Create events
Add an event to your Basker site — a production or show with its own dates, event instances, venue, and people — plus a field-by-field reference for the event editor
Events are how you add live productions, runs, or shows to your Basker site — anything with dates, event instances (also called performances), a venue, and people involved. An event holds the details your audience needs: when it runs, where it runs, who's involved, and the wider season or series it belongs to.
Each event sits at the top level. Underneath, you can add the individual dated event instances of the event — for example, each night of a run. One event with five instances is one record with five children, not five separate events.
This page has two parts: a walkthrough for building your first event, and a field reference that documents every field in the event editor — tab by tab — including which fields are optional, which accept HTML, and which only appear when a particular app is installed.
Build an event
Open the Events area under Event Model in Basker. The screen is subtitled Add shows, performances, and other events.
Start a new event
Click CREATE NEW to open the event editor. The editor has six tabs: Event Detail, Content, Instances, Theme Settings, Custom Attributes, and SEO. The procedure below walks the Event Detail tab first, then the others as needed.
Set the title and description
On the Event Detail tab, fill in the Title (the only required field) and Description. The title is the headline used across listings and on the event's public page.
Set the venue, duration, and company
Pick the Venue from your existing venues, or create a new one inline. Enter the Duration in minutes if you know it. Pick the Company — the producing organization for the event.
Set the dates
Fill in the Start Date and End Date with their Timezone pickers. The dates are the run as a whole; the individual showtimes are added as event instances later. See Start Date and End Date for worked examples.
The right-hand sidebar has a Hide Start Time option for events that aren't yet on sale or whose start time isn't being announced.
Set the season, series, and works
Pick the Season — typically your current programme cycle. Add the event to one or more Series if it belongs to a festival or sub-programme. Pick the Works being performed. See Seasons and series and Works.
Add participants
Below the main fields is a Participants section. Add the cast, creative team, and other named participants from your People records.
Add a main image and configure the sidebar
The sidebar has a Slug section with a Generate from title toggle (on by default), a Main Image with CREATE NEW or CHOOSE FROM EXISTING options, and a Show in Search checkbox (on by default). See the Sidebar reference for what each control does.
Build the event page content
Switch to the Content tab and add blocks for the body of the event page — synopsis, programme notes, gallery, ticketing call to action. Use whichever blocks your theme exposes for events. See Building pages with blocks.
Set SEO and any custom attributes
Use the SEO tab to set meta title, description, and image. If your site uses custom attributes for events, fill them in on the Custom Attributes tab.
Save as a draft
Click Save Draft at the top right. Click Publish when you're ready to make the event live. See Drafts, preview, and publishing.
Add the event instances
Switch to the Instances tab and add the individual dated occurrences — typically one per performance. See Event instances.
Field reference
This section documents every field in the event editor, grouped by where it appears. For each field you'll find:
- Label — exactly as it reads in the admin.
- Required or optional.
- Supports HTML? — whether the field accepts formatting (see HTML and rich text support).
- What it does — a one-line purpose, plus a gotcha or example where it helps.
Only Title is required
Every field except Title is optional. You can save and publish an event with just a title and fill in the rest later. The reference below notes the handful of fields that are required conditionally (for example, the rich Title when the Rich Text Titles plan feature is on).
Your theme may relabel fields on the public site
The labels in this reference are the canonical Basker admin labels. How those values are displayed — and what they're called — on your live site is decided by your theme. For example, a theme may render the Company as "Presented by" or format the date range its own way. If a field appears under a different name on your public page, that is a theme decision, not a Basker setting.
Event Detail tab
[SCREENSHOT] Event Detail tab (white-label) — to be captured
| Field | Required? | HTML? | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Required | No (plain text) — see HTML support | The event's headline, used across listings and on the public page. |
| Description | Optional | No (plain text) — see HTML support | A short summary used in listings and as the default meta description. |
| Venue | Optional | No (picker) | Links the event to one of your Venues. Create one inline if it doesn't exist yet. |
| Duration | Optional | No (number) | Run time in minutes. Whole minutes only; minimum 0. |
| Company | Optional | No (picker) | The producing organization for the event. |
| Start Date | Optional | No (date) | The display start of the run. See worked examples. |
| End Date | Optional | No (date) | The display end of the run. Must be on or after Start Date. See worked examples. |
| Season | Optional | No (picker) | The season (programme cycle) the event belongs to. |
| Series | Optional | No (picker, multiple) | One or more series — festivals, themed weekends, sub-programmes. |
| Works | Optional | No (picker, multiple) | The works performed in the event. |
| Participants | Optional | No | Grouped cast and creative team from your People records. Add a Group Name (for example "Cast" or "Creative"), then add each Participant with a role. |
Title and Description live in the body, not the sidebar
Title and Description are the first fields on the Event Detail tab. They are different from the SEO tab's Meta Title and Meta Description, which control how the event appears in search engines and link previews.
