This year, 60 percent of OPERA America’s grantmaking will support women and BIPOC composers, librettists, stage directors, conductors, and administrators. This is a far cry from 2013, when fewer than five percent of its repertoire development grants were awarded to women composers. Opera Grants for Women Composers (OGWC) have been at the center of the shift, awarding more than $1.4 million since their inception in 2013.

Through the OGWC program, eight composers were recently awarded Discovery Grants, receiving a total of $104,000 to develop new operas. The composers tackle big themes, and big characters, in their grant-supported works: from the trauma of forced migration and the challenges of climate change, to singular characters like Hawaiian Queen Lili’uokalani and Oscar Wilde. In addition to providing funding, Discovery Grants include mentorship opportunities from Peggy Monastra, creative consultant for OA and senior advisor of G. Schirmer Inc./AMP, on creative planning and the business side of developing a project.

Since 2014, 67 composers have received Discovery Grants. Commissioning Grants, another dimension of the OGWC program, help opera companies cover the commissioning fees for new operas by women; nearly 40 projects have been funded to date.

These grants have helped move the needle when it comes to the representation of works by women onstage. Performance data reveals that operas by women account for 48 percent of North American premieres over the last three seasons, compared to 36 percent of premieres over the last decade as a whole. This recent uptick is reason to feel optimistic that gender parity may be within reach.

Opera Grants for Women Composers are generously funded by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.