The Edmonton Opera is joining several other cultural organizations across the city in an attempt to grow its audience by offering free shows to youth, and the results suggest it's popular.
Last year, 2,000 people made use of the Youth 4 Free program, which lets people younger than 21 attend opera shows without cost. Joel Ivany, the opera's artistic director, told Taproot the organization started the program to commemorate its 60th season last year. He added that it's one of several ways the opera is growing its audience.
"We have capacity to (do this), so why not invite youth for free?" Ivany said. "And so, if you're under 21, you could come. You could even get a youth under 21 subscription absolutely free. We found some supporters who are interested in supporting that particular measure, so there were no ticket fees or anything."
In the past, the opera has invited young people to dress rehearsals, but with the new program, youth can now attend a show at no cost unless it is completely sold out.
Ivany said the program opens the opera to people who would otherwise not experience it and could convince them to return. "Will that translate into more (interest in opera)? I'm not sure. But if some of them were interested, they can come again this coming season. It's things like that that we won't really know until we give it a chance and try."
The Edmonton Opera isn't the only organization working to add young people to its audience or get them involved in the arts. The Citadel Theatre has created school packages for matinée performances at discounted prices, and an immersive students club with tickets to six shows for $205 or three shows for $102. It also features interactive workshops that teach performance skills like choreography, design, and stage combat.
The Winspear Centre has a performance at Snow Valley called Sizzlin' Summer, running Aug. 22 and 24, where people under 17 can attend for free. Konstantine Kurelias, a communications officer for the Winspear Centre, told Taproot this is something the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has always done to "foster a love of music in children and teenagers." He also said that during the pandemic, ESO started a series called ESO Outdoors, which are free concerts for various communities in the Edmonton area. Upcoming concerts include Edmonton, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan, Beaumont, and Stony Plain.
Though aimed at a slightly older demographic, ESO has also introduced ESO Encounters, a free membership program for people aged 18 to 35. It's advertised as an opportunity to join a community of music lovers. Benefits are tickets discounted to $25 and networking receptions before certain shows, which also include free food and guest speakers.
A survey of Edmonton arts audiences from March found that 85% of those surveyed view going to a theatre or live music performance as something special rather than something they do every day. Only 7% of respondents to the survey were between the ages of 18 and 24. There was no data collected for people younger than that, which is the demographic that the opera and other arts organizations are trying to attract with programs like Youth 4 Free. Sixteen percent of respondents said there were youth under 18 in their household (though there were no specific questions on their involvement as audience members).
Supporters that make the Edmonton Opera's Youth 4 Free program possible include Thomas and Melanie Nakatsui of Nakatsui Dermasurgery, Robert Rosen of City Lumber and Millwork, and the Totem Foundation, which is based in Cochrane.
Photo: Members of the Cantilon Children's Chorus in the Edmonton Opera's performance of Carmen. (Nanc Price)