January 3, 2012

We are touched by the outpouring of feeling regarding our decision to close the company, announced on December 23, 2011. All the expressions we’ve seen – sympathy, anger, concern and sadness – speak to the company’s place in the heart of Boston’s arts and the world’s opera communities. We are grateful for the extensive media coverage of the closing, as well as the years of coverage of the company’s artistic innovation. As we have said before, ours was not an easy decision to make, but we feel strongly that it was the right one, and want to correct a number of mischaracterizations in media coverage of the closing, and clarify our position.

The board voted unanimously to cease operations on December 20, 2011, to avoid compounding a deficit situation that had grown dire. Nine of the 11 members were present for the vote.

Like many small arts organizations, Opera Boston has always operated on a tight budget. During the many years of innovative and critically acclaimed programming, the company tried to balance its budget annually. Some years there were small deficits, and some years there were small surpluses. In the fiscal year 2011, ending July 31, the company had its largest deficit ever, in excess of $225,000. This was the result of several factors converging at once: a tough economy; weak individual ticket sales; diminishing individual, foundation and corporate support; growing overhead and rising production costs.

This set the stage for the very serious financial situation that faced the board in December. At this point, we found ourselves with over $500,000 in payables, including payroll and contractual commitments related to the next two productions scheduled in the 2011-12 season plus $250,000 in bank debt. This combination of deficit and liabilities represents almost 1/3 of our annual budget, and, given other administrative issues the organization faced, is insurmountable, despite what the unnamed experts in a Boston Globe editorial claim. Compounding these challenges, our October 2011 opera fell well short of sales goals, and we found ourselves unable to pay some bills, including the musicians’ invoices referenced in the Boston Globe article. Board members have since contributed funds to pay these musicians, crew and staff.

The Board considered many options, including major budget cuts and the cancellation of this season. Had we moved forward as planned, we estimated our deficit would have grown to at least $1,000,000, given the emerging pattern of diminishing support. Although we formed a committee to explore financial options when the growing deficit became a concern, its main focus was refinancing the debt over the long term, and it was unable to identify a viable solution to the current and growing deficit.

Opera Boston would have needed at least $750,000 to move forward with the next scheduled production, and over $1,000,000 to finish the season as programmed. We saw no hope of attaining those numbers given the economic downturn and current donor patterns.

As the people entrusted with the fiduciary responsibility of Opera Boston, we voted to cease operations. We did so with heavy hearts, but know we made the responsible decision. We will spend the next few weeks working with the company’s creditors.

We will miss producing the novel and innovative programming the company had become known for, and we appreciate the support we enjoyed from our subscribers, donors, fans and the media.

We are open to a rebirth of Opera Boston in years to come, if the funding climate changes.