tickets at an average ticket yield of $46.20. 

At Segerstrom Center, the team consistently saw certain sections of the house go unsold. They decided to use their annual presentation of American Ballet Theater’s The Nutcracker as a test. Could they fill those hard-to-sell sections through the secondary market? They listed the seats on Victory Live and watched the house fill. Sales from Victory Live accounted for 20% of the tickets sold in their terrace and balcony.

“Using Victory Live, we’ve not only been able to sell more tickets, but we’ve been able to fill stubborn zones. Even better than that, we’ve been able to fill them almost exclusively with new patrons, helping us build our audience,” William enthused.  

Promoting shows to millions of potential buyers

Consumers’ ticket-buying behavior is shifting, and secondary marketplaces continue to rise in popularity. Buyers across all demographics often turn to these sites as their primary point of purchase.    

“Pockets of the market will go unnoticed and underutilized unless efforts are made to meet patrons where they are or, more specifically, where they’re spending their money,” William noted. 

For Segerstrom Center, the opportunity presented itself — they used Victory Live to attract new patrons from that elusive pocket of the market.

“A staggering 98% of total Victory Live sales are new-to-file patrons. Almost all buyers are first-time attendees,” William reported.

Katie described a similar reach with Victory Live. 82% of CAPA’s 3,000 tickets sold came from new patrons.

Not only are CAPA and Segerstrom Center reaching new audiences, but the organizations are also capturing their important contact information. When a new customer purchases a ticket on Victory Live, their name and email address automatically populate in Tessitura. Box office and marketing teams can easily use this information for targeted communications and future marketing. 

“Utilizing [the information in Tessitura], we can seamlessly integrate them into our marketing strategies.”
_{— Katie Cullen} 

“Utilizing [the information in Tessitura], we can seamlessly integrate them into our marketing strategies with our welcome email automation, as well as any future marketing lists, once they tell us how they would like to hear from us,” Katie said.  

Opening the door to deeper relationships

Without an integrated tool like Victory Live, arts organizations wouldn’t get that valuable customer information from tickets sold on the secondary market. Using Victory Live and Tessitura together opens the door to building relationships with new audiences. 

“We foster the relationship with those new patrons. They help fill in areas of the house, and we cycle in more new-to-files,” William explained. “Then we create that revolving door, filling in those hard-to-sell areas and getting those new patrons to be returning patrons.” The hope, he added, is that they go on to help fill the rest of the house.

In fiscal year 2025, 12.5% of Segerstrom Center’s new patrons originated from Victory Live sales. Of that, they have recorded a 4.13% return rate so far.

“We foster the relationship with those new patrons. They help fill in areas of the house, and we cycle in more new-to-files.”
_{— William Olivieri}

CAPA is a consortium comprised of 15 organizations — including Opera Columbus, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and Columbus Children’s Theatre — that work together in a shared Tessitura system. Each manages its own events calendar, and CAPA’s staff oversees box office operations. Using Tessitura and Victory Live helped CAPA build audiences for its performing entities, too. 

CAPA trialed Victory Live’s capabilities with two of them. In the first, 70% of their sales were from first-time buyers and 9% became returning patrons. The second showed even more impressive results. 100% of tickets sold on Victory Live were new patrons, with 12% returning to the theater. One new patron even became a subscriber for the entity’s current season.

“As a consortium, finding ways to offer more value to our resident groups and rentals at no spend is an important goal,” Katie shared. 

CAPA and Segerstrom Center are pleased to have identified and attracted new audiences with Victory Live. Gaining control of their inventory on the secondary market has been a victory for both organizations. With all-important customer data in Tessitura, they can now continue nurturing those relationships into lifelong support.