Will Women Billionaires Make Better Philanthropists?
Anya Kamenetz
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FastCoExist.com
The phenomenon of women being personally responsible for giving away billions is really new. Currently women hold almost three-fourths of all jobs, and almost half of all CEO positions, in the nonprofit sector. But they are much more underrepresented at the board and executive level at the really big large charities, the ones with more than $25 million in the bank.
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OPERA America Program to Aid 13 Companies
Allan Kozzinn
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ArtsBeat (The New York Times)
Thirteen opera companies across the United States will share $300,000 in grants awarded by OPERA America in the first year of its new Building Opera Audiences program. The grants, which range from $7,500 to $30,000, are for programs meant to increase first-time opera attendance, and to increase return visits.
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Atlanta Opera Appoints Tomer Zvulun as General & Artistic Director
Staff
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broadwayworld.com
Beginning June 1, 2013, Tomer Zvulun will become the Atlanta Opera's new general and artistic director. At only 37 years old, Zvulun is hailed as a rising star in the opera industry, and has earned consistent praise for his creative vision and work in prestigious opera houses worldwide, including The Metropolitan Opera, and the opera companies of Seattle, Cleveland, Dallas, Cincinnati, Buenos Aires, Wolf Trap and more. Zvulun, an Israeli native, will manage both the artistic and administrative aspects of The Atlanta Opera.
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Board Games: When Trustees Need a Hand
Fred Plotkin
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Operavore (WQXR)
Almost since the beginning of opera in 1597, people have found reasons
to complain about something. This is due, in part, to the proprietary
feeling we have about our local companies and treasured memories of
great performances. Nothing ever seems to compare! It is also because
opera lovers, bless them, are passionate. Opera singers always tell me
that one of their greatest satisfactions is knowing that audiences truly
care about them and the art form.
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Plato Karayanis to head The Opera San Antonio
Scott Cantrell
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The Dallas Morning News
Plato Karayanis, who was general director of the Dallas Opera from 1977 to 2000, has been named interim general director and CEO of The Opera San Antonio.
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Experience The Verona Opera For Free With Topflight
Staff
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thecorknews.ie
No trip to Lake Garda is complete without a visit to the Verona Opera and this year you could get your tickets for free if you book with Topflight. To celebrate the Centennial Festival of the Verona Opera, Topflight are giving away free tickets to some of Giuseppe Verdi’s most well known operatic performances including ‘Aida’ when booking a holiday to Lake Garda this August.
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Dan Pallotta: The Way We Think About Nonprofits
Dan Pallotta
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TED
Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend -- not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses). In this bold talk, he says: Let's change the way we think about changing the world.
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Dear Nonprofit Organizations, You are in Sales
Marc Koenig
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NonProfitHub
Selling is more than pushing products and seducing clients. Instead, we’re all in the business of persuading others. Without good salesmanship, nonprofit professionals can’t learn how to better persuade others of the value of our organizations nor of the change we want to create in the world.
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New York City Suspends Pension Payments for Arts Institutions
Felicia R. Lee
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The New York Times
New York City is withholding payment into a pension system that covers
some employees at many of the city’s day care centers as well as some of
its best known cultural institutions, including the American Museum of
Natural History, the Brooklyn Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem and
the Brooklyn Academy of Music. City budget officials said the suspension came after a review indicated
that the number of workers covered by the pension system was possibly
inflated.
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From Boards to Orchestra Auditions: Change the Ratio
Nilofer Merchant
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Harvard Business Review
When I ask men how to solve this gender imbalance, they often say that the problem will take care of itself when there are more qualified candidates. But this view often hides a circular argument. How will we know when more women are qualified?
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Looking for Leaders: 4 Pivotal Insights on How to Hire Good Leaders
Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D.
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Psychology Today
The most important individuals in an organization are
not always those who are up front. Sometimes the most important leaders
are those who are further back. In a truly successful organization,
leadership comes from every position and very often leadership in the
seemingly less significant organizational layers can be just as critical
as leadership at the senior level.
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Palm Beach Opera re-invents itself to stay viable, leasing a rehearsal space and trimming expenses
Doreen Hemlock
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South Florida Sun Sentinel
When Palm Beach Opera
cuts the ribbon on a rehearsal center Wednesday, the ceremony will mark
the re-invention of an arts group hard hit by recession and the >Bernie Madoff financial fraud.
The nonprofit took out a long-term lease on 6,000-square-feet to save
money on renting out rehearsal spaces daily around town. Instead of
buying, it invested $75,000 to upgrade the leased space — aiming to save
about that much yearly on rentals. It may save even more, by renting
its own space to others.
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Michigan Is Finding That the Arts Is a Growth Industry, Even During the Recession
Hrag Vartanian
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HyperAllergic
Last summer, we reported that ArtsServe Michigan had releases statistics that suggest every $1 invested in the arts in the Great Lakes State yields $51 for the state’s economy. If that didn’t impress you then perhaps you will be surprised to hear that even during the recent recession the arts has been a growth industry in the state.
