Big data from purchases on the National Theater and Concert Hall’s (NTCH) new online ticketing platform would give the government welcomed direction on cultural policy, Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) said yesterday.
Tomorrow is the official launch of OpenTix after more than four months of trial operations, NTCH told a news conference in Taipei.
Since the trial began on Nov. 20 last year, OpenTix, which was developed by the NTCH and Quanta Computer Inc, has sold 400,000 tickets, with nearly 100,000 people registering, the NTCH said.
Photo: CNA
The mobile app has been downloaded nearly 50,000 times, it added.
The platform boasts a personalized ticket-buying experience and show recommendations generated by artificial intelligence, the NTCH said.
OpenTix offers audiences not only a way to purchase tickets, but also a wealth of information, including in-depth introductions to programs and behind-the-scenes content, it said.
Personal data is safeguarded to the standards outlined in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, the NTCH said.
The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (雲門舞集), U-Theatre (優人神鼓), the Paper Windmill Theatre Troupe (紙風車劇團) and All U People Theatre (全民大劇團) are some of the groups using the OpenTix system.
The NTCH said that it hopes to expand ticket sales to include film screenings and festivals, art exhibitions, museums and other cultural events.
The Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, the Chinese Association of Museums, the Chimei Museum and the Taipei Film Festival are some of the partners that the service plans to cooperate with, it said.
Big data collected on the platform would give insight into cultural consumption and become crucial to policymaking at the Ministry of Culture, Lee told reporters.
The Arts FUN Go program — which the ministry launched last year in an effort to boost spending in arts and culture amid the COVID-19 pandemic — helped the ministry to collect 3.27 million pieces of consumer behavior data, Lee said.
Identifying information was stripped from the program data and it is to be offered to arts groups, researchers and academic institutions that study consumer behavior, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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