The Carolina Theatre

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Brief Overview:

As a historic space and downtown Durham landmark, the Carolina Theatre is a primary contributor to the performing arts scene in central North Carolina, showcasing live performances in music, dance, theater, as well as a nationally respected film program.

Rethinking how best to connect with its audiences and grow, the Carolina Theatre wanted to create an inspiring online experience. Constructed using Drupal, the website evokes energy and draws visitors in to engage with the theater and its upcoming events.

Chief Operating Officer and Marketing Director Aaron Bare said,

“We’re a nonprofit theatre, and a changing theatre. DesignHammer has helped us create something fluid and flexible that moves with the company, and we’re thrilled.”

Award Category:

Best Entertainment Website

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Nominee Information

Owner's Name:

The Carolina Theatre of Durham

Nominee Twitter Handle:

@CarolinaDurham

Web Address:

http://www.carolinatheatre.org/

Country:

United States

Project Information

Launch or Publication Date:

Monday, November 18, 2013

Describe the Project (Goals, Requirements, and Outcome):

Seeking to better connect with its audiences, the Carolina Theatre wanted to channel the energy of its live performances and the excitement of its film screenings into an inspiring Web presence. A well-organized and aesthetically-pleasing presentation of events, films and festivals was a critical component of this project. To engage users with upcoming performances and screenings, the theater needed the ability to include YouTube trailers and photos on event detail pages. Responsive design optimizes the site for use on both desktop and mobile devices, and the clean modern look strongly communicates the theater’s brand while complementing its additional communication materials. Clean design and intuitive navigation help users find information quickly.

Why Drupal Was Chosen:

With an extensive show schedule and frequent theater news, the Carolina Theatre needed a system that would allow for frequent content updates and additions, while also providing a platform able to stay current with changes in technology. Customization and innovation are important to the theater, and Drupal’s extensive list of community-based contributions served as an appropriate fit for the Carolina Theatre’s needs. Even though it presents numerous performances throughout the year while housing a small staff, the theater is able to manage the volume of content easily and efficiently through using Drupal.

Key Modules, Theme, and Distribution Used:

Core distribution (Drupal 6). Modules used: Features, Context, and Media. The theme is an entirely custom responsive theme build on the Zen 6.x-2.1 base theme.

Why these Modules, Theme, and Distribution were Chosen:

Core distribution (Drupal 6). We’ve experienced the most success using the core distribution because it allow us the greatest amount of flexibility and speed with regard to feature development and updates.

We used Features extensively for capturing a number of Content Types. The theater’s content is stored as a set of interrelated Events, Films, and Festivals. Content managers author nodes for these content types in one place and the data is populated across the site as well as the theatre’s iPhone app.

We used Context (also captured in Features) for managing the site’s layout.

We used the Media module with a variety of embedded media fields to allow various trailers and previews to be included with the content.

The theme is an entirely custom responsive theme build on the Zen 6.x-2.1 base theme. The theme provides asynchronous navigation via a custom module written by DesignHammer.

Drupal Version:

Mobile Friendly:

This website looks great on mobile devices!

Developer Information

Development Company Name:

DesignHammer

Developer Twitter Handle:

@DesignHammer

Development Company Link:

http://designhammer.com/

Development Company's Marketing Blurb:

Founded in 2001, DesignHammer is an award winning full-service web design and development firm that builds smarter websites for smart companies. Based in Durham, NC, DesignHammer offers a skilled in-house team with extensive experience building Drupal websites as well as creating custom themes and modules, as well as content migration, and integration with third-party services. DesignHammer maintains and/or supports the Salesforce Suite, and Salesforce Feeds contributed modules.

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