1. An analysis of the non-attendance of young
people to opera performances
WHY DON’T THEY COME?
Made by
Bouroumeau Adrien
Gurova Irina
Ma Siyi
Wuillaume Amélié
2. • Objectives and Scope of the Study
• Data and Methods
• Results
• Measures taken by some opera houses
• Suggestions for the Institutions
• Limitations
INDEX
3. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE
Facts :
- Pourcentage of people
attending opera performance is
low (2.1% people in Us)
- Even lower for young people
- Young people attend less opera
house than other performing
arts
We aim at :
- Providing a general frame of the
causes of non-attendance of young
people (18-30 years old) at opera
house.
- Analyzing both the “economic
reasons” of non-attendance and
the “perceptions” that young
people have on opera.
4. DATA AND METHODS
• Collection of data through literature
• Quantitative approach : Based on reasons identified thanks to the
literature > Creation of a questionnaire
• Qualitative approach : Meeting of 5 people group > To discover the
feelings and perceptions
• Deeper face-to-face interviews : To verify new elements and go deeper
5. ANALYSIS OF THE LITTERATURE
Reasons of non attendance among younger :
-Fear of boredom
-Lack of knowledge about the genre
-Lack of personal interest
-Lack of interest among people in the surroundings
-Formality of the event
-High price
-Bad experience in the past
-Physical access
-Lack of time
-Feeling of a « not for me product »
-Problem of understanding
6. Factor Analysis
3 factors are addressed.
Named as:
“Interest and personal experience”
“Price”
“Opera characteristic”
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
7. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
Regression Analysis
Only factor 1 “Interest and personal experience” is significantly relevant with the
frequency of the attendance.
According to the questionnaire setting, one unit less of the interest or one unit worse
of the personal experience will increase the non-attendance possibility by 0.708 unit.
8. Open question part of the survey ( If not mentioned above,
please write some other reasons of why you do not attend opera
performances? )
Focus group analysis (5 people have participated )
6 In-depth interviews of people who live mainly in Milan
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
9. 1. lack of free time or simply “I just like to stay at home”
2. lack of enough information and institutional advertizing - the lack
of reason to look for it deliberately
(it is not pushy enough to encourage the potential visitors to check the website and
research for additional information)
3. lack of interest or simply the statement of “ I don’t like it”
(some state they do not really know what an opera performance is about neither);
if the opera does not succeed in “making them fall in love with it” from the very
first time, they will not be willing to attend again
4. high ticket price, combined with the lack of people in their surroundings
to go together
If these four major problems could be solved, the willingness of
the target visitors would increase dramatically.
THE OPEN QUESTION – 4
MAJOR DETERRENTS
10. 5. “ I don’t have a good reason to attend” and “ too much classical
music and formality” are stated by 10%
6. boring and too long performances; long distance from the
nearest opera house; very limited or no knowledge whatsoever about
opera as a genre and therefore they do not feel comfortable attending it
7. not used to attend and do not think they could start in the future; opera is
not their favorite art (they would rather go to a theatrical performance);
lack of availability of tickets (“ I would have to book a long time in
advance” , “ To get a cheap tickets you should lose the whole day queuing ”)
“I usually can’t find any interesting performances, they do not stay very long on the programs
and they don’t have special prices for students”
“ it’s not “cool” in our society to go to the opera”
“I have seen most of the famous operas, so in order to go I want it to be a performance I
haven’t seen or a really good one of those I have”
“Lack of sustainable opera budgets to create valuable performances. This results in low
enthusiasm of the opera artists and thus impacts the quality of the opera. Therefore, it is
really important to invest in the so-called modernization of Bulgarian opera.”
THE OPEN QUESTION –
ADDITIONAL
DETERRENTS
11. “What are your first thoughts when you hear about opera?”
“music with a guaranteed quality”
simply curious about it and thinks of it as “something in their to-do-list”,
“a beautiful tourist sight” (talking about La Scala in Milan)
one is genuinely attracted to the beauty of opera, while another is rather
indifferent to it
FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS
12. “Compare your feelings and experience of theatrical performance
with the opera ones”
a much higher preference, satisfaction and stronger emotions from theater
experiences was expressed
opera is perceived to be “frozen in the times when it was created ”,
“looking for ultimate perfection”, “an art simply for the sake of art” one is
genuinely attracted to the beauty of opera, while another is rather indifferent to it
“down-to-earth” feeling of theater (link classical plays and values to current
reality) , while opera relies on music or singing perfection, narrating stories very
distant from our contemporary society
styles of acting in theater do change to remain credible and attractive to modern
audiences (the Stanislavski Method)
real emotions in theatre against the exaggerated emotions in opera
FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS
13. “Is the “fourth wall” a crucial obstacle that opera is still unable
to overcome in order to reach the feelings of visitors”
everyone confirmed this problem of today’s opera, opera houses will probably
always remain larger than theaters
young audience almost never could afford a seat in the closest stalls area, so it
would always be an issue
FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS
14. “Would you go to an opera if it were for free”
fully positive attitude
BUT a possible limitation here could be social desirability
and also awareness about what one is going to watch would still matter, even
in the situation of having a free ticket
high expectations about their first visit – they seek extraordinary
performance in terms of feelings and emotions, and not in terms of
quality and perfection
FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS
15. “Are there accessible advertizing and information about opera which
would make you decide to see it?”
