August 14, 2009 — The University of Virginia's new Arts Box Office launches Aug. 31. The box office, located in the Drama Building on Culbreth Road, will be the main outlet for tickets to music, drama, Virginia Film Festival, Heritage Theatre Festival and various other academically supported arts events.

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The consolidated box office offers many new features to make ticket purchases easier and more convenient, manager Andrew Burnett said.

In addition to window and phone sales, available from noon to 5 p.m. on weekdays, tickets can be purchased online at www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu. For phone sales and information, call 434-924-3376.

Two free, 15-minute parking spaces are available in the Culbreth Parking Garage for box office purchases and will-call pickup.

Ticket sales and will-call pickup also will be available at performance venues one hour prior to each event.

With the new online system, one can choose an event, date, type of ticket and choose seats for events that are not general admission. Individual tickets, as well as season tickets for organizations that offer them, are available.

Through the new Arts Box Office, full-time enrolled, degree-seeking U.Va. students – including undergraduate and graduate students in any school, including Medicine, Law and Darden and students enrolled in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies – can reserve one free U.Va. student ticket online for each performance, subsidized by the Arts Dollars program. The online purchase feature replaces the former Arts Dollars debit program.

U.Va. student ticket reservations for the Arts Dollars-supported events, including most drama, music and Virginia Film Festival events, can be made online and end at 11:59 p.m. the day before an event or when the allocation of complimentary tickets is exhausted. Student tickets are not transferable, and U.Va. students must present their student ID at the Arts Box Office or at the venue box office to pick up their ticket. Free U.Va. student tickets that are not picked up at least 30 minutes before an event may be released to allow other patrons at the door the opportunity to purchase tickets. U.Va. students must present their tickets and student IDs at the door for admission.

U.Va. students also receive free admission to exhibitions and programs at the McIntire Department of Art and a free student membership to the U.Va. Art Museum, which includes admission to the "Final Fridays" receptions.

The automated box office will add a number of benefits, Burnett said. It will allow for better marketing for events and will allow the University to better inform patrons about upcoming events that they might enjoy. It also allows for real-time ticket inventory, he said.

The Arts Box Office Web page will also be updated regularly with information about each event.