The Fight to Keep Audiences Engaged Until Theater Doors Reopen
Many leaders at performance organizations big and small believe that if you can’t keep in touch with your audience now, they won’t be there when you need them to come back.
A scene from the Met production of Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor.
Photographer: Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera
The day New York’s Metropolitan Opera closed its doors, on March 12, it began to stream operas on its site for free. Since then about 250,000 people a day have visited. “Cumulatively, we’re at 262 million viewing minutes and 6.5 million unique viewers since we started a month ago,” says Peter Gelb, the general manager. “Extraordinarily impressive, considering it’s opera.”
Above the videos is a “Donate Now” button. Gelb says the Met has received more than $1 million in donations from “several thousand” viewers. And its database now has 120,000 new names. “We have not suffered a loss among any of our strata of donors,” he says. “If anything, it’s increased.”