2010 Annual Report Part 1 - Opera Australia

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REPORT CONTINUED
There is a third and more far reaching reason for OA’s declining sales,
which I will elaborate on later. First, I am happy to report that even
with this most challenging environment, we were able to minimise the
impact on the Company’s financial reserves. Opera Australia has reported
a $500,000 operating loss for year 2010. (This includes the annual loss
incurred on the AOBO, which also provides services to The Australian Ballet’s
Sydney seasons.) The Opera Australia Capital Fund has reported a modest
surplus for the year, which means the depletion of the Opera Australia
Group’s reserves is $220,000, on total annual expenditures of $66 million.
For this result, which could have been so much worse, I have my colleagues
to thank. To the artists and artisans, and their representatives who
understood the Company’s challenges and responded with moderation and
practical wisdom, I am profoundly grateful. We also have the experience
and ‘know how’ of my management colleagues to thank: when material
savings had to be delivered, they knew what to do to maximise savings
without compromising a program that was set and contracted three years
ago. And my thanks are due to our Board of Directors, whose grasp of our
business operations allowed management the discretion to make all the
effective changes necessary to ameliorate our result.
But, clearly, two operating deficits in succession make a compelling
argument for change. And it is in response to this that I find myself both
excited and optimistic about our national opera company’s future. When
circumstances change, the first thing we must do is recognise that they have!
Our response to our current challenges began nearly sixteen months ago
when we recruited OA’s Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini. It is my view
that Opera Australia had refined its business and organisational model over
the last decade about as far as it could go. Changed circumstances left our
company and its artists exposed; and we all know it takes at least three
years to set and fully realise plans for any new agenda in opera. We needed a
creative response, indeed an artistic response, to our changed environment.
Opposite above: Cheryl Barker as the
Marschallin and ensemble
Der Rosenkavalier
Fundamental to our thinking about the future is the simple proposition
that if we want to increase our audience and deepen our engagement
with the community we have to change what we offer them.
Opposite: Sigrid Thornton as Desirée and
Anthony Warlow as Fredrik
A Little Night Music
OPERA AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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