In the business world, this would be illegal collusion. In opera, it’s a way to help struggling companies survive.
I wish I could say it was money, but it’s not. And the idea was too little, too late for the Baltimore Opera Company and the Connecticut Opera, which were too crippled to avoid being shut down in recent months. But maybe the information-sharing that Opera America decided to begin last fall will help its nearly 200 member
companies through this recession. It’s a little idea, but it may be a useful one for other arts organizations, too.
Since December, Opera America has been convening monthly telephone conference calls for its members’ general directors. During the calls, they discuss their operations, the remedial measures they’re taking, what works, what doesn’t. All very practical stuff.
“We talk about strategies, and share our best ideas,” Marc A. Scorca (left), Opera America’s president/CEO, told me. So far, 80 pecent of his members have participated in at least one of the monthly calls. At that rate, they have to be learning something useful. After each call, Opera America circulates summaries of what was said to members, who presumably pass them on to their boards, Scorca said. (I certainly hope they are doing that — boards need this information.)
The program has been so well-received that Opera America recently started…
a monthly call for financial officers, too. And before the group meets for its annual meeting in late April, Opera America will begin convening development directors and marketing directors in phone conferences.
Obviously, these calls don’t replace face-to-face meetings. But Scorca says they’ve already raised the level of discussion because everyone is more informed, more up-to-date, and there’s no need for a lot of preliminaries. “Their interactions are much more vigorous,” he says.
Despite the need for budget cutbacks at opera companies — most are reducing the number of productions and performances — Scorca insists that OA’s members are striving to preserve their new productions. “Everyone thinks they are falling back on old works, but that’s not so,” he says.