Community Arts
ACHF Arts Access
More than 300 individuals will attend the opera and at least 16 musicians will participate across three performances. 30% of audience members will report this was their first exposure to opera, and 90% of audience members will report this was their first experience with Baroque opera. Audience size will be measured by a count (conducted through Eventbrite and an onsite box office), and audience exposure to opera and Baroque opera will be measured by an audience survey (conducted via post-concert handouts and/or email). Musicians will be surveyed, as well, for their insights and ideas on how to improve both the artist experience and the audience experience.
Consortium Carissimi achieved its artistic goal of successfully premiering the lost Italian opera, Il Tirinto, at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis June 3-5, 2016, thanks to a collaborative and dedicated effort by musicians, artistic directors, board members, visiting artists, and, especially, Jon Cranney and his years of experience, wisdom, network of resources and personal generosity. Strengths included the following: quality of musicians participating, both vocally and instrumentally (i.e. please see final program on our web site); Ritz Theater venue was optimal for this grass-roots opera set in a hillside town outside of Rome; stage design and production aligned simply but well with opera story; enhanced audience exposure for the organization resulted; new geographical / neighborhood relationship in Northeast Minneapolis; opportunity and ability to bring Alassandro Quarta from Rome, Italy to Minnesota to provide musical direction to the orchestra and singers. An additional strength of program included the more intimate pre-show dialogue between Jon Cranney and Alessandro Quarta and audience members. Jon and Alessandro provided cultural background and perspective on the "Commedia dell'arte" (i.e. the Comedy of Craft) that emerged in 16th century Italy. They took questions from audience members, shared their experience of pulling this unique performance together, and explained why they were drawn to participate in this first-ever production. Challenges included the following: unexpected costs associated with securing musical direction from Alassandro Quarta (i.e. organization has never before had to navigate the Visa process); some technical glitches with sub-title production; and sometimes unclear communications / expectations around musician rehearsal commitments. As a result of these lessons learned, Consortium Carissimi will do a few things differently, hence forth. First, if ever we have a need again for sub-titles, we will ensure the program used is fully compatible with the computer type (i.e. PC versus Apple). In addition, we will codify a rehearsal calendar at the outset of an ambitious program and ensure clear communication and understanding of when musicians are obligated to attend rehearsals (particularly dress rehearsals) as a condition of participating in program. Finally, with more planning time, if ever we bring another musician from a foreign country, we will navigate the Visa application process more cost-effectively. Consortium Carissimi reached the community of audience, participants and artists that was anticipated in its proposal. This is not to say the organization is content with its audience reach. We will continue to discount seniors' admissions and to allow all students into performances free of charge. However, we will also continue to think creatively about how we might continue to expand our audience reach in terms of greater diversity. For our organization, diversity refers to the richness of human differences including socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, geography, disability, age and individual aspects such as personality, learning styles and life experiences of all kinds in its musicians, board members, volunteer staff and audience. While our musicians and audience may not appear to be as racially diverse as we would like, we know they all bring a range of diverse life experiences and individual human differences that create a rich environment for their collaborative work and artistic experience. In addition, the opportunity to have Alessandro Quarta from Italy to assist with musical direction created a unique opportunity for both musicians and audience to interact with an Italian national musician. Alessandro brought diversity to the overall experience through his nationality, native Italian language (also the text and lyric of the opera) and cultural perspective. ~ 350 attended opera, a higher number than for any prior production by at least 150. ~175 of 350 tickets were purchased online through the organization's web site. A post-performance survey was sent to ~ 100 accounts (175 tickets) who purchased online and for whom an email address was available. 66 responded "excellent" (72%) and very good (28%) and all would recommend future performances.
Other, local or private