Getting back to live events in 2021 with Hackney Church

The venue has been offering support to its community throughout the pandemic and now it's ready to reopen as the cathedral of creativity it was meant to be.

Hackney Church has always been a safe place in its community for worship and support. Since the pandemic began, more than 400,000 free meals have been given out through its social project Lighthouse. The church also produces honey with its own beehives and runs its own brewery, Hackney Church Brew Co, where beer and food are served.

Along with churches in Shoreditch, Homerton, Leyton and West Ham, Hackney Church works to bring hope to the people of London. The church has just reopened after a multi-million pound renovation project by architect John Pawson and the firm Thomas Ford and Partners, and it’s ready to welcome back music lovers and worshippers alike.

In the first few months of 2021, socially distanced events made a return. With the right considerations and safety precautions, Hackney Church was able to open again at restricted capacity. With the support of account managers, the team got ready to put on events from Daniel Avery, Children of Zeus and black midi. DICE’s Client Success and Field Operations teams were there to oversee every aspect of the events and make sure they ran smoothly.

Making sure that adequate social distancing was put in place meant building highly tailored seat maps for each event and hosting early and late shows to accommodate as many fans as possible. Before the events, the creator platform MIO also allowed Hackney Church to see how sales were performing and make changes to allocations and marketing spend at a moment’s notice. On the night, the team at Hackney Church used DICE Access, which allowed them to see a live event overview and exactly who was checked into the premises. Using contactless digital tickets also meant no unnecessary contact, a benefit during the pandemic. 

The socially distanced events were a great success with excellent reception from fans. In the first week, 67% of the tickets were sold and a further 25,000 tickets have been requested through the Waiting List for Hackney Church events. The venue’s capacity is 1,800 and these 25,000 extra tickets would fill the church 13 times over. Thanks to the tools and support from DICE, the team at Hackney Church are ready for anything.

Thando Zulu, Experiences Director at Hackney Church, spoke highly of the experience that the Church has had. “DICE understands our mission, and the team has been instrumental in helping us get back to putting on events,” she says. “It’s so easy to see who’s buying tickets, who’s checked into the venue, and who’s excited for future events. It’s amazing to see our cathedral of creativity coming back to life and DICE has been a big part of that.” As things open up, DICE will be there to support Hackney Church in its mission to support and uplift the community.