For three decades, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation has provided operating funds to opera companies across North America; in 2012, the foundation furthered its service to the field through its support of OPERA America’s Building Opera Audiences Grants, which provided $1.2 million over four years toward audience-building efforts. This November, the foundation’s funding helped launch a new initiative: Innovation Grants, a program that will invest $1.5 million annually in OPERA America’s Professional Company Members. These grants will support inventive projects that present opportunities for enhancing the vibrancy of opera.

The project will include an infrastructure to assess and capture outcomes of funded projects. OPERA America will provide administrative and technical support to enable companies to document successes, learn from one another, and borrow and adapt good ideas — all in an effort to strengthen the field as a whole.

The grant application process for the first round of Innovation Grants has closed, and awardees will be announced in late January. Grants will be made to companies in all five of OPERA America’s budget groups, with award sizes ranging from $5,000 to $100,000, gauged to the companies’ annual operating budgets.

"We are profoundly grateful to the Ann an Gordon Getty Foundation for this support, which will give opera companies the capacity to experiment and innovate, as well as the ability to share best practices and lessons learned," noted OPERA America President/CEO Marc A. Scorca.