Challenge

• Position CSPAC as a state-of-the-art performance venue and community resource offering access to a wide variety of world-renowned and emerging artists.

• Raise awareness of CSPAC among residents of the Washington metro area and position CSPAC among other local arts venues.

• Showcase CSPAC's educational and community outreach activities.

• Maximize sales of individual and season tickets through online ticketing.

Solution

• Created a look-and-feel that positioned CSPAC on par with well-known area arts venues, such as Wolf Trap and the Kennedy Center.

• Developed a dynamic, modular website that:

  • Evolves to accommodate CSPAC's growth and expanding needs.
  • Increases CSPAC's visibility in the community.
  • Enables online ticket purchasing through a third-party transaction service.

Outcome

• In its first season, CSPAC drew 90% capacity to more than half of its performances and exceeded ticket sales goals by 25%.

• Applications for UMD's music, theatre, and dance programs have tripled since CSPAC's opening.

• Summit International Creative Award Winner—Non-profit/Government Website category for the CSPAC website.

Technology

LMD developed a completely customized back end using Oracle 9i and ColdFusion MX. The back end supports performance, news, and staff databases, as well as an image gallery that automatically generates thumbnails and previews from high-resolution photos. A blog was implemented using Moveable Type.

• Macromedia ColdFusion MX
• Oracle 9i
• HTML 4.01/CSS 2.0