We are proud to share that our work on The Court Theatre website has been recognised with a Web Excellence Award in the Performing Arts category. The Web Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding web design and development from studios around the world, and it is great to see this project recognised alongside some impressive work.
About the project
We built The Court Theatre a new website on WordPress that launched alongside their brand new venue in Christchurch. The site needed to do a lot of things well: help people discover shows, buy tickets, learn about education programmes, and get involved with the theatre. It also needed to feel modern and welcoming while handling complex ticketing requirements behind the scenes.
The Tessitura integration
One of the most interesting parts of this project was building a custom integration with Tessitura, the ticketing and CRM platform used by performing arts organisations. Shows, dates, times, and ticket availability all sync automatically to the website, so the team at The Court Theatre never has to manually update listing information. When a new show goes on sale or a session sells out, the website reflects that straight away.
We built this integration from scratch, working directly with the Tessitura API and WordPress to create something that fits exactly how The Court Theatre operates. It was a technical challenge, but the result is a site that runs itself day to day without anyone needing to touch the show listings.
What we delivered
- Automated Tessitura ticketing integration that syncs shows, dates, and availability
- Custom WordPress templates with Advanced Custom Fields for easy content management
- Show listings with production info, cast details, and reviews
- Education and engagement sections for Youth Company programmes and workshops
- Court Foundation subsite with donation functionality and donor recognition
- Interactive event calendar with filtering by theatre and date
- Venue hire showcase for corporate events
- Blog and news section for behind-the-scenes content
What the client said
"The team set the bar high and then cleared it with ease. They were meticulous with the brief, quickly grasped our customer journey, and brought a genuinely thoughtful, user-first approach to accessibility that is too often talked about and rarely delivered this well." - Virna Smith, Sales and Marketing Manager, The Court Theatre
Why this matters
Winning an award is nice, but what matters more to us is that the website works well for The Court Theatre and their audience every day. The site helps people find and book shows, learn about programmes, and connect with the theatre. That is the real measure of whether a project succeeded.
That said, it is always good to see the work recognised. It reflects the effort that went in from both our team and the team at The Court Theatre, who were great to work with throughout the project.
You can see the full case study on our work page, or visit the live site at courttheatre.org.nz.