Family-friendly CLO should be a model for Pittsburgh art companies
Pittsburgh’s Civic Light Opera recognizes that business as usual won’t restore post-pandemic vibrancy to the city’s cultural scene. It also recognizes that if the arts have a future here and anywhere, they’ll need to capture the hearts of young people, and they can’t be a luxury.
That’s why the company’s new family-friendly price structure and programming are such good signs for the troupe, and for the theater arts generally in Pittsburgh. And in an unexpected way for the city.
Attendance across all cultural institutions, including the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, has yet to recover from the pandemic. At the CLO, audience numbers dropped by 20%. In a post-pandemic world, our city’s cultural institutions must make their events more accessible and more appealing to new audiences.
Audience surveys and focus groups found many would-be attendees wanted to involve their children in the theater experience, but were discouraged by the cost and the effort needed to get to the shows. This summer’s programming will feature a new family pass with $10 children’s tickets, a shuttle service Downtown from convenient suburban locations and in-house childcare during certain productions so parents can enjoy the shows worry-free.
And that will benefit not just the cultural institutions, and those who traditionally enjoy them, but the whole city and county. The erosion of communal spaces contributes to a growing sense ofisolation, particularly affecting those with limited financial resources and from marginalized communities. Parenting can also be isolating, as many venues and experiences other people enjoy can feel forbidding or out of reach.
Forming connections with cultural institutions doesn’t just create attachment to the arts. It also creates attachment to Pittsburgh. That’s especially important for the young.
A 2020 Knight Foundation study, which included over 10,000 resident surveys, attempted to answer one question: What attaches Americans to the places where they live? The study revealed that community attachment strongly correlates with the time residents spend in downtown areas, often while participating in local events. Access to “arts and cultural activities” was directly linked to stronger community ties.
These findings are even more vital for a city like Pittsburgh, where an aging population increasingly depends on younger residents to continue the work of community-building. When cultural institutions make good-faith efforts to reach out, they contribute to forging (or re-forging) these generational links.
The Knight study also found an interesting pattern: Low-income residents and people of color — historically overlooked by predominantly white cultural institutions — actually value these amenities more than those who have easier access.
By addressing the issues of cost, childcare and transportation, the CLO is not just opening its doors wider, but is reaching out to those who most desire to walk through them.
These initiatives reflect the CLO’s commitment to enhancing the quality of life, promoting equity and strengthening community bonds. We hope other organizations will watch the CLO closely this year, and adopt their policies if they prove successful — as we expect they will.