Sidebar
The sidebar sits to the right of the editor and is visible from every tab. Its fields control the event's URL, image, search visibility, and date display.
[SCREENSHOT] Event editor sidebar (white-label) — to be captured
| Field | Required? | HTML? | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slug + Generate from title | Generated | No | The event's URL path — /events/<slug>. The Generate from title toggle is on by default, so the slug follows the title automatically. Switch it off to set the slug by hand. |
| Main Image | Optional | No (upload) | The event's headline image, pulled into listings and the public page by your theme. Use CREATE NEW to upload or CHOOSE FROM EXISTING to reuse from the Media library. |
| Show in Search | Optional (on by default) | No (checkbox) | Whether the event appears in your site's search results. See Show in Search. |
| Hide Start Time | Optional (off by default) | No (checkbox) | Hides the time portion of the displayed date. See Hide Start Time. |
| Booking Button Label / URL | Optional | No | The "Book now" CTA text and destination. Only appears with the Booking app. |
| Tessitura | Optional | No | Tessitura sync settings. Only appears with the Tessitura app. |
| Shared with | Optional | No | Shares the event with other tenant groups (multi-site setups). |
Content tab
[SCREENSHOT] Content tab (white-label) — to be captured
The Content tab is where you build the body of the event page with no-code blocks. It has:
- A layout / template selector for choosing the page layout your theme provides.
- A blocks area where you add synopsis, programme notes, galleries, ticketing call-to-action, and any other blocks your theme exposes for events.
The blocks available — and whether any of them accept raw HTML — depend on your theme. See Building pages with blocks.
Instances tab
[SCREENSHOT] Instances tab (white-label) — to be captured
The Instances tab lists and creates the event's event instances — the individual dated occurrences (performances) your audience books tickets for. This is a live view of the child records attached to this event, not a field you fill in directly. Add one instance per showtime.
See Event instances for the full walkthrough.
Theme Settings tab
[SCREENSHOT] Theme Settings tab (white-label) — to be captured
The Theme Settings tab holds per-event overrides of your theme's event-template settings. The controls shown here are defined by your active theme, not fixed by Basker — so what you see depends entirely on which theme you're running and which settings it exposes for the event template.
Use this tab when you want one event to differ from the theme default — for example, a different header style or accent for a flagship show. Leave it untouched to inherit the theme defaults. See Theme settings and Per-page theme settings.
Custom Attributes tab
[SCREENSHOT] Custom Attributes tab (white-label) — to be captured
The Custom Attributes tab holds any extra fields your team has defined for events — sponsor logos, age guidance, content warnings, and so on. These are tenant-defined, so the tab is empty unless your site has set up custom attributes for events.
See Custom attributes.
SEO tab
[SCREENSHOT] SEO tab (white-label) — to be captured
The SEO tab controls how the event appears in search engines and link previews. None of these fields are required; if you leave them blank, Basker falls back to the event's Title and Description.
| Field | Required? | HTML? | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Title | Optional | No | The page title shown in search results and browser tabs. Use Generate to derive it from the event Title. |
| Canonical | Optional | No | The canonical URL, if this event should point search engines at another page. |
| Image | Optional | No (upload) | The preview image used in social and link previews. Pulled from the Media library. |
| Meta Description | Optional | No | The summary shown beneath the title in search results. Use Generate to derive it from the event Description. |
| Preview | — | — | A live preview of how the event will appear in search and social. |
The SEO tab is not the same as Show in Search
The SEO tab controls how search engines and social platforms describe the event. Whether the event appears in your own site's search is controlled by the Show in Search checkbox in the sidebar — a separate setting. See Show in Search and the SEO guide.
Field details and common questions
The fields above are summarised in the tables. The sections below go deeper on the ones that most often cause confusion.
HTML and rich text support
Most event fields are plain text and do not accept HTML or formatting. The only fields that can carry formatting are Title and Description, and only when your plan includes the Rich Text Titles feature.
- Without the Rich Text Titles feature: Title is a single-line plain-text field and Description is a plain multi-line text field. No bold, italics, or HTML.
- With the Rich Text Titles feature: Title and Description become rich-text editors that support Bold, Italic, and underline. Basker stores the formatted output as HTML behind the scenes so your theme can render it.
If you're unsure whether your plan includes Rich Text Titles, check with your implementation team — the rich editors only appear for tenants that have the feature enabled.
Hide Start Time
Hide Start Time is a sidebar checkbox, off by default. When you turn it on, the time portion of the event's displayed date is suppressed — the date still shows, but not the clock time.
