Privacy Policy

At Opera Australia, our customers are very important to us, and we are committed to dealing with your personal details securely and sensitively.

This policy outlines what personal information we may collect from you and how we handle it.

How is personal information collected?

What personal information do we collect?

Covid-19 and your privacy

How do we use your personal information?

How is your personal information provided to and used by third parties?

When and how can you unsubscribe? 

Security of personal information

How can you check and update your personal details and preferences?

What if I am concerned about a breach of privacy by Opera Australia?

Changes to this Privacy Policy


How is personal information collected?

We may collect personal information from you when you:

  • buy tickets or merchandise from us;
  • enter our competitions or participate in our promotions;
  • make a donation to us;
  • subscribe to our promotional program;
  • interact or communicate with our staff; or
  • attend an event,

(together, the Interactions) or otherwise as notified to you from time to time.  There may also be occasions when we collect information about you from a third party, for example where they purchase tickets on your behalf.

Bookings for our events may also be made through our venue box offices and agents. In some cases, our website may link you to a venue or agent website to complete your booking. In those instances the relevant privacy policy for that site will apply. To view these policies, please visit the relevant venue or agency website.

You may deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym for certain interactions.  However if you purchase tickets or merchandise from us we require that you provide us with accurate details required for the purchase.  If you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the tickets or merchandise.

Unless you notify us otherwise, we will assume that you have consented to our handling of all personal information which is provided to us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

What personal information do we collect?

If you engage in any Interactions with us, we will collect the personal information you provide to us during the course of those Interactions.  For example, when you buy tickets or merchandise, this may include your name, billing and mailing addresses, telephone number, credit card details, special request information, and other personal identifying information.

If you browse our website without signing in or completing a form, you will remain anonymous. However, we may collect information about your use of our website, including by using third party services such as Google Analytics, to help us to improve the site for all of our customers. This information is kept anonymous and will not personally identify you.

Our website contains links to third party websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices or policies of third parties. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy policies of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy does not apply to websites other than our website at opera.org.au.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files placed on your mobile device or computer by our website which automatically collect information about you without you providing that information to us directly. We use cookies to enhance your experience of our website.

Most browsers are set by default to accept cookies. However, if you do not wish to receive any cookies you may set your browser to either prompt you whether you wish to accept cookies on a particular site, or by default reject cookies. Please note that rejecting cookies may mean that some or all of the functions on our website will not be available to you.  In particular, cookies must be enabled to access and use any part of our website for placing orders.

Separately, when we embed content from third party websites like YouTube and Facebook, cookies from those websites may also be placed on your device. Similarly, we use Google advertising and other third-party ad services.These vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your visit to our website. See how Google uses cookies in advertising. You can use Google’s ad settings to manage the Google ads that you see. You can also manage your ad preferences on Facebook.

Covid-19 and your privacy

While COVID-19 public health orders and NSW Government requirements are in place, the terms and conditions under this section will apply and will take precedence over the other terms and conditions in this Privacy Policy to the extent of any inconsistency. The personal information we collect in line with this Privacy Policy is now also collected for the purpose of contact tracing and to meet our legal obligations. It will only be disclosed to NSW Health if we are required by NSW Health to disclose it.

We are no longer able to sell you certain tickets unless we collect your personal information. When we accept your booking for these tickets, you will need to provide us with the minimum contact details required under the public health order – currently your name and phone number or email address, which will be linked to the event you have booked.

If you book tickets for other people's use, we may require their minimum contact details identified above. Please make a note of these details and get permission to share these with us on our request. If you sell your tickets or someone will attend in your place, please follow this same process or have them contact us on 02 9318 8200 or ticketing@opera.org.au.

We are required to share your minimum contact details with the venues for contact tracing purposes. They will retain your contact details for 28 days and then destroy that record.

We are asking customers not to attend performances in certain circumstances (including when they are feeling unwell or might pose a risk to others). These are detailed in our Terms and Conditions. In the event that you contact Opera Australia in these circumstances, you might need to provide us with limited health information. In doing so you are consenting to Opera Australia collecting such information. Please make sure you have the permission of any other person before you provide us with their health information. We will use your health information to assist you with your ticket purchases, refunds and exchanges; and in order to ensure the health, safety and access of people at our site. We will try to de-identify your health information wherever possible.

How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected, for related purposes which we consider come within your reasonable expectations, or as permitted or required by law.

Ultimately, the personal information you supply helps us provide you with superior customer service. In particular, the personal information that we collect is generally used to communicate with you regarding the tickets and merchandise you may purchase.  Personal information may also be used for the following purposes:

  • to respond to your questions or suggestions;
  • to improve the quality of our products or services; or
  • as notified to you at the time the information is collected.

If you partially complete a form on our website without proceeding with a transaction, we may use the information provided to follow up with you, and confirm whether you wish to complete the transaction.

