Aug 13 2007
Opera, as American as the NFL
Fascinating article in The American magazine about the growth of opera in the US.
The U.S. now has 125 professional opera companies, 60 percent of them launched since 1970, according to the trade group OPERA America. The U.S. has more opera companies than Germany and nearly twice as many as Italy. In the most comprehensive recent study, the National Endowment for the Arts found that between 1982 and 2002, total attendance at live opera performances grew 46 percent.
Annual admissions are now estimated at 20 million, roughly the same attendance as NFL football games (22 million, including playoffs, in 2006–07).
The article talks about the funding challenges faced by all American opera companies, which rely mostly on private, corporate and foundational giving since government funding is so sparse. The funding situation, however, may be one reason for opera’s popularity.
Despite the attraction of government money, [Minnesota Opera president Kevin] Smith believes that there is something “healthy about needing to prove yourself to the community on a daily basis.” He says, “Tough as it is, the American system is good in a lot of ways. In France, they have seven or eight companies that get all the money. If you’re not year-round and fully professional, you don’t get any support. Here, it’s a grassroots system, and you have to demonstrate your value.”
Full article here.
Marketing materials for the Michigan Opera Theatre say that its season subscription sales rose by 600 last year. That’s amazing for an arts organization in an economically challenged metropolitan area.
I wondered if the Met’s HDTV broadcasts would affect regional opera theaters, but I guess that they haven’t.