Building Revenue and Audience Engagement With CRM Ticketing Software

Based in East Vancouver, The Cultch is one of British Columbia’s most established arts and culture organisations. Since 1973, it has championed contemporary performance across three distinct venues: the 355-seat York Theatre, the historic 194-seat Cultch Historic Theatre, and the 72-seat Vancity Culture Lab. With 19 events in its current 52nd season, The Cultch draws a loyal audience of patrons who value ambitious, wide-ranging work.

This growing organisation needed practical, data-driven ways to personalise outreach, simplify subscriptions, and understand its donors more clearly. The Cultch moved to Spektrix and, within its first year, began working from one connected solution that brings marketing, ticketing, and fundraising data together.

At the 2025 Spektrix Hubs in Vancouver, three leaders from The Cultch – Jon Li, Development & Operations Associate; Cara Siu, Ticketing Services Manager; and Kathy Vito, Manager of Audience Development & Revenue Strategy – shared how they use Spektrix as a connected CRM ticketing software solution. Their stories show three practical ways one connected solution has reshaped how the ticketing, marketing, and development teams work – and how they are building revenue and saving time within their first year using Spektrix.

Traditional subscription letters were generic, split into four or five broad versions based on basic buying history. That approach created a lot of work and relied on general statements to connect with each audience segment. Kathy saw immediate potential in using connected CRM data to personalise subscription renewal messages, and began exploring the 40+ reports included as part of their Spektrix system to find the data she needed.

She quickly found the Donor History Giving Report, which breaks down years giving, total giving, and donor patterns. It was exactly what she needed – but for ticket sales rather than donations. She reached out to Spektrix and soon received a new report configured for her: the Patron History Report, bringing each patron’s booking history together in one place. Better still, there was no additional charge – like the support and training included as part of their relationship with Spektrix, it sat within a single, scalable service charge.

With this in place, The Cultch replaced five generic letters with a single, fully personalised subscription message, drawing specific data points from the report. Each patron now receives a letter that speaks directly to their history with the organisation – and subscription sales and renewals are tracking ahead of previous years. More meaningful personalisation has supported stronger sales and removed the manual work of writing and editing multiple versions.

The Cultch wanted a clearer way to identify donors, understand their journeys, and share knowledge across teams. Using the dedicated Fundraising interface, a core part of their Spektrix system, Jon brought together a mix of features and reports to build a more holistic approach to donor engagement:

• Automated tags surface donors for the ticketing and sales team, helping them recognize members, prepare for accessibility needs, and give each visitor the best possible experience.
• Opportunities help the development team track conversations, donor interests, and long-term potential such as legacy gifts – building a complete picture of the donor journey, from the first conversation to the events they are most excited about this season.
• The Timeline view shows every donor touchpoint at a glance, from ticket sales to the detail and channel of outreach from the development team.
• Tasks turn that insight into clear next steps, matching sponsors to the kinds of shows they love – with less time spent in meetings.

Together, these connected tools and reports are supporting closer donor relationships and continual improvements to the donor journey. Jon uses the data at his fingertips to establish patterns, identify outliers, and spot challenges in the checkout path – helping him create ever smoother journeys for new and existing donors.

In their first year with Spektrix, the team at The Cultch have embraced connected CRM ticketing software to support their marketing, ticketing, and fundraising ideas in one place. From personalised subscription campaigns to flexible ticket packages and a connected view of donor activity, the team has seen revenue growth, more efficient operations, and closer alignment across departments.

Their story reflects what many leaders across the sector are working toward: practical ways to use unified CRM data to build loyalty, grow revenue, and create meaningful patron experiences – with a solution and a team invested in their long-term success.