musical theatre research front of house manager

Front of house manager in the performing arts, front of house is the portion of a performance venue that is open to the public. In theatre and live music venues, it is the auditorium and foyer, as opposed to the stage and backstage areas. In theatre, the front of house manager is responsible for ticket sales, refreshments, and making sure auditorium is set out properly. Front of house is the public areas of a theatre such as the auditorium and foyers. The house manager is responsible for the safety and security of the public at performance times, and all times that the public are on the premises. He/she employs front-of house staff, such as ushers, and orders and controls merchandising sold at performance times. They may also have line management and financial responsibility for the box office. The assistant manager will work with and deputise for the house manager. A FOH assistant is sometimes called an usher or steward.

What the front of house manager does:

• to manage the front-of-house operations of the venue and ensure that the
• reception and box office functions are efficiently managed
• to ensure that events at the venue are adequately staffed with reception / Box Office Assistants, Duty Managers, hosts and other events staff
• to act as Line Manager for all front-of-house staff, as noted above, working within agreed procedures and to appropriate standards; including monitoring work performance, timekeeping and general discipline, ensuring that events are serviced to the appropriate standards
• to work closely with the Venue & Events Manager, to ensure that the building and all events operate smoothly and efficiently and in accordance with licensing authority regulations (the FoH Manager will be a personal licence holder for the venue)
• to act as evening Duty Manager as required and always during key events as well as daytimes as required
• to take responsibility for all Front of House sales, including ordering of stock, design and supervision of sales systems and stock control
• to implement procedures for cashing up and the use of floats in the Front of House and box office operations
• to manage an efficient and effective box office sales service and have a good working knowledge of the Data box office and Artifax event management systems to access information, sell tickets, collect data, provide reports and to train the box office/ reception staff.