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Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Opera Philadelphia cuts all tickets to $11 in 'pick your price' model, hoping to widen audience
6abc Philadelphia: Opera Philadelphia is lowering all tickets to $11 under new general director Anthony Roth Costanzo, establishing a "pick your price" model aimed at widening the company's audience.
5 comments:
JFleck
said...
I hate to see struggling art forms, not because a company is failing but because the artists and people that go behind the performances might lose their opportunity to participate in a world that is not a corporate slog. It is refreshing to hear of a new business strategy that is working to keep artists and everyone associated with the art solvent. The expansion of the audience to people who cannot usually afford $150 tickets is also heartening. My personal struggle with opera is the language barrier as I can only fluently understand one language. I think this speaks to a larger problem within the United States of a lack of caring for language, art, education, and many others. There are still a lot of parts that I enjoy in opera from the grand orchestra, scenery, and singers. The language barrier is also easily overcome with the supertitles. I believe there is still room for opera in this world and hopefully it can also be more accessible for people of all incomes.
I was absolutely delighted by this title of this article. To me, opera has always felt like an art form that was out of reach with such high ticket prices, and an older demographic that I didn't fit in with. As I've seen newer takes on classic works and new productions over the years, they have pique my interest, but I was still discouraged from seeking out live performances because of the ticket prices. I know there are other opera houses like the Met, that will have special events like a $40 under 40 or student nights in order to garner a younger audience, but something like this I feel blows those deals out of the water. Having a "pick your price" model would make me feel better about being a new opera goer and feel like I'm taking less of a risk with the ticket purchase. Deciding then to go back feels less like "can I afford this monetarily?" and more "when can I make it to a show?". With the cost of living continuing to rise along with the age of the average opera goer, I think making performances more accessible in this way is the key to bringing in a younger audience. Coupled with continuing to diversify casting, stories, fostering the next generation of performers opera as an art and the many companies have the ability to stick around.
Honestly, I really like the idea of this for more widespread use across performance venues across the country. The logic for their change in ticketing strategy makes perfect sense as well; by changing the target audience of their performances they widen their audience. I myself am not a huge fan of opera, however if I were offered a ticket price of $10-$15, I’d be willing to give it a shot with a group of friends. The best kinds of development come in times of stress and struggle, and the companies that embrace the changing world are the companies that come out on top. Similarly I really like how this is making the performing arts more financially accessible to a wider group of people. Unfortunately due to the nature of the performing arts industry I understand why ticket prices can climb to $100-$200 for some locations, however its always saddened me how restrictive the arts can be for a large percentage of the population. With this “pay what you can” system it opens the doors for so many more people to fill the audience, and allows the individuals in a position to pay for more expensive tickets to show their appreciation for the opera.
I was really intrigued by Philadelphia's decision to reduce all ticket costs to $11, especially since now they are under different leadership. The pick your price strategy appeals to me since it seeks to make opera more accessible to all; it's kind of like what the MET does in NYC, so it makes it more accessible to people, not just those who can afford pricey tickets. I really liked the approach; obtaining that much money to support this endeavor demonstrates his dedication to reinventing what opera may be in the modern world. Costanzo is counting on expanding and diversifying his audience, even if that means a loss in ticket sales. I feel that this action will have a significant impact on how other groups see accessibility and diversity. Opera Philadelphia is doing more than just selling tickets by making opera more cheap; they are leading a path for others to follow, making that and other types of performances just in general more accessible, which I think is so vital.
It’s always nice to see an entertainment company in a genre like opera trying to widen its audience, and I am always a fan of pay what you will and accessible pricing schemes like this one. In this day and age with how the consumers in the market view theater and opera prices (and how often they are exorbitantly expensive) - it is nice to see companies like Opera Philadelphia try a different approach and put the widening of their audience and increasing of general accessibility at the forefront of their future development plans. To try and widen the foundation of the audience in times like these seems like a very thought out approach to what many have tried in the past to keep companies like this one afloat and relevant within the community. I look forward to seeing other companies take this and similar approaches, and hope this season goes well for the Opera Philadelphia.
