We were treated to a presentation by Marilou Hamilton, director of strategic partners for the Edmonton Opera and a tour of the Edmonton Opera production facility.
Marilou told us;
1. The Edmonton Opera Society is a professional Arts company
2. It has been around for the past 54 years.
3. It is a non profit society .
4. It is a union shop and
5. it produces 3 productions a year;
6. each production;
a. employs 200 persons;
b. takes about 2 years to produce and;
c. injects about $3,000.000.00 into the local economy
7. in addition to the production of operas the society has various community outreach programs.
We were treated to a tour of the Edmonton Opera Production Facility;
The production facility was recently constructed by the Society to house all of it’s set construction, costume storage and creation, offices and rehearsal facilities. It includes a stage that exactly matches the stage upon which performances will be presented and state of the art equipment, a $150,000.00 piano, a laser levelled floor and a specially constructed sound wall.
We were advised that this facility is unique to Edmonton ad that it has fundamentally changed the Opera’s business model.
Very interesting morning.
