Cheltenham Festivals set to launch new website in June 2024

At Cheltenham Festivals we're working towards creating a world where everyone can explore and create culture. To do this, we believe in the importance of listening to the feedback of our audiences and communities and as a result we will be launching a brand-new website and changes to our memberships scheme in June 2024

The new Cheltenham Festivals’ website will be a space where Festival-goers, Partners, Patrons, members, volunteers and the local community can connect with and explore the work we do in a more accessible way.  

Historically, our audiences have found our current website a little difficult to navigate including having problems with our booking system and wishlist when purchasing tickets to our Festivals. We have spent the last year planning and developing ways to improve these experiences and will be ready to implement these changes this June.

As a result of developing this new website, we will no longer have the functionality needed to deliver certain Membership benefits. To ensure our members continue to get value for money, and as a result of listening to feedback about the complexity of our current scheme, our Membership scheme is changing. You can find details of the new scheme below.

What is the purpose of a Cheltenham Festivals membership scheme?

Our Cheltenham Festivals members play an active role in our mission to create experiences that bring joy, spark, curiosity, connect communities, and inspire change. Our membership scheme has, and will continue to, help us to:

  • keep at least 25% of our events free
  • support our Learning and Participation programmes involving 35,000 children and young people and 500 schools every year, as well as our work with the local community
  • claim an extra 25p for every £1 spent on membership fees as gift aid, at no extra cost to our members, to further support our work

Why is the current membership scheme changing?

Our current scheme has five levels: Joyful, Curious, Connected and Inspired, as well as a free 18 –30s Spark Membership.

One of the benefits all of our members receive is priority booking ahead of general public on-sale for purchasing tickets to our four Festivals. Each member is able to book a varying number of tickets per event depending on the level of membership (Joyful = one, Curious = two, Connected = four and Inspired = six). Our new website will not be able to vary the number of tickets members are able to purchase, which is one reason why we are changing the scheme.

What is the new membership scheme and what are the changes?

Our new membership scheme will change from five levels to three levels as follows:

Member

Member level will:

  • be able to buy to six tickets per event during their priority booking period

  • benefit from no booking fees when buying tickets for Festival events

  • continue to receive a printed brochure for each of our four Festivals, delivered to your door*

  • continue to be the one of first to hear about Cheltenham Festival news

£48

Member+

Member + level will:

  • be able to buy to six tickets per event during their priority booking period

  • benefit from no booking fees when buying tickets for Festival events

  • continue to receive a printed brochure for each of our four Festivals, delivered to your door*

  • free ticket exchange (everyone else will have to pay £3)**

  • have an invite to attend an annual, exclusive drinks reception

  • be playing a substantial role in supporting our artistic programmes, learning and participation work and community outreach.

£90

18-30

This replaces our Spark Membership.

18-30 members will benefit from FREE membership, which includes the chance to buy up to six tickets per event during the priority booking period one day before public on sale

 

When will the current scheme end and what does that mean for existing members?

The current scheme is no longer be available to purchase and the new scheme will become available to purchase when the new website launches in June.

If you are a current Joyful, Curious, Connected, Inspired or Spark member, here is how this will affect you:

Joyful and Curious

Our Joyful and Curious members will be automatically switched over to the Member level of membership. No additional payment will be required, and no action needs to be taken by these members.

This will be valid until the end date of your original membership i.e. if your current Joyful Membership expires on 1 August, you will automatically be moved to Member level until 1 August – you will receive an email before this date explaining next steps on how to renew as a Member or other membership level.

Connected and Inspired

Our Connected and Inspired members will be automatically switched over to the Member+ level of membership. No additional payment will be required, and no action needs to be taken by these members.

This will be valid until the end date of your original membership i.e. if your current Connected Membership expires on 1 August, you will automatically be moved to Member+ level until 1 August – you will receive an email before this date explaining next steps on how to renew at Member+ or other membership level.

Please do get in touch with us via email if you have any questions about the new scheme. And thank you again for supporting Cheltenham Festivals.

*We can only send brochures and news to those with valid contact information and with permission to receive marketing information by email and post

**If there is a difference in price, ticketholders will not be refunded the difference and will have to pay additional cost price