Our promotional program

Our promotional program is entirely optional, and is operated on an opt-in basis.  Purchasing a ticket or merchandise, making a donation, or contacting us with a general query, will not subscribe you to our promotional program.  You will only be subscribed to our promotional program where you have specifically opted-in to do so.  When you participate in our promotional program, we may use your contact details and other information to promote Opera Australia and its activities. The range of promotional activities that we conduct may change over time, but may include:

  • contacting you from time to time to provide information about performances, subscriptions, special offers, behind-the-scenes information, competitions, discounts, news, views and interviews  (including for other artistic companies that we act as a ticketing or marketing agent for);
  • providing you with targeted advertising regarding Opera Australia or other artistic companies that we act as a ticketing or marketing agent for, that we believe may be of interest, including through online and social media campaigns; and
  • using your personal information to better understand the characteristics of Opera Australia’s audiences, including working with third parties such as social media platforms to do so.

Our promotional program will only be used to promote our activities or those of other artistic companies that we act as a ticketing or marketing agent for, unless you have provided a separate and additional permission to receive information in relation to specific venues we use and co-promotions we participate in.

If you have opted-in to our promotional program, you may choose to opt-out at any time.  You may do so using the contact details set out below, or following the unsubscribe instructions on any promotional communications you have received.

How is your personal information provided to and used by third parties?

Database

When you Interact with us, the personal information you provide will normally be entered into our database.  Our database is a customer relationship management system and is shared by us and other Australian arts organisations (Organisations) for the purpose of ticketing and customer relationship management. Because the database is shared, the Organisations are able to view your name and contact details (address, email, and phone numbers). This is so that we can process your current and future transactions as effectively as possible, and also helps ensure the speed and efficiency of any of your dealings with the Organisations.

The current Organisations are Australian Chamber Orchestra, Bell Shakespeare Company, Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney International Piano Competition, Sydney Living Museums and Sydney Opera House..

The Organisations are not permitted to use the information they can access in the database for their own marketing purposes (unless you have a separate relationship with the Organisation, that permits them to do so).  Other information you provide to us, that is not mentioned above, is not accessible by the Organisations.

Venues

We sell tickets for performances at various venues, including (but not limited to) the Sydney Opera House, Arts Centre Melbourne, City Recital Hall, and Queensland Performing Arts Centre (Venues). When you purchase a ticket for an event at a Venue through us, your personal information may be given to the relevant Venue for research and operational purposes.

We will also seek your consent for us to provide your contact details, and the details of that transaction, to the Venue for their use for marketing purposes. You do not need to provide this consent, but where you do we will supply your personal information to the Venue, and the Venue will then use that information in accordance with its own privacy policy. In these circumstances, we will not be responsible for managing the Venue’s use of that information. If you later decide that you do not wish to receive marketing information from a Venue, you will need to contact the relevant Venue, who will deal with your request in accordance with the terms of its own privacy policy.

Contractors and service providers

We may disclose your personal information to Venues and third party contractors and service providers to enable them to assist us with operating our business (e.g. service providers that send out our mail/email to customers and agencies who conduct marketing activities on our behalf). Some of these third parties are located overseas.

Where we engage contractors or service providers to handle personal information, we will take all reasonable steps to require these organisations to only use that personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.

We may also disclose your personal information if this is required or permitted by law.

We will not otherwise trade, sell or rent personal information to or with third parties.

When and how can you unsubscribe?

You may unsubscribe from our promotional program by logging into the My Account section of our website and editing your preferences, by clicking the unsubscribe links included in our email messages, or by contacting our Privacy Officer (whose details are set out below). If you unsubscribe from our promotional program, you will still receive transactional emails (e.g. your confirmation and receipt associated with a ticket purchase or donation).

If you wish to opt-out of our online analytics services, you can use the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Security of personal information

We take reasonable steps to protect all the personal information we receive. Information collected is stored in an appropriately secure format retained in accordance with our records management policy. Only authorised personnel are permitted to access your personal information, and work under security controls and procedures.

Our payment system transmits your credit card details directly to our server via industry standard SSL encryption. This means that your data is only visible to our authorised order processing personnel. Your data is encrypted so any unauthorised third party intercepting your data will not be able to make sense of it.

Your browser and internet connection will need to support SSL encryption and JavaScript to use our online payment system.

If an error appears when purchasing tickets or products from our website, your internet connection may not support SSL encryption. Please contact us at: +61 2 9318 8200 / customerservice@opera.org.au

How can you check and update your personal details and preferences?

You may have the right to access and correct your personal information and privacy preferences.

If you have an online account, you can check and update your details by logging into the My Account section of this website.

Alternatively, if you would like to update or delete your personal details, please contact our Privacy Officer (whose details are set out below).

What if I am concerned about a breach of privacy by Opera Australia?

If you have any queries or concerns about the way we have handled your personal information you should write to us as soon as possible and we will review the matter and respond to you as soon as possible. Address your correspondence to our Privacy Officer, at:

Privacy Officer
Opera Australia
PO Box 291
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

Telephone: +61 2 9318 8200

privacy.officer@opera.org.au

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you have the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by phoning 1300 363 992 or by email at enquiries@oaic.gov.au.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will display a notice on our website for a reasonable period after any such revisions have been made. We will keep the current version of this Privacy Policy on our website.

This statement was last updated in April 2020.