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Workplace romance always in the air at Lyric Opera
Kara Spak
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Chicago Sun Times
While it isn’t unusual for true love to blossom at a workplace, those working in the opera house say the number of married couples behind the scenes at Lyric is unusually high, particularly for a line of work where star performers travel the world, singing in opera houses throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
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What I Hope My Search Committee Thinks About
Michael Kaiser
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The Huffington Post
It is official: I am a lame duck. My contract as President of the Kennedy Center expires at the end of next year and the board has just assembled a search committee to look for my successor. I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to lead this amazing institution and have enjoyed (almost) every minute of my tenure. But after 12 years as President, it is time for someone with a new and different vision to run the national cultural center.
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Postcard from Retirement
Rocco Landesman
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ArtWorks (NEA)
I’ve been officially retired now for 27 days, which seems like as good a time as any to reflect on my time at the NEA.
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Colorado Symphony CEO Gene Sobczak to leave job after one year
Ray Mark Rinaldi
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The Denver Post
Colorado Symphony chief executive Gene Sobczak is leaving the orchestra after just one year on the job.
Replacing him as head of day-to-day operations is Jerome Kern. Kern co-chairs the CSO's board of trustees along with his wife, Mary Rossick Kern.
Sobczak, who gave up his job as head of the Arvada Center to take the orchestra position, said Thursday that he plans to set up a consultancy working with cultural nonprofits. The CSO will be among his clients.
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To save money, Sacramento Opera and Philharmonic will merge
David Ng
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Los Angeles Times
In a sign of the times for small and mid-size classical music
organizations, the Sacramento Opera and Sacramento Philharmonic
Orchestra will merge their operations this year in order to cope with a
challenging financial environment.
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Dutch Arts Scene Is Under Siege
Nina Siegal
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The New York Times
The Netherlands’ national theater museum here contains about half a
million costumes, masks, annotated scripts, photographs, puppets, props
and other objects that tell the story of more than 300 years of theater
in the Dutch language. Founded in 1924 and refreshed with regular acquisitions, the museum is
the primary repository of the nation’s performing arts heritage, and
until now has always been financed by the state.
But on Jan. 1, the Theatre Institute Netherlands, or TIN, which houses
and maintains the collection, was one of the first victims of sweeping
new cultural budget cuts initiated by the conservative-led Parliament in
2011 and finalized last year. The TIN’s federal financing plummeted
from €4 million a year, about $5 million, to zero, forcing it to fire
about 70 full- and part-time staff, halt operations and close the museum
indefinitely.
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Arts Council considers opera shakeup as ENO posts £2.2m loss
Charlotte Higgins
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The Guardian
Arts Council England is considering a shakeup of the provision of opera in England, as one of the largest companies it funds, English National Opera, posted losses of almost £2.2m.
ENO
has blamed its financial woes on disappointing box-office figures and a
drop in its public subsidy – and becomes the first high-profile
national company to have fallen into the red in the wake of the economic
downturn and reductions in public spending.
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Tattooed opera composer runs for Czech president
Associated Press
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Fox News
Vladimir Franz, an opera composer and painter, seems the most unlikely
of candidates for a prestigious post previously held by beloved
playwright-dissident Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus, a professor credited
with plotting the economic transition from communism to a free market.
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5 From the Nonprofit World Who Will Influence Public Policy in 2013
Suzanne Perry and Caroline Preston
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The Chronicle of Philanthropy
The Charitable Giving Coalition, which unites more than 50 nonprofit associations [including OPERA America] and other groups, has ignited strong opposition to proposals to limit the charitable deduction as part of Washington’s deficit-cutting efforts.
Thanks partly to the coalition’s work, lawmakers have been deluged with protests, the issue has received widespread news-media coverage, and the White House has been courting nonprofit leaders to seek support for its tax plans—evidence that it now views them as political players.
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Comic belief: Lyric Opera, Second City team up on show
Mark Caro
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Chicago Tribune
The Lyric will host "The Second City Guide to the Opera" on the Civic
Opera House stage Saturday, with Lyric creative
consultant/world-renowned soprano Renee Fleming and Shakespearean
actor/"Star Trek: The Next Generation" star Patrick Stewart scheduled to
appear along with two singers from the Lyric-affiliated Ryan Opera
Center and six Second City cast members.
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Esther Jacobsen Burnham, opera supporter, 97
Staff
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U-T San Diego News
Mrs. Burnham, 97, died Monday of congestive heart failure at her Point Loma home.
An
active volunteer who gave her time to many organizations, Mrs.
Burnham’s great love was the San Diego Opera, which she supported since
the 1970s. She was named a life director of the opera in 1990.
