In Friday’s (1/11) Denver Post, Ray Mark Rinaldi reports, “Suffering a disappointing year-end fundraising campaign in 2012, Opera Colorado is reducing its schedule by one-third, cutting back to just two productions for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The move postpones the world premiere of ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ which was set to debut in May, for at least two years. The opera, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, was the centerpiece of the upcoming season and has been highly touted in ads and banners across the region. Opera Colorado General Director Greg Carpenter said the company fell short of its $2 million campaign goal by about $500,000. Contributions from individual donors began falling off during the recent election season and failed to recover by Dec. 31, a time of year when gifts typically increase from donors seeking tax deductions for charitable contributions. … The company ended calendar year 2012 with a deficit of about $690,000. Its annual budget for the three operas it typically presents February through May, is about $4.5 million. The cutbacks are a setback for the organization and its artistic ambitions. Two of the company’s 14 full-time employees have been laid off and a yet-to-be determined number of workers will be transitioned to part-time, seasonal work.”
Posted January 15, 2013
