Opera companies across North America have benefited in recent years from an influx of first-time operagoers. The great opportunity now is to bring them back — to cultivate these newcomers into a loyal audience for the future.

In 2024, OPERA America published Understanding Opera’s New Audiences, a national research study into the motivations, experiences, and barriers faced by these first-timers. The report offers key findings and detailed analyses of responses from over 11,000 operagoers across 36 opera companies of all budget sizes, geographies, and formats. It was produced in partnership with the cultural research firm Slover Linett at NORC, based at the University of Chicago.

Understanding Opera’s New Audiences points to numerous avenues for additional inquiry, experimentation, and strategic action. It invites you — the staff and trustees at opera companies — to devise and test initiatives that inspire your first-time audiences to return, and to return more frequently.

This resource guide, Engaging Opera’s New Audiences, picks up where the original report leaves off. It is designed to inspire you to respond to opportunities presented in the Understanding report and engage your new audiences, potentially in new ways.

It includes:

• Insights from members of the field
• Tactical ideas to consider at your company
• A framework for implementing some of these ideas in testable ways.

Download the Full Guide

Download the full guide for free by completing the form below. Once submitted, you will receive an email with a direct download link.

For questions about the report, contact us at Marketing@operaamerica.org.