Use it for events that aren't yet on sale, or whose start time hasn't been announced. How the date-without-time is finally presented is up to your theme.
Start Date and End Date
Start Date and End Date are display dates that you control directly on the event record. They are not calculated from the event instances you add — they describe the run as a whole, while instances describe each individual showtime.
Both fields are optional, and you can leave one or both blank. If you set both, End Date must be on or after Start Date — otherwise Basker shows "End Date should be later than the Start Date."
Worked example — a contiguous run. A show plays nightly from Tuesday 9 September to Saturday 27 September 2025:
- Start Date: 9 September 2025
- End Date: 27 September 2025
You then add an event instance for each performance in the run.
Worked example — widely spaced performances. A workshop runs on just two dates months apart — one in spring, one in autumn:
- Start Date: 14 March 2026
- End Date: 10 October 2026
Set the dates to the span you want audiences to see; the two performances themselves are added as instances.
Keep End Date current
Smart collection date filters work against these fields. The recommended filter for showing in-run and upcoming events is "End date is more than now," which only behaves correctly if End Date reflects the actual final performance of the run. See Smart collections.
How the date range is formatted on the public site is determined by your theme. Contact your implementation team if you need to change how dates are presented.
Show in Search
Show in Search is a sidebar checkbox, on by default. It controls whether the event appears in your own site's search results — the search box your visitors use on your site.
It is not about Google or other search engines, and it is separate from the SEO tab. Turning it off removes the event from your site's internal search index but does not, on its own, change the SEO meta you set on the SEO tab.
Booking Button Label and URL
When the Booking app is installed, a Booking group appears in the sidebar with two fields:
- Booking Button Label — the text on the "Book now" call-to-action button (for example, "Buy tickets").
- Booking Button URL — the destination the button links to.
Your theme renders the button using these values. If you don't see these fields, the Booking app isn't installed for your site. See Booking app.
Tessitura sync fields
When the Tessitura app is installed, a Tessitura group appears in the sidebar for connecting the event to Tessitura. The fields include:
- Connected To Tessitura — turns sync on for this event.
- Production Season ID(s) — the Tessitura production season(s) to pull from.
- Select performances to sync — sync All Performances or choose Specific Performances.
- Allowed performances — the specific performances to include when syncing a subset.
- Sync Settings — a sub-tabbed area with Custom Field Maps, Instance Field Maps, and Modes Of Sale for overriding the global Tessitura mappings for this one event.
When Tessitura touches Start Date and End Date
The performance sync updates instance-level data. Your event's Start Date and End Date are only populated or overwritten by Tessitura when your event-level sync map explicitly maps Tessitura data to those fields. If it doesn't, the dates you set by hand stay as they are.
If you don't see the Tessitura group, the Tessitura app isn't installed for your site. See Tessitura app.
How an event is structured
The procedure above touches several things; the sections below cover them in more detail for when you need them.
Performances and event instances
The dates you set on the event are the run as a whole. The individual showtimes — the dated occurrences your audience books tickets for — are added as event instances underneath the event, on the Instances tab. See Event instances.
Programming context: seasons and series
Events sit inside a season (the programming cycle) and optionally inside one or more series (festivals, themed weekends, sub-programmes). The same event can belong to a season and several series at once.
Drafts and publishing
Like every other content type, events go through draft → scheduled → published. Save as a draft while you build, schedule for an announcement moment, or publish immediately. See Drafts, preview, and publishing.
Looking for something else?
Create pages
Add standalone pages like About, Contact, or landing pages to your site.
Media and files
Find, upload, and reuse the images you use on event pages.
Screenshot capture checklist
The reference above uses placeholder screenshot callouts. When capturing the real images, use a white-label / demo tenant (no New Victory or other customer branding) and capture each of the following:
- Event Detail tab — Title, Description, Venue, Duration, Company, Start/End Date, Season, Series, Works, Participants.
- Sidebar — Slug + Generate from title, Main Image, Show in Search, Hide Start Time.
- Content tab — layout selector and the events blocks area.
- Instances tab — the instances list with one or more instances.
- Theme Settings tab — captured on a representative theme (note that controls vary by theme).
- Custom Attributes tab — captured on a tenant that has event custom attributes defined.
- SEO tab — Meta Title, Canonical, Image, Meta Description, Preview.
- Booking app fields — sidebar Booking Button Label / URL, captured with the Booking app installed.
- Tessitura app fields — sidebar Tessitura group and Sync Settings sub-tabs, captured with the Tessitura app installed.
- Rich Text Titles enabled — Title and Description shown as rich editors, captured on a tenant with the feature on.
Save captured images under public/images/docs/events/ and replace each > [SCREENSHOT] … callout with the image (optionally annotated with <ImageHotspot> / <Hotspot> for per-field callouts).