New York City Opera general manager George Steele has given the city a dire ultimatum in order to keep the opera open for the remainder of the next two seasons: Help the organization raise $7 million by the end of September, or they close.
"We have reached a crossroads: simply put, we need capitalization, both for the rest of this season and for the company to continue forward on solid financial footing," he said.
Under Steel's plan, the company's first production of the year, "Anna Nicole," would also be its last unless the appropriate finds were raised. On top of the $7 million by the end of the month, the organization would also require an additional $13 million by the end of the year in order to ensure future seasons. Members of the orchestra have called on Steel to resign after his announcement, but members of the board have his back.
Even in a city such as New York, $7 million in less than a month is a precipitous goal. The total is more than seven times the ticket sales from the 2011-'12 season. The NYCO hoped to gather at least $1 million from a Kickstarter account, but as of Sunday evening, the fund had only raised $8,312 from just more than 100 donors. Investment income for '11-'12 was $150,000, down more than 2,600 percent from '06-'07.
It's not the first time Steele has generated controversy through his actions as general manager. During 2011, he oversaw the removal of the New York City Opera from its home at the Lincoln Center. Although the Metropolitan Opera continues to thrive, the NYSO has always offered lower admission prices (being "the people's opera"), and the move from Lincoln Center offered a dramatic drop in production costs. "Anna Nicole" will play at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and future productions, should they happen, are scheduled for El Museo del Barrio and the New York City Center.
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