As I think I reported last year in my 2005 B-Fest Diary, Chris Holland met with the then B-Fest organizers to discuss the tickets situation. (Chris kindly invited me to sit in.) Basically, the show had sold out in 48 hours two weeks before the event, and would-be attendees had understandably grumbled upon learning there were no tickets left.
Obviously there was no perfect solution to this mess, given that no other, larger venue that would properly accomodate the Fest was available. Therefore, happily, the organizers have chosen to use the market solution and raise ticket prices, the least bad of several available options. Another issue was student tickets, since it’s a college fest and legitimately not all the tickets should go to outsiders like myself.
Here’s the information, as provided by Chris and posted at B-Fest.com:
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Tickets to B-Fest 2006 may be purchased as follows:
Advance tickets may be purchased two weeks prior to the festival (i.e. Friday January 13 2006) at the Norris University Center Box Office and by phone (except student tickets, see below) with a major credit card. The box office phone number is (847) 491-2305. The box office opens at 10:30 a.m. CST.
Tickets are available to the general public for $35. A limit of 15 tickets may be purchased by any one person.
Northwestern University student tickets may be purchased at the box office only at a cost of $20 each. Only one student ticket may be purchased at a time. Student tickets will be marked as such and a valid student ID (the NWU WildCARD) will be required both to purchase the ticket at the box office and to use the ticket on the day of the festival. Student tickets will be closely monitored to prevent scalping and other abuse.
Given the current popularity of B-Fest and the speed with which the event sold out last year, it is unlikely that any Saturday-only tickets will be sold. This has not been ruled out definitively, however, so stay tuned to this page for developments.
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That’s all largely along the lines of what I had suggested last year, including on the student ticket issue, which is about the only one that makes sense in terms of avoiding scalping. (I’m not saying I had any brilliant suggestions, just obvious ones.) In a perfect world, everyone who wanted to go could do so at an affordable price. It’s a shame that’s not the case, but frankly I feel this will mostly squeeze out that segment of the audience that only plans to attend two or three movies. To be blunt, I do feel that those of us who want to do the whole show do have a superior claim. Of course, you can still elect to go for a short time, you’ll just have to pay more to do so.
In any case, the extra money will allow the organizers a lot more flexibility to go after whatever titles they wish. And really, you can’t complain about being charged $35 to see 15 or so movies.
All in all, a pretty good solution to a sad problem.
