If you’ve purchased tickets from The PumpHouse recently, you may have noticed that our booking fee has increased from $6.00 to $7.50 per booking. This is a change we have made reluctantly, but it was necessary to offset increased supplier costs, which happened alongside the closure of Tim Bray Theatre Company, and pressure of funding for the arts. The last time we changed our booking fees was in 2023.

Many people don’t realise we’re a not-for-profit charity and rely on fees, donations, and grant applications to cover our annual operating costs. Specifically, the booking fee covers many of the costs associated with selling a ticket, which include paying our staff a fair wage, paying them when they attend meetings and training, payment processing costs, web hosting and ongoing support from our various partners such as Windcave and Patronbase.

We think the fees we charge are fair and offer much better value for money than other ticketing agents. It’s the same cost if you book online or prefer to give us a call, and we offer free transfers (subject to availability and other conditions) if you need to swap the date of the show you are attending – many other ticketing companies don’t offer this.

Nevertheless, there are two ways of avoiding booking fees. You can purchase your tickets at the box office one hour before each performance. You may not get your first choice of seats or miss out on tickets, but you won’t pay a fee.

You can also join Friends of The PumpHouse. Along with ticket discounts and invitations to special events, Friends of The PumpHouse don’t pay any booking fees for 12 months from the date of joining. You can join online at https://pumphouse.co.nz/join