Who wants to be a millionaire this summer? Fort Worth Opera.
Fort Worth Opera wants the public’s help to make $1 million this summer.
It already has received help from one vocal supporter — Mayor Betsy Price.
The opera today is launching a 90-day “milestone campaign” called Million Dollar Summer , running until Aug. 31, which asks for contributions totaling $500,000.
If that goal is achieved, an anonymous individual donor has promised to match it.
The way we used to do it is to rely on two or three or four people, and now we need the people to say, ‘We’re all in this together’
FWO General Director Darren Woods
The campaign comes “in the wake of diminishing governmental and corporate support for the arts,” FWO said in a news release, and is aiming for donors of all means and ages who want to help support the opera’s “cross-generational appeal” and dedication to new works.
“We’ve always had a pioneering vision for the artistic product and in marketing,” FWO General Director Darren Woods said in an interview. “The way we used to do it is to rely on two or three or four people, and now we need the people to say, ‘We’re all in this together.’ ”
Board president Al Saenz said part of the fundraising will help cover a projected deficit of about $675,000 for this season — the result of a decline in giving and the $1.3 million-price tag of FWO’s world premiere production of JFK (a co-commission with American Lyric Theater and Opéra de Montréal, which helped fund it).
The work raised the company’s annual budget — usually between $4.5 and $4.7 million — to $5.2 million.
Woods said ticket goals for JFK were met.
“JFK met our expectations artistically, the audience was there, and media organizations from all the country and the world covered it,” Saenz added, “but the money didn’t follow like we thought.”
Fort Worth Mayor Price pledged the first donation to the opera’s summer campaign. On Tuesday at City Hall, she presented Woods with a personal contribution; she and FWO declined to disclose the amount.
In an e-mailed statement to the Star-Telegram, Price wrote, “The Fort Worth Opera is exemplifying that even in challenging economic times, arts organizations should always dare to dream, because great art builds great communities. … I challenge the citizens of our city to join the journey and contribute to Million Dollar Summer, helping to ensure the success of one of Fort Worth’s greatest cultural treasures.”
Saenz said the company has a reserve, in addition to an endowment, that they’d rather not tap. The staff offices recently relocated from their longtime home in the Fort Worth Community Arts Center to the Tindall Square warehouse at 505 Pecan Street in downtown Fort Worth, which Saenz said is cheaper per square foot than the FWCAC.
“We have got to evolve and find solutions for ourselves that will bring corporations, foundations and people who will say we want to support this,” Woods said, “and not just because it’s entertainment, but because it’s important.”
The campaign will happen across social media and through www.fwopera.org.
This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Who wants to be a millionaire this summer? Fort Worth Opera.."