Virginia Arts Festival Partners with True Tickets

Virginia Arts Festival Partners with True Tickets to Enhance Digital Ticketing and Deepen Audience Connection

NORFOLK, VA (April 29, 2026) – Virginia Arts Festival, the largest performing arts organization in southeastern Virginia, has partnered with True Tickets, a secure digital ticket delivery service for arts and cultural institutions, to bring a more accessible, reliable, and data-driven ticketing experience to its audiences.

Each year, Virginia Arts Festival welcomes more than 110,000 attendees to over 250 performances across Hampton Roads, including the world-renowned Virginia International Tattoo. By adopting True Tickets’ digital delivery solution, the Festival will provide patrons with digital tickets and password-less mobile access, simplifying entry while giving the organization full visibility and control across the entire ticket lifecycle so every attendee can be understood, engaged, and retained.

Festivals often face challenges with shared or transferred tickets when large groups purchase on behalf of friends or family. Through True Tickets, Virginia Arts Festival enables seamless, controlled ticket sharing under venue-defined rules. Each delivery, share, and scan gives the Festival clear visibility into who is actually attending, enabling more personalized engagement and stronger long-term relationships.

True Tickets is the control layer that governs ticket behavior after the point of sale. It ensures tickets remain tied to a verified holder as they are delivered, shared, resold, and used, applying venue-defined rules and maintaining full chain-of-custody visibility. Dynamic QR codes and real-time validation prevent fraud, duplication, and unauthorized use, allowing every guest to enter with confidence while staff focus on delivering an exceptional experience.

“Virginia Arts Festival exists to connect people through the transformative power of live performance,” said Dianna Starkey, Director of Marketing and Communications at Virginia Arts Festival. “Partnering with True Tickets supports that mission by making it easier for audiences to attend and for us to understand who is joining us. The more we know our community, the better we can serve it.”

“Virginia Arts Festival has built a legacy of artistic excellence and community impact, attracting audiences from across the nation and the world,” said Ken Lesnik, Chief Commercial Officer at True Tickets. “We’re honored to support the Festival as it enhances its ticketing experience and builds stronger connections with its full audience, including guests who were previously out of view—giving the team a clearer picture of who’s really in every seat.”

The partnership advances Virginia Arts Festival’s commitment to innovation and hospitality, ensuring that each ticket, whether for a major touring production or a student matinee, opens the door to a secure, seamless, and welcoming live arts experience.

About Virginia Arts Festival

The Virginia Arts Festival celebrates its 29th Anniversary in 2026. Virginia Arts Festival has transformed the region's cultural scene, presenting great performers from around the world and making this historic region a cultural destination for visitors from across the United States and around the world. In 2024 the Festival welcomed visitors from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and 8 foreign countries. Each season, the Festival presents over 250 performances, including free community events, student matinees, and workshops, with an annual attendance of over 110,000. Millions more are reached through international broadcasts of Festival performances on American Public Radio's Performance. Today, nationally on PBS TV, and regionally on WHRO TV. Over 34.4% of ticket sales come from outside the region, bringing tens of thousands of visitors to local museums and attractions and filling regional hotels and restaurants. Estimated annual economic impact of the Festival exceeds $25 million.

About True Tickets

True Tickets is a secure contactless digital ticketing service that puts venues and event organizers in control of their tickets and in communication with their true audience. To date, True Tickets has delivered 28.3 million digital tickets worth USD $1.9 billion and enabled 3.9 million secure shares across 100+ arts organizations worldwide. Available to Tessitura Network members, True Tickets' business-to-business solution seamlessly integrates with primary ticketing systems, empowering its partners to leverage the advantages of digital-native tickets to ensure extraordinary live experiences for their guests. With True Tickets, ticket issuers can set rules and track ticket custody, limit the excesses of the secondary market, and restore direct relationships between their audiences and the live events they love. Learn more at True-Tickets.com, where you can book a demo or follow True Tickets on Twitter or LinkedIn for updates.

Media inquiries:

True Tickets
Crystal Henderson
crystal@thepresshouse.com

Virginia Arts Festival
Alli Pereira
APereira@vafest.org