5 comments:
I hate to see struggling art forms, not because a company is failing but because the artists and people that go behind the performances might lose their opportunity to participate in a world that is not a corporate slog. It is refreshing to hear of a new business strategy that is working to keep artists and everyone associated with the art solvent. The expansion of the audience to people who cannot usually afford $150 tickets is also heartening. My personal struggle with opera is the language barrier as I can only fluently understand one language. I think this speaks to a larger problem within the United States of a lack of caring for language, art, education, and many others. There are still a lot of parts that I enjoy in opera from the grand orchestra, scenery, and singers. The language barrier is also easily overcome with the supertitles. I believe there is still room for opera in this world and hopefully it can also be more accessible for people of all incomes.
I was absolutely delighted by this title of this article. To me, opera has always felt like an art form that was out of reach with such high ticket prices, and an older demographic that I didn't fit in with. As I've seen newer takes on classic works and new productions over the years, they have pique my interest, but I was still discouraged from seeking out live performances because of the ticket prices. I know there are other opera houses like the Met, that will have special events like a $40 under 40 or student nights in order to garner a younger audience, but something like this I feel blows those deals out of the water. Having a "pick your price" model would make me feel better about being a new opera goer and feel like I'm taking less of a risk with the ticket purchase. Deciding then to go back feels less like "can I afford this monetarily?" and more "when can I make it to a show?". With the cost of living continuing to rise along with the age of the average opera goer, I think making performances more accessible in this way is the key to bringing in a younger audience. Coupled with continuing to diversify casting, stories, fostering the next generation of performers opera as an art and the many companies have the ability to stick around.
Honestly, I really like the idea of this for more widespread use across performance venues across the country. The logic for their change in ticketing strategy makes perfect sense as well; by changing the target audience of their performances they widen their audience. I myself am not a huge fan of opera, however if I were offered a ticket price of $10-$15, I’d be willing to give it a shot with a group of friends. The best kinds of development come in times of stress and struggle, and the companies that embrace the changing world are the companies that come out on top. Similarly I really like how this is making the performing arts more financially accessible to a wider group of people. Unfortunately due to the nature of the performing arts industry I understand why ticket prices can climb to $100-$200 for some locations, however its always saddened me how restrictive the arts can be for a large percentage of the population. With this “pay what you can” system it opens the doors for so many more people to fill the audience, and allows the individuals in a position to pay for more expensive tickets to show their appreciation for the opera.
I was really intrigued by Philadelphia's decision to reduce all ticket costs to $11, especially since now they are under different leadership. The pick your price strategy appeals to me since it seeks to make opera more accessible to all; it's kind of like what the MET does in NYC, so it makes it more accessible to people, not just those who can afford pricey tickets. I really liked the approach; obtaining that much money to support this endeavor demonstrates his dedication to reinventing what opera may be in the modern world.
Costanzo is counting on expanding and diversifying his audience, even if that means a loss in ticket sales. I feel that this action will have a significant impact on how other groups see accessibility and diversity. Opera Philadelphia is doing more than just selling tickets by making opera more cheap; they are leading a path for others to follow, making that and other types of performances just in general more accessible, which I think is so vital.
It’s always nice to see an entertainment company in a genre like opera trying to widen its audience, and I am always a fan of pay what you will and accessible pricing schemes like this one. In this day and age with how the consumers in the market view theater and opera prices (and how often they are exorbitantly expensive) - it is nice to see companies like Opera Philadelphia try a different approach and put the widening of their audience and increasing of general accessibility at the forefront of their future development plans. To try and widen the foundation of the audience in times like these seems like a very thought out approach to what many have tried in the past to keep companies like this one afloat and relevant within the community. I look forward to seeing other companies take this and similar approaches, and hope this season goes well for the Opera Philadelphia.
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