Theatre Bay Area opens Half-Price Ticket Kiosk
in San Francisco's Moscone Center

San Francisco, CA, January 8, 2004 – Theatre Bay Area, which has operated the TIX Bay Area half-price ticket booth in Union Square for more than 20 years, has opened a kiosk on the lower level of Moscone Center South. Meeting attendees at San Francisco’s Moscone Center can now purchase day-of-show tickets to theatre, dance and music performances for 50% off the standard prices.

As part of the grand opening celebration, Theatre Bay Area and the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB) will host a press event on Tuesday, January 20, 2004, from 3-5 p.m. in the Moscone South Administrative Offices, 747 Howard, 5th floor, Conference Room A. On hand will be Mark Theis, SFCVB Vice President, Convention Division, Kary Schulman, Director of the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund/Grants For The Arts and Brad Erickson, Executive Director of Theatre Bay Area.

“This is a great new service for meeting delegates,” said Geraldine O’Brien, arts and tourism manager for the SFCVB. “Many of the performing arts venues are within walking distance of Moscone Center and the delegate hotels, making it easy for attendees to experience San Francisco’s famous cultural offerings.”

TIX Bay Area at Moscone Center is open Tuesday through Sunday, starting at noon on most days. The closing time is determined by the schedule for the convention center that day.

The kiosk is also a full-service Ticketmaster outlet for future performances and sells MUNI passes. Half-price day-of-show tickets are subject to availability. Half-price tickets can also be purchased in advance by mail. Details are at www.tixbymail.com

“We are excited about this convenient new way for convention delegates to fit some world-class arts and entertainment into their visit,” added Mark Theis, vice president, convention division with the SFCVB. “It’s another way San Francisco can enhance the convention attendee’s experience.”

TIX Bay Area is a program of Theatre Bay Area, a nonprofit organization serving more than 350 theatre and dance companies in the 9-county Bay Area.

“Theatre Bay Area is delighted to partner with the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Moscone Center in opening this new TIX kiosk,” stated Brad Erickson, Executive Director of Theatre Bay Area. “We’re thrilled that Moscone Center convention-goers will now have easy access to the world-class work of the Bay Area theatre and dance community.”

For more on TIX Bay Area, visit www.tixbayarea.com or call (415) 433-7827. To contact the SFCVB Convention Sales office, call (415) 227-2616, e-mail convention-sales@sfcvb.org or visit www.sfvisitor.org.

About Theatre Bay Area:
Theatre Bay Area (TBA) is a nonprofit member service organization whose mission is to unite, advance, and strengthen an active Bay Area theatre community. Founded in 1976 by a group of theatre workers, TBA has more than 350 company members and nearly 3,000 individual members, and has a service region extending north to Fort Bragg, south to Salinas and east to the Sierra Foothills. TBA’s services include ticketing, communications, professional development, audience development, and the facilitation of cooperative ventures such as the Community Box Office Network. TBA’s half-price ticket programs, TIX Bay Area and TIX By Mail (TBM), provide access to hundreds of performing arts events for thousands of art lovers who cannot afford full-price tickets. The monthly magazine Theatre Bay Area (formerly Callboard), is the central source of information for and about Bay Area theatre industry. A monthly online newsletter, Management Memo, provides up-to-date information on management, fund-raising and promotional opportunities at the local, state, and federal level to our company managers and decision-makers, and the TBA website provides the most complete listing of performing arts events each month. TBA also provides professional training seminars, regional auditions, community relations, grassroots advocacy, and a variety of other services for both individual artists and theatre and dance companies.