City Ballet Offers New Discount Program

Subscribers to New York City Ballet’s Fourth Ring Society will be offered a new discount program for the 2011-12 season starting on Aug. 29. The program, called Society NYCB, will be the same as it was last season for the Fourth Ring Society, which was discontinued. There will be a $20 annual membership fee, and tickets will cost $15 (plus a $2 facility fee). They can be purchased by phone or at the box office;  the standard ticket service fee of $7 will be waived and tickets will not be available online.

In June members of the Fourth Ring Society complained about the ballet’s decision to stop selling most of the lower-priced tickets for so-called nosebleed seats. The ballet has said it hopes to consolidate its audience in the orchestra and lower rings for less-than-full performances.

Under the new arrangement, the ballet said, Society NYCB members will be able to buy two tickets per performance, excluding “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.” Some performances of other ballets will be blacked out. For most performances at least 70 such tickets will available, which could be for seats in any section of the theater. The program will not be open to new memberships, though that may change in the future.