Opera Australia has posted an operating loss of $447, 878 for 2022; a deficit which would have been significantly larger were it not for funding of close to $10 million from the NSW Government’s NSW Performing Arts COVID Support Package.
In the company’s 2022 Annual Report, OA CEO Fiona Allan acknowledged “the Australian, New South Wales and Victorian governments who provided additional COVID-19 funding support of $21.1 million in 2021 and $10 million in 2022, without which we would not have remained viable.”
“Thank goodness for the NSW Government funding,” says Allan speaking to Limelight. “A lot of arts companies are saying the same thing. It was the moment we all needed it.”
Emily Magee, Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Meadows and Elena Gabouri in Lohengrin, Opera Australia, Melbourne, 2022. Photo © Jeff Busby
At the start of the year, OA found that audiences were still cautious about returning to theatres. However, ticket sales increased steadily as the year unfolded. By the end of 2022, 627,568 people had attended 507 performances across the country – a marked increase from 2021 when 171,155 people attended 348 performances. The total box office for 2022 was...
As OA is increasingly becoming the Sydney Opera Company with no staged opera as distinct from opera in concert performed in Victoria, perhaps the name should be changed to Opera NSW and the taxpayers of Victoria will not have to contribute.