Driving Accessibility and Participation

When PCMS was founded in 1986, it was in response to an obvious need in the Philadelphia community for a presenter of outstanding chamber music.  Inherenent in that founding principal (which traces its roots to the esteemed and collegial Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont) was a firm belief that great music should be shared as broadly as possible. I thought this picture of our recent Kimmel Center poster summed it up:

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What this picture shows you is three things:

1. All tickets top out at $23 per seat.  This is for any seat at any venue, including the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater.  Very few arts organizations can claim a more accessible ticket price.
2. Students can attend any concert, with a reserved seat, for only $10.
3. We offer two outstanding ways to purchase tickets and interact with our fantastic staff, via a new website and our own fully-staffed box office.

The first two items show an obvious way in which we encourage broad participation and drive accessibility to our events - low ticket prices encourage people from all walks of to attend our concerts frequently, including those on fixed incomes, families, and students.

The third item is a proud reference to the "over and above" mentatility that PCMS brings to interaction with our patrons.  We maintain our own box office at 1616 Walnut Street (16th Floor - come visit!) as opposed to outsourcing it, and put significant effort into making the online experience as rich and rewarding as possible.  In our box office Brad, Brian, and Miles (when he's not picking up artists or organizing an educational event) provide an outstanding level of service and foster the "family" atmosphere for which PCMS is widely known.   Whether its free ticket exchanges, advice about concerts, help selecting a subscription series, or simply discussing the last evening's performance, we are all willing to spend time serving and getting to know our patrons.

These three elements truly set PCMS apart and help to make attending our events easy, affordable, musically satisfying, and comfortable.  Of course, none of this would be possible without the generous support of our individual and institutional donors.  A special thanks goes to our long-time friends at Commerce Bank (soon TD Commerce) in support of our accessibility initiatives.

We hope to see you at a concert soon!