IT outage shows ‘resilience’ of arts and culture professionals

Arts and ticketing organisations affected by last week's global IT outage, which caused their booking systems to go offline, have praised their staff for minimising the impact on audiences.

Last Friday (19 July), ticketing systems for numerous arts and culture organisations – including the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, Southampton Mayflower, the Southbank Centre, the Young Vic, the Old Vic, Somerset House and the British Museum – were all down due to a software issue that also impacted airlines, banks and health services.

Issues affecting ticketing services, including Tessitura and See Tickets, emerged worldwide after cybersecurity company Crowdstrike, which produces antivirus software, issued a software update that affected Windows devices.

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Despite several organisations displaying messages on their websites apologising for not being able to take bookings online or over the phone, for many the issue was resolved the following day without continued impact.

A spokesperson for Southampton Mayflower, which was initially unable to sell tickets online, through the box office, or in person, said their system was back to “100%” by Saturday morning.

“The global IT outage affected our ticketing system just like many other arts venues, and we were unable to sell tickets for a period of time on Friday,” said the spokesperson, adding that they were able to sell tickets “in a matter of hours” thanks to the work of ticketing supplier, Tessitura.

“Mayflower’s team enacted their plans for contingencies in emergency situations and ensured three sold-out performances across both our venues, Mayflower Theatre and MAST Mayflower Studios, went without a hitch,” they added.

'Minimal impact'

A spokesperson for Somerset House confirmed their system was up and running on Monday, 22 July. They praised employees for “pulling together quickly” so there was “minimal impact to guests,” adding: “We had a successful closing weekend for our Summer Series gigs, finishing with a sold-out show for Patti Smith on Sunday.”

At the British Museum, where entrance is free but special displays are ticketed, the impact was also described as "minimal" with a "small disruption" to ticketing services that was "resolved quickly", and visitors still able to access temporary exhibitions.

Andrew Recinos, Tessitura President and CEO, gave credit to his team for helping organisations overcome the issue.

“On Friday, we found ourselves among the countless companies around the world affected by the global IT outage, resulting in a service interruption for many of our users. We immediately mobilised our international team with two goals: to support our member organisations with all available resources and to restore services to them as quickly as possible.

“This trial showcased the resilience of arts and culture professionals, who continued to offer tickets and welcome visitors to their venues despite the technical challenges.”