information is available only through special channels
pure advertizing is rather rare and not catchy enough in order to provoke
further interest
people are generally lazy
less-traditional performances are made deliberately to approach a more modern
audience in a contemporary way, BUT they are not advertized more strongly then
the rest and don’t reach the potential newcomers
it was suggested that they should use different advertizing strategies and
channels
“opera has to speak the language of the masses and to appear in their places
in order to appeal to them”
FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS
16. “What is the public perception of opera?”
opera singers are not celebrities such as their theater or movie
counterparts
this reinforces the exclusive status of opera and its large distance from
the general public
classical music is not a high-class preference
“The Three Tenors or Richard Clayderman successfully made it a part of mass culture by
“going to the audience, for instance in stadiums, without degrading its status”
the most expensive forms of performance entertainment with ticket prices usually at least twice
as expensive as theater prices
While it is clear to everyone that opera simply necessitates more money to be
sustainable (due to longer performances, more people needed and more sophisticated
costumes), it would also mean that it should make much more efforts in order to raise
the value that people get from going to the opera, mostly by touching better on their
emotions.
FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS
17. 1. “I have it in my to-do-list, but if nobody spurs me, I will not
remember about it myself ”, so they proposed advertisements in the free
press and websites frequently visited by young people
2. High cost, either in terms of ticket price or in terms of opportunity cost of
lost time; this fact makes it even more unlikely that they would choose to go to
the opera spontaneously
3. Lack of knowledge, previous experience, awareness of what to
expect and the formality of the event further creates a tense environment for the
casual young people to make the first step; moreover this is not the case
talking about theatrical performances
4. Opera singers are not celebrities; they maintain a large distance from
young people, but do not try to appeal to them either
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
18. 3 main big measures adopted by nearly every opera house:
1. Special Price/Be Flexible
2. Make opera houses attracting
3. Create some outreach
•Work in progress, efforts must continue to demystify, re-democratize
the opera houses.
MEASURES TAKEN BY THE OPERA
HOUSES IN ORDER TO ATTRACT
YOUNG PEOPLE
19. Most famous opera house in Brazil.
Oldest one (built between 1905 and 1909
Traditionnal design
2400 places
PARTICULAR CASE OF BRAZIL, AND
TEATRO MUNICIPAL DO RIO DE
JANEIRO
20. Measures were taken thanks to these 4 people
PARTICULAR CASE OF BRAZIL, AND
TEATRO MUNICIPAL DO RIO DE
JANEIRO
21. 1. Use local artists most of the time.
2. Big Prices/Partnership with schools
3. Package with football/Be flexible.
4. Grande Batalha
5. Changing Hours
Great Success: 79%/8% in 2008
91%/21% in 2012
PARTICULAR CASE OF BRAZIL, AND
TEATRO MUNICIPAL DO RIO DE
JANEIRO
22. Lack of Interest Lack of Knowledge Lack of Advertising
THEY DO NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT OPERA
Communication:
speaking young language by using more catchy messages
preferred channels with short videos on social networks or mass channels
( free press, some websites about events ) or even screens in public places or
universities, or advertising and promotions of subscriptions on free press
materials and publications in the media more visited by young people
Be More Aggressive and Pushy
SUGGESTIONS
23. To create Further Interest
A Closer Touch to Opera House:
open-rehearsal days to public
dedicated sessions after the performance which allow young people to
express their opinions and therefore to make them more
involved and strengthen the relationship
incentives to active participants such as free ticket for another performance or
set “opera ambassadors” allowing them bring friends to opera with
discounts
SUGGESTIONS
24. What else?
Create and Maintain a network:
an opera network which helps enthusiastic opera-lovers meet, keep in
touch and discuss about the opera, to keep the interest in opera more alive
box office approach to reach this network to sell any last available seats at very
low price to network members
Bring Knowledge about Opera to Young:
basic and simple tutorials to introduce the world of opera on the website in an
easy and entertaining way
meeting with the audience on-site to introduce the author, the piece, and the
historical story
SUGGESTIONS
25. LIMITATIONS
o People that answered the survey/were interviewed are people
that:
- Are/have been studying at university
- Have a certain level of education
-Have a comfortable financial situation
o They are mainly from :
- Italy
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
o Social desirability must be taken into account
These people do not reflect
perfectly the « global young
population among the
world »
