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Addresses the question as to whether opera can be brought to the masses (defined as socio‐economic groups other than A and B). First, it describes the methodology used in collecting the data. Goes on to describe and analyse the audience profile of opera‐goers, and non‐opera‐goers, in terms of demographic, psychographic, and geographic analysis, and to establish reasons for attendance and non‐attendance among different social groups, based on culture, motivation, and attitude. Finally, makes recommendations in the form of a marketing mix to encourage a wider audience for opera.

In this chapter the authors describe an ethnographic project that the authors were never able to undertake. It was concerned with the use of opera (such as those of Mozart) in the construction of cultural heritage in a number of European cities, including Prague and Vienna. The authors would also have undertaken fieldwork to study the local use of music and opera as tourist attractions. The authors would have studied operatic tourism as an example of secular, cultural pilgrimage. It would, therefore, have been a contribution to the sociology of culture, heritage and tourism.

Living art organizations present a special interest in research stressing cognitive processes and development of intangible resources like knowledge and capabilities. In living art organizations, production processes like rehearsals and tunings whose goals are to develop both tacit and tangible capabilities are readily observable and have undeniable effects on performance quality, revenues, and costs. The observations of four opera houses support the conjecture that strategy and organizations could be preconditions for learning.

This paper examines the US opera sector as a means for interrogating how varying forms of non-standard work shape gender inequality in the creative industries.

The authors draw on 16 seasons of opera production data from Operabase.com to conduct a gender-based exploratory data analysis of the key creative roles of conductor, director and designers, as well as the hiring networks through which teams are formed, at the 11 largest opera companies in the United States.

The authors find that women, as a group, experienced gender-based disadvantage across the key creative roles of opera production, but particularly in the artistic leadership roles of conductor and director. The authors also find that women's exclusion in the field is being further perpetuated by the sector's non-standard and overlapping employment structures, which impacts women practitioners' professional visibility and career opportunities.

The study can help organizations implement strategic hiring practices that acknowledge the relationship between gender inequality and varying forms of non-standard work with the aim of increasing women's representation.

This study work establishes the scale of gender inequality operating within a sector that has received minimal scholarly attention as a site of employment. The study analysis also offers important insight for the wider creative industries and highlights opportunities to redress gender inequality in other sectors where project-based work is prevalent.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the symbolic forms used in selected mainstream management models and to assess whether it would be expedient for enforcing the connection between leadership and individual human reality if such management models were fundamentally inspired by a successful manager and artist.

The theoretical starting point of this article is Cassirer's philosophy on symbolic forms. The paper analyses the symbolic forms embedded in the management discourse practice of art in the way that the concept is practiced by Kasper Holten, the highly successful Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera.

The analysis shows that conventional management control models are rooted in the symbolic form of science, but are at risk of getting caught in assumptions of the form gliding into the symbolic form of religion and myth, where all the forms tend to oppress essential aspects of individuality. Kasper Holten integrates the symbolic forms of art and science, which makes him capable of binding to the individual's life‐world.

Analysing Kasper Holten's views on management reveals features and structures for a new management discourse practice which is far better suited to most of the knowledge jobs in contemporary society than the more conventional management discourse.

The paper provides novel insight into the interrelationship between the specific way of using language and the way of managing and constructing a world. It paves the way for another way of doing management control and accounting.

The Royal Opera House, located at the epicentre of Covent Garden, stands as the UK’s leading provider of opera and ballet performances. Having been extensively redeveloped, its front facade is not visible from the area’s central market place and the perceived exclusivity and elitism commonly associated with its art forms also impose a challenge. This study aims to analyze the influence that the Opera House exerts on the tourist’s perception and experience of the world-renowned London’s “Theatreland”.

In all, three hundred and six semi-structured interviews with domestic, international, first-time and repeat tourists were conducted in six different locations throughout the area and inside the flagship building using a convenience sampling approach. These were then analyzed with the assistance of qualitative data analysis software (QSR N*Vivo) in two stages leading to an initial set of categorical topics that derived in a number of findings related to the factors that influence the tourist’s perception and experience of place.

The Opera House’s perceived urban concealment proved to have an impact on its influence on Covent Garden’s sense of place. But its social inclusion and audience development initiatives that foster a new generation of opera and ballet theatre-goers emerged as important findings as the House’s open door policy for daytime visitors along with live relays of current opera and ballet productions in other locations spark an interest in experiencing the building from the inside.

