alison Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Not when they lost 60% of their income during the pandemic, I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 6 hours ago, alison said: Not when they lost 60% of their income during the pandemic, I think But I would have thought that raising ticket prices so that they're (even more) unaffordable for a lot of people would be a funding no-no too. (And if it isn't already, it should be.) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNC Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 14 hours ago, bridiem said: But I would have thought that raising ticket prices so that they're (even more) unaffordable for a lot of people would be a funding no-no too. (And if it isn't already, it should be.) Feel like I keep banging the same drum here but agree. There needs to be a good proportion of seats across a range of prices. The fact that the most expensive seats for Romeo and Juliet are £135 in the Stalls, when you're paying £91 in the amphi (albeit at the front) is odd. I would like to see more of a distribution, with more expensive stalls tickets (e.g. £150) and cheaper amphi tickets (max £60-65). Others will of course not share my opinion, but the number of seats under £40 is worryingly small. I think there is a balance to be struck between ensuring valuable money flows in to fund things (I know they still make a loss on ticket sales alone but there are other avenues including grants, streaming, drinks, shop revenues; I'm not saying it's easy but other theatres will be in the same position) vs ensuring there are a number of affordable tickets for all. In my opinion ROH (ballet at least, maybe less so with opera) used to be on the right side of this balance. The ticket prices for R&J/Nutcracker now make me feel it's not. I dread to think of the prices of Swan Lake. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 Fundamentally agree except to say that most seats in the Stalls offer a rotten view, especially if one is unlucky with who is immediately in front. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNC Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 22 hours ago, capybara said: Fundamentally agree except to say that most seats in the Stalls offer a rotten view, especially if one is unlucky with who is immediately in front. Fair point, having never really sat there I wouldn't know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 A question for existing Friends in advance of my renewal coming up in a couple of months... Does anyone split their Friends membership between a charity cheque donation and a payment for the specific benefits received? They used to cover this on the website but no longer seem to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 I've never noticed this option, the only difference I saw this time was that Gift Certificates can be used to pay for memberships, but that might have been available before too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 1 hour ago, Blossom said: A question for existing Friends in advance of my renewal coming up in a couple of months... Does anyone split their Friends membership between a charity cheque donation and a payment for the specific benefits received? They used to cover this on the website but no longer seem to. It does say at the very bottom of the Membership page that membership is treated as a non-refundable donation, if that helps at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 1 hour ago, oncnp said: It does say at the very bottom of the Membership page that membership is treated as a non-refundable donation, if that helps at all Not really but thank you! In the old days (maybe 3 years ago) you could get membership using charity vouchers as no tangible benefits other than early booking. This has now changed. They used to say for certain levels of membership you could pay a certain amount for the more tangible elements and top up the remainder with a charity donation at a minimum value. ENB still does this at Benefactor level. I might consider a higher level of membership if that was still the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 It is my understanding that the full value of any Friends membership can be treated as a donation subject to Gift Aid, as the value attributed to the “benefits” is less than the relevant proportion of the payment. As they are doing things on the Gift Aid route, charity vouchers can’t be used (to avoid any double dipping possibilities). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 44 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said: It is my understanding that the full value of any Friends membership can be treated as a donation subject to Gift Aid, as the value attributed to the “benefits” is less than the relevant proportion of the payment. As they are doing things on the Gift Aid route, charity vouchers can’t be used (to avoid any double dipping possibilities). Interesting and thanks for perspective. I wonder how ENB makes that work then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Possibly relevant: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Apologies for the very late reply but thank you so much @Sim @oncnp @Lizbie1 greatly appreciated for your advice and input!! I am pleased to say I am now a Young Friends member, and am definitely enjoying the benefits already re: booking great tickets. Such a change from 'the general public' haha! I definitely agree with Lizbie1 in that the opportunity of attending a rehearsal would be absolutely amazing, however unfortunately I don't think I can make any of the dates for this season Will be keeping an eye for later productions e.g Swan Lake though! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Having not renewed my Friends membership last summer, ever since the ROH has been sending me emails & letters trying to persuade me to do so. I'm not particularly impressed by the one-sidedness of the latest one. An entire paragraph on opera but ballet only gets a glancing mention at the very end. I know there's only one ballet in the last booking period of this season but they could at least mention that one. While I go to both opera & ballet at the ROH (more opera in the past, more ballet recently), anyone who just goes to ballet might conclude there was nothing at all on for them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 25 minutes ago, Dawnstar said: Having not renewed my Friends membership last summer, ever since the ROH has been sending me emails & letters trying to persuade me to do so. I'm not particularly impressed by the one-sidedness of the latest one. An entire paragraph on opera but ballet only gets a glancing mention at the very end. I know there's only one ballet in the last booking period of this season but they could at least mention that one. Yes, especially since it's a full-length world première! Is that really not even worthy of a mention?! Bizarre. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Well, they sent me a separate email some weeks ago trying to persuade me to join so I could get priority booking for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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