Opera is one of the most traditional forms of entertainment. While some audiences think that it is still contemporary enough to entertain today’s society, others differ in opinion. How can the opera industry manage to stay relevant to today’s current audiences? The American Lyric Theater, a company that collaborates with composers to build a new and current operatic repertoire, wrote an article that focuses on opera’s poor communications strategies thus far and what they should change.
The article “Dear Opera Companies: Advertising And Marketing Aren’t The Same Thing” starts out by saying that opera is only unpopular because it was made unpopular, not because tastes changed. Opera has not changed, but media has; so it needs to cater to the idea that audiences have also changed. Operas have been known to only cater to audiences that are already engaged in the arts, and not attempting to reach beyond them. They can only truly be successful if they can clearly define their audience and communication strategy as an entertainment form that is more relevant to a more general audience, instead of one that is solely viewed as an incomprehensible art form.
The arts population is already engaged, so operas need to center their focus on the people that they can attract to join them. With the increased amount of media outlets now available, opera companies need to open up their dialogue in an interactive and general way to the current audiences of today. By redefining their target audience and prospective attendees, and finding ways to expose themselves and interact with social media, opera will increase its fan base as well as generate revenue.
Ron Evans, from the blog “Group of Minds”, proves the point that operas need to open more of a dialogue with a general public. He states that opera companies have the hardest time making the marketing switch to have personal voice, and says that they are too attached to the traditional roots. He gives an example of Opera Australia, which is an opera company on Facebook that uncorks media interaction online that has engaged new audiences.
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