{"id":2428,"date":"2010-11-09T11:21:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-09T10:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/blog\/?p=2428"},"modified":"2010-11-09T11:21:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-09T10:21:00","slug":"record-numbers-sign-up-to-test-drive-the-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2010\/11\/record-numbers-sign-up-to-test-drive-the-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD NUMBERS SIGN UP TO TEST DRIVE THE ARTS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Christine Adams, Audience Development Manager, Audiences NI, Richard Gaston, Marketing Manager, Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queens with Cathy Mackle, the 3,000th Test Driver.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First time arts enthusiasts from across Northern Ireland have shown overwhelming support for Audiences NI\u2019s initiative to bring the art world to the masses \u2013 with a record 3,000 signing up in just under a year.<\/p>\n

These would-be arts lovers, who have never\u00a0been to a local live theatre or performing arts event before, have enjoyed on-the-house tickets to some of the hottest shows, celebrating the best that Northern Ireland\u2019s rich cultural scene has to offer \u2013 all courtesy of Test Drive the Arts NI.<\/p>\n

Cathy Mackle from Armagh became the 3,000th<\/sup> \u2018test driver\u2019, after logging on to the easy to use website – www.testdrivetheartsni.org<\/a>.\u00a0 Featuring a host of Northern Ireland\u2019s most exciting performances, the website enables users to request tickets from a broad range of must-see shows. This month Five Guys Named Moe is showing at Theatre at the Mill and the 20th<\/sup> Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival gets underway (11-26 November). New shows are added daily, so check the website for details.<\/p>\n

The initiative is managed by Audiences NI \u2013 set up to boost attendance numbers to arts organisations across Northern Ireland \u2013 and funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Booking could not be easier. Simply select the performance you are interested in attending and complete the registration form online to request tickets. Tickets will be regularly available on a first-come, first-served basis, so the sooner you go online the better the chance you have of securing the tickets you want.<\/p>\n

Audience Development Manager Christine Adams, Audiences NI, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cNorthern Ireland has a rich cultural and artistic heritage that is enjoyed by thousands of people every year. Yet many arts lovers have not sampled the full range of arts on offer. We want to change that. The principle behind testdrivetheartsni.org is simple \u2013 it\u2019s about giving arts enthusiasts the chance to \u2018test drive\u2019 the arts, whether that\u2019s opera or comedy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are huge benefits to using the online offering. You can browse the website in your own time and request tickets when it suits. There are few places in the world that offer the diversity and quality of performances that are readily available right here in Northern Ireland and we hope that after experiencing a live performance you will want to come back time and time again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding audiences for the arts is a priority for the Arts Council, and Test Drive the Arts NI is the perfect vehicle to attract newcomers.\u00a0 There\u2019s an amazing choice of arts activities on offer out there for all ages and interests and, if they just give it a try, we know people won\u2019t look back.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

To find out more and request tickets log on to www.testdrivetheartsni.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First time arts enthusiasts from across Northern Ireland have shown overwhelming support for Audiences NI\u2019s initiative to bring the art world to the masses \u2013 with a record 3,000 signing up in just under a year. These would-be arts lovers, who have never\u00a0been to a local live theatre or performing arts event before, have enjoyed … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1214,1213,1211,1140,1209,1212,1210,240,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2432,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2428\/revisions\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}