👏🏻👏🏻 Great post. And it’s not just diamonds that have to be forever, an experience at the opera can be forever too! And let’s also mention the enormous amount of talent that goes to waste because the companies choose to operate more like a gig economy for the oligarchs rather than be sustainable fixtures in their communities beyond the typical tokenism—imagine if we had more people clutching that idea of sustainability in the community instead of their pearls. There’s so much that can be done better if there’d be a willingness to even try.
Decline in audiences & ticket sales for opera has got to be related to the exclusivity that's promoted by the industry, and the cities that still have opera houses. If tickets are indeed 200 dollars on average. Aging-out of regular previous audiences and prohibitive pricing to attract younger audiences too..Live theatre as well I know was crashed by politically centered productions over the quality of story & dialogue writing .
The number one cost in all of this is renting the venue. We HAVE cut back on costs, which leads to artists and admin to be the costs on the chopping block. Part time work (but exponentially more hours "volunteering"), no benefits... We can grab a few projectors now and fabric, bring some boxes and we have a set. Bayreuth even had only lighting for years.
Repertoire choices and yes, how we market are culprits... althoughhh... marketing costs money. It's like the hall. Real costs. Even PR/Communication has costs. On the regional side, where I took a spin and where I still circulate in the social media world, I and my other marketing colleagues have had some fantastic ideas to bring in more folks and tp promote our shows. But just how much time do we have in a week? How much time do we have leading up to a show? Not much. Outwardly the positive takeaway is "Punching above our weight"
There are plenty of companies (opera) who reach into their bag of tricks and pull out some winners though, both in rep, and in treatment OF that rep, and also advertising.
But ticket prices aren't really what pays the bills, and they simply cannot be at this time. As low as 15% of revenue for a production comes from TICKET SALES ALONE, and that number can get up to (speculatively speaking) 30%. Even at 50%, how are ticket sales going to cover the costs?
It IS a different business plan that is needed. We have infrastructure, we have the venues, we even have smaller venues and more, alternative venues. Loading docks, armories, aquariums, cemeteries, swimming pools we just some of the alt-venues and ideas we instilled over the last decade and a half.
Everything is a jumble right now. There are more answers than some catch-all "we need to do this" or that. But it is also INSANE right now.
We can't just go around blaming opera companies for the shrink. There are also tectonic changes and upheaval in the way humans treat each other right now. The dam broke.
We need innovation and also, strong fingers to just hang on.
👏🏻👏🏻 Great post. And it’s not just diamonds that have to be forever, an experience at the opera can be forever too! And let’s also mention the enormous amount of talent that goes to waste because the companies choose to operate more like a gig economy for the oligarchs rather than be sustainable fixtures in their communities beyond the typical tokenism—imagine if we had more people clutching that idea of sustainability in the community instead of their pearls. There’s so much that can be done better if there’d be a willingness to even try.
Decline in audiences & ticket sales for opera has got to be related to the exclusivity that's promoted by the industry, and the cities that still have opera houses. If tickets are indeed 200 dollars on average. Aging-out of regular previous audiences and prohibitive pricing to attract younger audiences too..Live theatre as well I know was crashed by politically centered productions over the quality of story & dialogue writing .
The number one cost in all of this is renting the venue. We HAVE cut back on costs, which leads to artists and admin to be the costs on the chopping block. Part time work (but exponentially more hours "volunteering"), no benefits... We can grab a few projectors now and fabric, bring some boxes and we have a set. Bayreuth even had only lighting for years.
Repertoire choices and yes, how we market are culprits... althoughhh... marketing costs money. It's like the hall. Real costs. Even PR/Communication has costs. On the regional side, where I took a spin and where I still circulate in the social media world, I and my other marketing colleagues have had some fantastic ideas to bring in more folks and tp promote our shows. But just how much time do we have in a week? How much time do we have leading up to a show? Not much. Outwardly the positive takeaway is "Punching above our weight"
There are plenty of companies (opera) who reach into their bag of tricks and pull out some winners though, both in rep, and in treatment OF that rep, and also advertising.
But ticket prices aren't really what pays the bills, and they simply cannot be at this time. As low as 15% of revenue for a production comes from TICKET SALES ALONE, and that number can get up to (speculatively speaking) 30%. Even at 50%, how are ticket sales going to cover the costs?
It IS a different business plan that is needed. We have infrastructure, we have the venues, we even have smaller venues and more, alternative venues. Loading docks, armories, aquariums, cemeteries, swimming pools we just some of the alt-venues and ideas we instilled over the last decade and a half.
Everything is a jumble right now. There are more answers than some catch-all "we need to do this" or that. But it is also INSANE right now.
We can't just go around blaming opera companies for the shrink. There are also tectonic changes and upheaval in the way humans treat each other right now. The dam broke.
We need innovation and also, strong fingers to just hang on.