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Collaboration between cultural houses offers many advantages: it helps organizations expand their reach, share knowledge, and join forces in organizing joint events. A shared ticketing approach often plays an important role in this. But collaboration also carries risks: privacy issues, delays, and the loss of individuality can quickly arise.
In this article, we look at how cultural organizations can maintain the right balance. Stefaan Geldhof, ticketing coordinator at In&Uit Brugge, shares the lessons he has learned from years of experience.
Stronger together: the benefits of collaboration
Collaborations between cultural houses provide tangible benefits. Stefaan identifies three key strengths that come back time and again:
- Knowledge sharing
“We sit together in a working group every month,” says Stefaan. “That’s where we share knowledge. Sometimes these are small, even trivial things, but you really learn from each other.” Informal exchange helps organizations learn faster and work more efficiently. Coordinating certain services within the same region is also important to keep the offer consistent for customers — for example, agreements on refunds or shipping costs.
- Ease of use for visitors
A shared ticketing approach makes things easier for the public. “This one-stop shop function has always been an important principle for me,” says Stefaan. “That customers can easily book tickets without being sent from one counter to another. Our website is an example: you can buy tickets for the cultural center, the Concertgebouw, but also for the Holy Blood Procession — all in one place.”
- Joint events
By joining forces, opportunities arise that would otherwise be unattainable. “Working together, we can set up things that didn’t work before,” Stefaan explains. “Like Dance in Bruges — a Concertgebouw festival — or initiatives with the Cultural Center, KAAP, the Triennial Bruges, or Krikrak.”
These benefits show how cooperation strengthens cultural offerings and makes them more accessible.
The downside of working together: challenges and risks
While collaboration in ticketing is appealing, in practice it often brings technical and organizational challenges. The main risks at a glance:
- Operational complexity — Joint ticket sales complicate processes, especially when different accounts and systems are involved.
- Privacy risks — A common database can lead to unauthorized data sharing.
- Loss of individuality — A centralized network risks erasing the unique identity of cultural houses, as marketing and subscription structures become standardized.
- Difficult customization — Reporting, branding, or subscription formulas are harder to tailor within a shared system.
- API limitations — Integrations with external tools become more complex and sometimes unsafe.
- Delays due to central management — “Imagine a problem from one venue having to go through me to the supplier,” Stefaan says. “It comes back to me, then back to the audience. A lot of time is lost.”
Prerequisites for a successful ticketing partnership
Collaborating on ticketing can bring many benefits, but only if clear conditions are in place — both organizational and technical. Without firm agreements, cooperation risks getting bogged down in inefficiency, frustration, and loss of identity.
We identify four key conditions for making ticketing collaboration sustainable and workable:
1. Maintain autonomy and individuality
Each organization within the collaboration must be able to continue running its own activities. That means:
- Full data segregation
Customer data should never be fully visible to other organizations in the network. As Stefaan warns: “You want to avoid saying ‘You’re already in the system’ in a cultural center if a customer has never bought a ticket there before. That customer then wonders: ‘Where is all my data stored?’”
- Own ticketing manager
Each partner must maintain its own point of contact and internal organization.
- Maintaining autonomy at all levels
Individuality goes beyond branding or reporting. Specific subscription models, marketing campaigns, pricing structures, and product setups must also be preserved.
2. Ensure technical robustness and flexibility
Technical infrastructures should support cooperation, not hinder:
- Autonomous systems: Failures or errors should not have a network-wide impact; each organization technically runs independently as much as possible.
- Secure and flexible API connections: Every organization must be able to connect external tools (such as websites, planning systems) securely and separately, without compromising privacy or flexibility.
- Scalable and resilient hosting: The system must be able to withstand peak loads and temporary outages, with minimal impact on other partners.
3. Communicate directly and efficiently
To avoid slowness and noise:
- Direct contact with suppliers: Organizations must be able to report technical problems and specific new needs within their own organization to their software supplier themselves, without a mandatory central intermediary. “Imagine that a problem from an individual venue has to be translated to the supplier through me. It then links back to me and then I have to pass it on to the venue. A lot of time is lost there.”
- Policy alignment: Joint agreements on issues such as service fees, refunds, and shipping options ensure a consistent customer experience without creating unnecessary rigidity. “We agree among ourselves: when will a ticket be refunded, and when not. That way, customers across the region have the same experience — avoiding situations where one venue refunds and another does not.”
4. Provide a user-friendly and flexible setup
Shared ticketing channels only work if they remain practical for everyone:
- User-friendly systems
Software must be intuitive for both permanent staff and temporary workers, especially during peak periods. “Even if you’re new to ticketmatic and get no explanation, you can still sell a ticket.”
- Limited scale
Keep collaboration regional and manageable. The larger the network, the harder it becomes to maintain speed and mutual understanding. “If you go too big, it’s difficult to serve everyone well. Staying within the same region is more workable and more pleasant.”
- Facilitating work
The organization should support cooperation, not impose it. “You don’t want to need network approval for every new idea. If others aren’t convinced, innovation stops there.”
Collaboration that works
Ticketing collaborations can add significant value, but they require a careful approach. A shared system creates opportunities for knowledge sharing, ease of use, and joint events — but also brings pitfalls such as complexity and privacy risks.
Stefaan’s experience shows that cooperation only works sustainably when organizations maintain their autonomy, set clear agreements, and keep direct contact with suppliers. Successful collaboration is built on mutual respect, trust, and practical feasibility — not on uniformity or control.
When cultural houses manage to work together without losing their individuality, a powerful synergy emerges: the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, the goal remains the same: a smooth visitor experience and a rich cultural offering.
