English National Opera appears to once again be heading over the financial cliff. ENO's 2011-12 results were sneaked out after Christmas with no official announcement. Hardly surprising when you see the actual results.
In the space of one year, a modest surplus of £48K has turned into a massive loss of £2.47M. Like other arts organisations, ENO's grant from the Arts Council was cut in that year, but this was compensated for by an equivalent increase in sponsorship and donations. The real failure for ENO has been the decline in box office income. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, average attendance has declined from 80% to 71% and secondly, a large number of tickets had to be sold off at vastly reduced prices; some 58,000 tickets being offloaded by ENO at £26 or less. The top price of tickets at ENO is around £100, with almost all of tickets in the stalls, dress circle and upper circle costing more than £50. Despite this, the average price actually paid for ENO tickets last year was just £43.
This is ENO's third financial crisis in 15 years and on the face of it would appear to be the worst yet. The scale of the loss is significantly larger than the one that precipitated an Arts Council bail out 10 years ago and, as ENO has already cut its staff to the bone, there would appear to be little scope for further economies to be achieved. The Director's report accompanying these shocking figures appears to be remarkably blase about them and doesn't acknowledge ENO's artistic and financial problems. There seems to be no plan to address this level of loss making.
If ENO is to survive, it surely needs to address its falling audience numbers and its failure to sell tickets at the advertised prices. Edward Gardner is a very good conductor and musical standards at ENO are often very high, but the standard of productions fails to match this. There are too many gimmicky productions by film and theatre directors without any understanding of, or feeling for, opera, and the Artistic Director, John Berry, seems to be fixated on superficial and cynical marketing opportunities designed to pursue a mythical 'yoof' market, such as the suggestion that people should 'undress for the opera'.
When I first started attending opera in the 80s, ENO had a strong artistic personality led by Mark Elder and David Pountney. They built a loyal public on challenging opera productions and the presentation of new and exciting operas. There is no such vision in place today.
Allied to a strong artistic vision, ENO's prices also need to come down to realistic levels. £100 for the mediocre fare often put on at the Coliseum is ridiculous, especially when most regulars know that the same tickets will be on offer for £26 or less as soon the reviews are in.
In the space of one year, a modest surplus of £48K has turned into a massive loss of £2.47M. Like other arts organisations, ENO's grant from the Arts Council was cut in that year, but this was compensated for by an equivalent increase in sponsorship and donations. The real failure for ENO has been the decline in box office income. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, average attendance has declined from 80% to 71% and secondly, a large number of tickets had to be sold off at vastly reduced prices; some 58,000 tickets being offloaded by ENO at £26 or less. The top price of tickets at ENO is around £100, with almost all of tickets in the stalls, dress circle and upper circle costing more than £50. Despite this, the average price actually paid for ENO tickets last year was just £43.
This is ENO's third financial crisis in 15 years and on the face of it would appear to be the worst yet. The scale of the loss is significantly larger than the one that precipitated an Arts Council bail out 10 years ago and, as ENO has already cut its staff to the bone, there would appear to be little scope for further economies to be achieved. The Director's report accompanying these shocking figures appears to be remarkably blase about them and doesn't acknowledge ENO's artistic and financial problems. There seems to be no plan to address this level of loss making.
If ENO is to survive, it surely needs to address its falling audience numbers and its failure to sell tickets at the advertised prices. Edward Gardner is a very good conductor and musical standards at ENO are often very high, but the standard of productions fails to match this. There are too many gimmicky productions by film and theatre directors without any understanding of, or feeling for, opera, and the Artistic Director, John Berry, seems to be fixated on superficial and cynical marketing opportunities designed to pursue a mythical 'yoof' market, such as the suggestion that people should 'undress for the opera'.
When I first started attending opera in the 80s, ENO had a strong artistic personality led by Mark Elder and David Pountney. They built a loyal public on challenging opera productions and the presentation of new and exciting operas. There is no such vision in place today.
Allied to a strong artistic vision, ENO's prices also need to come down to realistic levels. £100 for the mediocre fare often put on at the Coliseum is ridiculous, especially when most regulars know that the same tickets will be on offer for £26 or less as soon the reviews are in.
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