Music & Dance
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Subject Area
Music & Dance
Start Date
11-4-2014 10:45 AM
End Date
11-4-2014 12:00 PM
Sponsor
Rose Kleiman (Butler University)
Description
American opera is transforming. Confronted with rapidly changing audience demographics, nonprofit opera organizations are being contested to find innovative ways of retaining audiences at the risk of imminent foreclosure. In response, some experts have offered ideas on resolving this lack of community relevancy, outlining a new framework to challenge traditional opera. This presentation will explore that framework, or as termed community engagement, by analyzing the programming and missions of Indianapolis Opera and Intimate Opera of Indianapolis. While the Indianapolis opera scene is well aware of community engagement, there are still considerable changes to be made—namely in mission and programming—for opera to be relevant to the greater community. Comparatively, there are other American opera companies navigating community engagement in sustainably unique ways that can serve as guides for better understanding community engagement in opera. However, as these organizations share similar passions, each organization must be viewed differently as they are all individual groups faced with considerably disparate challenges. Ultimately, if community engagement is to revolutionize the nonprofit opera world, there must be a noticeable shift towards philanthropic, service-based community service in programming and missions. As the presentation will show, the demise of opera companies will be only a matter of time if community engagement is left unexplored.
Exploring Community Engagement in the Indianapolis Opera Scene
Indianapolis, IN
American opera is transforming. Confronted with rapidly changing audience demographics, nonprofit opera organizations are being contested to find innovative ways of retaining audiences at the risk of imminent foreclosure. In response, some experts have offered ideas on resolving this lack of community relevancy, outlining a new framework to challenge traditional opera. This presentation will explore that framework, or as termed community engagement, by analyzing the programming and missions of Indianapolis Opera and Intimate Opera of Indianapolis. While the Indianapolis opera scene is well aware of community engagement, there are still considerable changes to be made—namely in mission and programming—for opera to be relevant to the greater community. Comparatively, there are other American opera companies navigating community engagement in sustainably unique ways that can serve as guides for better understanding community engagement in opera. However, as these organizations share similar passions, each organization must be viewed differently as they are all individual groups faced with considerably disparate challenges. Ultimately, if community engagement is to revolutionize the nonprofit opera world, there must be a noticeable shift towards philanthropic, service-based community service in programming and missions. As the presentation will show, the demise of opera companies will be only a matter of time if community engagement is left unexplored.