This paper focuses exclusively on findings related to audience development and social inclusion initiatives currently used at the Royal Opera House and their impact on the tourist’s perception and experience of place. However, many other factors influence these processes and scope for further research is highlighted.

The Royal Opera House’s perceived urban concealment imposes a challenge to the task of developing new audiences for its current and future productions. Its learning and participation unit must endeavor to engage younger and international markets by focusing on the quality of the House’s performances, its heritage and added facilities of the venue such as exhibitions and shop.

The Royal Opera House’s creed of “excellence, access and artistic development” is implemented by extending opportunities to younger target markets to engage with its cultural produce.

This paper addresses the gap in knowledge related to the development of the niche Opera House tourist segment of the cultural tourism market.

Operatic events are an important sector of the performing arts industry and are currently facing the challenges of decreasing demand and price-based competition from other sectors of the performing arts industry. It is posited that adding value and ensuring satisfaction may enhance consumer loyalty, and therefore, the likelihood of sales and continued subscriptions may be increased. The purpose of this paper is to examine bundling as a marketing management technique for opera companies and hypothesises that offering attractive “package deals” that bundle various benefits with the seat ticket may increase participation and loyalty.

A discrete choice experiment with opera patrons is used to evaluate the application of bundling to improve increased demand and loyalty.

It is concluded that offering bundles creates a greater likelihood of customer satisfaction and favourable behavioural intentions, which may lead to increased loyalty. Participants expressed strong support for value-added elements. Such package deals included a variety of elements: opportunity for a visit backstage to meet the cast, informative introductions to operas and facilitated parking options. Consumers’ level of overall willingness to purchase a bundle was altered based on the attributes that made up that bundle. The findings of this research confirm that the theory of bundling can be applied to arts marketing and provides support for the development of bundling strategies to enhance opera attendance.

It is recognised that the research needs to be tested in different countries in order to know the extent to which the findings of this study can be generalised. Additionally, future research could use other statistical methods such as regression and structural equation modelling to holistically model behaviour. Finally, as well as testing customer-stated intentions, the model also needs to be tested with actual patronage behaviour following the development and application of bundling strategies. Future research could also consider how bundling and other aspects relating to opera attendance could be used as part of the branding strategy associated with opera attendance; in particular how to develop, increase and maintain loyalty and therefore brand resonance in opera attendees.

The findings have useful implications for event organisers and policymakers and suggest bundling strategies that could be utilised. It is has been found that loyalty can be enhanced by adding value and ensuring satisfaction, and therefore, increase the likelihood of sales and repeat purchase.

Opera represents a significant cultural heritage and is a valuable component of the performing arts, both historically and currently. Opera is a form of art whose survival is threatened by an increasingly diminished audience whose average age is steadily increasing. This decrease in audience attendance has led to radical changes in the management and marketing of opera houses, where theaters have moved increasingly towards a business-oriented model where improved branding and bundling strategies can be utilised.

This makes a theoretical contribution by advancing performing arts research and furthering the notion that bundling can increase the likelihood of opera attendance, satisfaction, ongoing loyalty, and also addresses a managerial need of an arts marketing organisation.

Opera houses have been traditionally publicly financed in many western countries. However, today many opera houses are facing serious financial troubles, due to the recent financial crisis. There is thus a widespread public debate on measures to ensure agency efficiency for performing arts organizations. Focusing on the reform implemented recently in Italy, which submitted opera houses that had severe financial difficulties to a recovery plan and encouraged forms of collaborative governance (CG), the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of CG on the performance of the arts sector.

Multiple case studies are used, on longitudinal data from multiple sources over a period of up to five years, in order to triangulate the narrative of financial and artistic performance and ensure trustworthiness. The study thus spans the period before the Bray Law came into force (2013) and covers the entire period in which recovery plans were implemented.

The analysis explores how opera houses are building sustainability for themselves and the community in terms of financial and artistic performance through CG. Various forms of CG adopted yielded positive results. Furthermore, more robust forms of CG generated better performance, especially from a financial point of view.

This paper adds to the limited knowledge of CG in the non-profit sector by bridging the fields of agency performance and CG. It discusses how the introduction of forms of CG can build up long-term sustainability, solving the dilemma of how to achieve financial equilibrium without compromising artistic quality, focusing on the case of opera houses, which are notably affected by Baumol’s cost disease.