Smart collections

Build dynamic listings of events, posts, people, and other content using rules, with their own pages on your site

A smart collection is a dynamic listing of content that matches a rule, with its own page on your site. "Upcoming events", "Reviews from this season", "All work by a particular composer", "Platinum sponsors": each is a smart collection.

Open Smart Collections under Website in Basker. The editor is subtitled Create dynamic lists of content using filters. The editor has three tabs: Collection for the rules and basic details, Preview Results to check the current matches, and Content for any extra body content your theme renders.

Smart collections combine three things:

A target content type: the kind of content the collection lists (events, posts, people, and so on).
A set of conditions: the rules that decide which content belongs.
A public page on your site that renders the matching content using your theme.

Once you set the rules, the collection updates itself automatically. New items that match the conditions appear. Items that no longer match drop out. There is no need to maintain the list by hand.

When to use a smart collection

Good candidates:

Listings that always need to be current: upcoming events, recent posts, people active this season.
Curated programs that follow a clear rule: "all events tagged with our outreach series".
One-type listings that cut across the normal site structure, such as all sponsor organizations at a particular tier.
Theme blocks that need a feed: a smart collection can power a "What's on" block on your homepage.

Less good candidates:

A short, fixed list of items that will not change: a manual selection (see below) is simpler.
A grouping that is already covered by an existing concept: events in a season already have a season page. You do not need a smart collection for that.

Automated and manual collections

A smart collection can be either:

Automated (rule-based): Basker matches content against your conditions and updates the listing as content changes. This is the default and the most common case.
Manual selection: you pick the items by hand. Useful for one-off curated lists where the rule is "these specific things, in this specific order".

Both types render the same way on the live site. The difference is whether you maintain the list by rule or by selection.

Build a smart collection

Set the title and description

Enter a title for the collection. Basker uses it as the heading of the public page and as its label in internal listings.

Enter a description. Basker shows it below the title.

Choose the target content type

Pick the kind of content the collection lists. Options include events, event instances, posts, pages, people, organizations, venues, works, seasons, series, and blogs. A smart collection lists one type of content at a time. The available conditions change to match the type you choose.

Pick the collection type

Choose Automated so Basker picks content using your rules. Choose Manual selection so you pick content by hand. Automated is the default. It works well for anything that needs to stay current.

Add conditions (automated collections)

For an automated collection, add the conditions your content must meet. Each condition specifies a field (what to look at), an operator (how to compare), and a value (what to compare to).

If every condition must be true, choose Match all conditions. If at least one condition must be true, choose Match any condition.

See Conditions and rules for the full list of fields and operators. It also covers date-based rules, such as "starting in the next 7 days".

Set the order and result limit (automated collections)

Choose how the collection sorts matching content: by date (newest or oldest), alphabetically, or by other options depending on the content type. You can also set a result limit, 10 by default, to cap how many items the listing shows.

Pick content (manual collections)

For a manual collection, pick items yourself and put them in the order you want. You can reorder, add, or remove items at any time. If the target is events, you can narrow the list to a single season first.

Save as a draft

Save the smart collection as a draft to preview the listing before it goes live. The preview shows the content that matches your current conditions.

When you are ready, publish the collection. Its public page goes live at its own web address on your site.

Worked examples

A few examples show how these rules work in practice.

Upcoming events for the current season

Target content type: Events.
Conditions, matching all:
- Start date is after now.
- Season is the 2026/27 Season.
The collection updates itself: tonight's performance drops out tomorrow morning, the next presale arrives the moment its event is published.

Captioned performances this season

Target content type: Event instances.
Conditions, matching all:
- The Accessibility services custom attribute includes Captioned.
- Season is the 2026/27 Season.
The collection becomes a single page audiences can bookmark, with every captioned performance across the season's productions.

Sponsors at the platinum tier

Target content type: Organizations.
Conditions, matching all:
- Type is Sponsor.
- The Tier custom attribute is Platinum.
The collection's page becomes the canonical "Our platinum partners" listing, and a theme block can show the same listing in the homepage's sponsor row.

Where smart collections appear

A smart collection has its own URL on the live site. Your theme decides how the listing renders: most themes show the matching content in a grid or list, often with the collection's title and description at the top.

Smart collections are also reusable inside content. A theme that exposes a "Featured listing" block can use a smart collection as its source, so the same listing rule powers both a standalone page and an embedded block elsewhere on your site.