Tessitura Software Selected by Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center

York, PA & New York City, NY — July 31, 2003 — The Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center desired a significant upgrade from an old ticketing and fundraising system in order to support the growth and customer service needs of their newly renovated center. Tessitura™ met all their specifications for an integrated software management system for box office operations, fundraising, reporting, marketing and customer relations management. In selecting Tessitura Software, Strand-Capitol joins numerous leading North American arts organizations including The Metropolitan Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, City Center, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Opera, and the Center Theatre Group.

Tessitura, originally developed by The Metropolitan Opera for its own use, was implemented in 1998 and is now widely used in the arts field. Smeeta Sharon, who is responsible for Business Operations at the Met, noted that "The rapid acceptance of Tessitura by a growing number of arts organizations is highly gratifying. The Met designed Tessitura to enhance customer relationships, and improve business practices by efficiently driving revenue transactions and boosting fundraising productivity. The end result is organizational improvement. We are pleased to share this powerful technology with other arts organizations through our Impresario, L.L.C. subsidiary."

Founded in 1925 in historic York, Pennsylvania and re-opened in 1980, the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center presents over 150 ticketed performances (music, jazz, world culture, dance, theater, family programming and films) annually in two different venues of 606 and 1269 seats during a typical September-May season. Strand-Capitol President and CEO Maureen Shallcross said, "Tessitura will allow us to provide a wholly integrated information infrastructure and empower the organization to achieve aggressive goals throughout each season. Tessitura is a critical part of our information technology strategy to effectively achieve our vision. We are also extremely pleased to be in the same company as larger, metropolitan arts organizations that also use Tessitura. This positions us for tremendous growth."

The Strand-Capitol is currently wrapping up a major capital campaign, rebuilding and renovation phase. When complete, the Center will have increased its capability to present a wider range of programming that meets the diverse arts and entertainment needs of its south central Pennsylvania community. They also offer an active outreach program in cooperation with other organizations that introduces and educates individuals to and in the performing arts.

Jack Rubin, business and marketing director for Tessitura and President of the Tessitura Network, commented, "The Strand-Capitol is a great example of the need by organizations of all sizes for technology tools and business functionality that enables success. Like many other licensees of Tessitura, they selected Tessitura for its 'best of class' functionality in the arts enterprise software market and the attractiveness of our nonprofit business model. Tessitura takes 'constituent management' to another level. Customer service is considerably enhanced, customer retention is improved and fund raising and marketing campaigns are able to be more targeted and efficient. Tessitura licensees also receive an Internet interface that provides real time transaction capability."

About Tessitura
Tessitura is an enterprise software application that enables an integrated approach to "constituent management" for arts organizations. Using a single database of information, the system empowers the user organization to record, track and manage all contacts with its constituents, conduct highly targeted and cost-efficient marketing and fund raising appeals, handle all ticketing and membership transactions and provide detailed and flexible performance reports. Besides seamlessly providing efficient business, ticketing and development department operations, a key benefit of the system is its ability for relationship managers to have a full view of each constituent — their history, preferences and all contacts with the institution. Tessitura is owned by Impresario, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Metropolitan Opera.

Tessitura Software Contact
Jack Rubin
Email: jrubin@tessiturasoftware.com
Phone: 214.265.1908

Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center
Website: www.strandcapitol.org