Wednesday 27 November 2024

The Business of Opera summit, organized by the Laidlaw Opera Trust, aimed to advance accessibility, inclusivity, sustainability, innovation, and collaboration. Yet it embodied none of those ideals. Thanks to lobbying by Freelancers Make Theatre Work, I attended as one of the few freelancers present. And now I really need to talk about it.

Here’s what I took away:

1. The organisers didn’t understand how the opera ecosystem works or what it needs.

2. The content was irrelevant as a result. (For more on this, read Part 2)

3. The net impact of the conference was negative. (Part 3)

4. Nobody with influence challenged this glaring failure. (Part 4)

This post will focus on point 1: a toxic conference.

Ignoring the Ecosystem

This summit was organized by people whose only connection to opera is philanthropy toward its grandest institutions. These institutions, though glamorous, represent only the tip of the iceberg—propped up by freelancers, consultants, fans, volunteers, and countless others. Believing that institutions are the entire ecosystem is a catastrophic failure of thought.

Ecosystems thrive on the interplay of diverse actors. In opera, this “ecosystem” spans institutions, freelancers, students, fans, volunteers, and more. Like nature, it demands careful management—when one part is weakened or overprivileged, the whole suffers.

A summit about the opera ecosystem that excludes the majority of it—smaller entities and those on the margins—is doomed from the start. This was a conference that privileged the overprivileged, silencing the voices most in need of amplification.

A Fabulous Failure

The event failed to attain its objectives in spite of its fabulous execution. The voices we heard weren’t at fault—they simply weren’t the voices we needed. The dominant part of the ecosystem, with its disproportionate influence, often harms the broader sector. Repeating their perspectives brought nothing new or valuable.

There were moments of insight. John Singer CBE (Chair of London Sinfonia), Richard Davidson-Houston (Managing Director at Glyndebourne), and arts consultant Mark Pemberton OBE offered brief nuggets of wisdom. But these were diamonds in an oil slick: their brilliance couldn’t redeem a toxic, misguided event.

A Setback for the Sector

I believe the Business of Opera summit set the opera sector back by years. It was inaccessible, exclusive, and unimaginative—the most conventional and least innovative conference I’ve ever attended. It failed to create space for collaboration or creativity at any level. Worst of all, it made opera look fragile, weak, and uninterested in the very values it claimed to champion.

This isn’t the opera sector I know. The UK’s opera community values accessibility, inclusivity, and innovation. In Britain, I’ve found CEOs of major opera companies to be approachable, open, and supportive. By comparison, my experience in France has revealed a sector that’s closed, elitist, and even petty.

But the organisers of the Business of Opera summit don’t understand this. Their event was structured around a dated, 1990s paradigm. For freelancers like me, the conference felt unwelcome and belittling. It misrepresented the vibrancy and openness of the UK opera sector, making us look pathetic.

The Laidlaw Opera Trust was warned. Bill Bankes Jones from Tête à Tête Opera pointed out flaws in the planned program. Yet the organisers failed—or refused—to listen, focusing solely on grand institutions.

The Solution

The solution lies with those institutions: Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, and others. You must champion the other, smaller voices. You must make Laidlaw care.

Without amplifying these voices, the ecosystem will wither. Big fish need little fish to survive. If grand institutions don’t push for inclusivity and space for freelancers, creators, and smaller players, the sector will (continue to) starve and die. It’s that simple.

PS.

To the big fish: you can choose to ignore the complaints of little fish like me, but be warned that sometimes our voices carry.

Click here to continue to Part 2. What in opera’s name are you talking about?