A London, Ont., theatre is using a new, non-profit ticking service that supports childhood education.
The Aeolian Hall, located on Dundas Street, announced Thursday that it is now using Humanitix for its online box office service.
Founded in Australia, Humanitix is an event ticketing service like Ticketmaster, but the difference is that it says 100 per cent of profits from booking fees are donated to education-based organizations like Room to Read and Code.org that promote education in children.
“It’s right up our alley in terms of our values and where we want to head as an organization,” said Clark Bryan, executive director of the Aeolian Hall.
Bryan says while some individual artists in Canada have already switched to Humanitix, The Aeolian Hall is the first venue in the country to use the company.
“We’re excited to see what (artists) who come here have to say about this.”
Bryan adds that there are other benefits for Aeolian in using the service. If the hall offers a free community event, Aeolian is not charged by Humanitix for using the service.
“Ourselves being a non-profit, it really helps us to survive,” says Bryan.
On its website, Humanitix says that while operating like a for-profit business in that donations are not sought, it is a registered charity that donates 100 per cent of profits to social impact programs for children.
And despite only being around since 2016, Humanitix has been growing quickly lately in both scale and donations. After reaching A$1 million (approximately C$900,000) donated by mid-2022, the organization says it has now donated over A$2.5 million as of last month.
“When (Bryan) reached out, it was a beautiful moment in our journey,” said Joshua Ross, a co-founder and director of Humanitix.
“When you build something good for the world, it still relies on people caring enough to value your mission — Aeolian Hall and the team are the perfect fit.”
Bryan describes the system Humanitix uses as “cutting-edge” compared with other ticking services.
“We’ve already launched some events with them … and everything has been really smooth,” added Bryan.