Initial release 2000 Development status Active | Stable release 12.1 Operating system | |
Developer(s) Metropolitan Opera / Tessitura Network Written in Microsoft SQL Server ; .NET ; ASP.NET MVC ; Powerbuilder | ||
Tessitura is an enterprise application used by performing arts and cultural organisations to manage their activities in ticketing, fundraising, customer relationship management, and marketing. It refers to itself as "arts enterprise software".
Contents
History and business model
Tessitura was originally developed by and for the Metropolitan Opera of New York.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Tessitura system, which distinguishes it from most other commercial software, is the business model chosen by the Metropolitan Opera in order to commercialize what was originally custom software. The Metropolitan Opera maintains ownership of the intellectual property in the original software, but established a separate organization called Tessitura Network (as a not-for-profit corporation with 501(c)3 status under United States tax law) to manage the ongoing development and support of the system. The Tessitura Network now licenses users, handles management, maintenance and development of the system, and fosters an active exchange of best practices and knowledge sharing within the nonprofit arts and cultural sector. The Tessitura Network is effectively a cooperative enterprise, governed via a Board elected by and from, and representative of, the licensees of the system.
This business model has an obvious resonance with the not-for-profit and self-governing ethos of the arts community, and is one reason why Tessitura has rapidly come to dominate the (deliberately restricted) market in which it operates - English-speaking, not-for-profit, arts organisations with a need for ticketing and fundraising systems.
This model has resulted in a number of interesting characteristics for Tessitura Network as a software company.
System functionality
The Tessitura system is designed to be flexible, customizable, and open, and therefore has a good capacity to be tailored for each organization. Functional areas include: