Advocacy efforts by opera administrators, trustees, OPERA America, and its nonprofit partners demonstrated their power over the past two years: The opera industry received more than $221 million in federal aid during the pandemic, according to a fall 2021 survey of OPERA America’s Professional Company Members.

Since March 2020, the U.S. Congress enacted several major pieces of legislation totaling well over $6 trillion in pandemic aid, including support of the arts and cultural sector at the state and local levels. Four main relief programs — Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Shuttered Venue Operators Grants (SVOG), Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERTC), and special support from the National Endowment for the Arts and regional arts agencies — buoyed opera companies until they could begin performing for their communities again.

Research excerpted from OPERA America’s 2021 Annual Field Report, a comprehensive overview of the industry’s financial health published in January 2022.

This article was published in the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of Across the Board, a publication of OPERA America for opera company trustees.