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Peggy Kriha Dye Named General Manager of Opera Columbus
Staff
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BroadwayWorld.com
Opera Columbus has appointed Peggy Kriha Dye as General Manager of the
company. As such, Kriha Dye will oversee all artistic and educational
programming as well as main stage productions, and produce Opera
Columbus' new Opera Cabaret series.
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Lyric names new chorus master
John von Rhein
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Chicago Tribune
Michael Black is returning to Lyric Opera as the company’s new chorus
master. The Australian, who served as interim chorus master for the
2011-12 season, will resume duties here as of the 2013-14 season.
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New York City Opera Names Head of Music Staff
Brian Wise
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Operavore (WQXR)
Myra Huang, a pianist who frequently works with opera singers, has been
named the head of music at New York City Opera, a part time position.
She succeeds Kevin Murphy, a vocal coach who left in 2011 to join the
faculty of Indiana University.
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Superstar opera singer: My destiny was decided before I was born
Kristie Lu Stout and Catriona Davies
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CNN
Korean opera singer Sumi Jo is one of the best-loved sopranos of her
generation who has performed at ceremonies for an Olympic Games and a
football World Cup.In a career spanning 26
years, she was the first Asian opera singer to achieve worldwide success
and has won accolades and fans all over the world, from a Grammy award
to being elected a UNESCO Artist for Peace."Everyday when I wake up, I thank God that I can sing," she says. "Life is such a precious gift so everyday is beautiful to me." But the success has not come without sacrifices.
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Swiss opera diva Della Casa dies at 93
Associated Press
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U.S. News Weekly
The Vienna State Opera said Della Casa died Monday at the age of 93 in the northern Swiss town of Muensterlingen, along the lakeshore.
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Russian opera's Galina Vishnevskaya dies at 86
Nastassia Astrasheuskaya,
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Reuters
Galina Vishnevskaya, the Russian opera singer whose soprano voice entranced composer Benjamin Britten and persuaded cellist and composer Mstislav Rostropovich to become her third husband has died at the age of 86, her theatre said on Tuesday.
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Flu forces La Scala to change opening gala cast
Silvia Aloisi
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Reuters
Opera house La Scala was forced to change its cast for Richard Wagner's Lohengrin hours before the opening gala on Friday after German soprano Anja Harteros and her understudy both fell ill with flu.
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Virginia Opera to stage Lyric Opera's 2013 season
Teresa Annas
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The Virginian-Pilot
In January 2011, Peter Mark launched a new opera company in Hampton
Roads after being fired by Virginia Opera, where he had served as
artistic director for more than three decades.
Now, his company, Lyric Opera Virginia, is facing financial difficulties and has turned its 2013 season over to Virginia Opera.
By agreeing to let Virginia Opera stage two of its three planned
productions, Lyric Opera enables its 1,100 subscribers to see those
works. The third will be replaced by a choice of Virginia Opera
offerings.
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The Arts Aren't Red or Blue
Robert L. Lynch
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Huffington Post
Every four years America gets another chance to make its voice heard. And every four years the American arts community, in a way, gets a bit of a fiscal makeover.
How is that? Well, it has to do with how the nonprofit arts in America are funded and how policy affects those funding sources.
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Election: Hollywood awaits decisions on key issues
Ted Johnson
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Variety
While a second Obama term would signal status quo on a whole host of industry-related issues, a Romney win would have implications for arts funding, public television, indecency enforcement, media consolidation and net neutrality.
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An Opera Center for Practicing as Well as Performing
Daniel J. Wakin
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The New York Times
OPERA America, a service organization for opera companies, is opening a new National Opera Center in Manhattan filled with rooms for auditions, rehearsals and lessons. Opera company officials say it will be a major boon for singers and for the regional ensembles that troop through New York every year to audition them, often in less than ideal circumstances. The center will also offer a rich library of scores (many donated by the conductor Julius Rudel), books (likewise, by the set designer John Conklin) and video and audio recordings. It will present seminars, public conversations and performances, including concerts of 47 songs commissioned in honor of the center’s opening. A recording studio is available for young singers to make audition CDs and DVDs.
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Director: SF Opera Is Thriving
Kathaleen Roberts
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Albuquerque Journal
The Santa Fe Opera is on budget and thriving despite alarmist headlines about the fragility of opera companies across the country, general director Charles McKay said Thursday.
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Stars Shine Brighter When They're on the Board
Pia Catton
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The Wall Street Jounral
In some ways, artists provide what their highly connected, high-net-worth colleagues cannot: artistic credibility and, sometimes, bankable star power. But to avoid "artist differences," they must also be simpatico with the organization's mission, its current leadership and the roles they're asked to play.
On the surface, stars can have a major impact on fundraising, especially with high-profile personal appearances. But once they're on the board, they're typically asked for more than a pass of the hat.
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