Houston arts groups remain optimistic despite challenging economic times
seems logical to think that difficulties at one of the nation’s leading artistic institutions — in this case, New York’s Metropolitan Opera — could easily spread to its counterparts across the country. In Houston, however, that may not be the case.
On Dec. 26, the New York Times reported that the Met plans to withdraw $30 million, or about 10 percent, of its endowment to help offset foundering ticket sales and shy donors as audiences hesitate to return to Lincoln Center in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opera announced it will reduce its number of performances next season and, more interestingly, shift its programming to favor contemporary works such as Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and Kevin Puts’ “The Hours” over such operatic standbys as “La Bohème” or “Aida.”
Cut to the Wortham Center. Not only has Houston Grand Opera enjoyed “record-breaking” audiences for recent productions of “Carmen,” Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and “La Traviata,” according to general director and CEO Khori Dastoor, “extraordinary” donor generosity and careful planning by the organization’s board in the wake of Hurricane Harvey helped cushion HGO from the worst of the pandemic.
“I will say that for us, we anticipated five- to seven-year returns to pre-pandemic audience levels anyway, so that isn’t news,” Dastoor says. “I think everybody kind of understood that when you have a huge disruption like a pandemic and then you have a hurricane that precedes it, there’s going to be a period of adjustment of people who fall out of the habit, of people who no longer feel comfortable (going), and that you’re going to need the next five to seven years to build back.”
HGO’s fall productions have “exceeded expectations,” Dastoor says, even factoring in the lost momentum due to the Astros’ World Series run during “The Wreckers.” Though less than a box-office blockbuster, Dame Ethel Smythe’s musically and emotionally wrenching
1909 opera — the inaugural production by a professional U.S. opera company — still drew plenty of positive attention: “It made a strong artistic statement and was very artistically successful and critically acclaimed,” says Dastoor.
Artistic risks are nothing new to HGO, either. The company will open next season with a world premiere, its 75th since its 1955 launch with Richard Strauss’ controversial “Salome,” which it will reprise this spring. Furthermore, Dastoor believes the success of holiday opera “El Milagro del Recuerdo” could be a sign of things to come: more audiences picking their shows a la carte as opposed to the old-school subscription model.
“As we diversify our programming, we’re diversifying our audiences and we’re not looking for six or seven things that are going to appeal to one type of customer,” she says. “We’re really inviting a variety of folks to spend one evening with us, perhaps a year; and broadening our impact in how many people we can introduce to the art form and engage with.”
Still, the Met’s difficulties could affect HGO in other ways — by hypothetically drawing the top artists and designers to concentrate on Europe and Asia instead of the U.S., for example. Citing English National Opera, which recently had its budget slashed and may be forced to relocate outside London, Dastoor advises caution about thinking any opera company, even the Met, is “too big to fail.” That said, she’s grateful for her organization’s good fortune and optimistic about the coming 2023-24 season, which HGO plans to announce in March.
“I would hate to see the Met crippled, but here at HGO, we’re thanking our Texas stars that we’re here and that our community has shown up for us in this way,” she says.
Though not without conalso cerns of their own, Houston’s other major arts companies are likewise looking to carry some momentum into the new year. HGO’s Wortham neighbors in Houston Ballet are fresh off one of the most successful runs of “The Nutcracker” in the company’s history — 36 performances that sold to 93 percent capacity, according to executive director James Nelson.
The ballet’s other fall productions, “Peter Pan” and the mixed-rep program “Good Vibrations,” both exceeded projections, he reports, more or less reaching attendance levels not seen since before Harvey. Subscriptions have also rebounded; although ballet subscriptions are for fewer performances and thus less of a financial commitment than, say, the symphony, subscribers also tend to be major donors and advocates for the ballet. Nelson calls them “the lifeblood of the company.”
“We stayed in very, very good contact with our base,” during the yearlong COVID hiatus, he says. “We did what I’m very proud of in terms of our digital programming. I think we were very creative during such a tough time, and we stayed very connected with our subscriber base.”
Despite losing about 30 perIt cent of its subscriber base since 2019, according to managing director Dean Gladden, attendance at the Alley Theatre so far this season has been “much more robust” than 2021-22, he reports. The theater set a 20year high-water mark with its most recent Summer Chills production, the new musical “Noir” and just concluded the highest-grossing “A Christmas Carol” in its 75-year history.
But with audiences increasingly gravitating toward such so-called event programming, Gladden says the Alley’s challenge is to reconnect with theatergoers who are willing to take a chance on an unfamiliar production, “but know that they’re going to see a great performance no matter what the play is.”
The Alley hopes to reach not just those who are wary of COVID, he notes, but folks who would otherwise be sitting home watching Netflix or HBO Max.
“What we find is the arts are very social, and friends go with friends, and if one couple decides not to go, a lot of times then the other couple won’t go,” Gladden says. “And so we need people to come and bring their friends and enjoy the experience.”
The Houston Symphony is coming off an exceptionally strong month. The “Messiah” and Very Merry Pops concert series saw their strongest attendance since before Harvey, says executive director and CEO John Mangum, the latter “by a pretty significant margin.” Other fall series such as Verdi’s Requiem — conductor Juraj Valcuha’s first concerts as new music director — and Holst’s The Planets also ended up doing well, he adds, but sure things have been harder to predict.
“That’s the change, is that the swings are a little bit wider from week to week,” Mangum says. “The variability is higher and the predictability is lower.”
Although he says the symphony has also seen subscriptions decline, here by roughly 25 percent, Mangum is just grateful it’s not more. The orchestra recently won a Deems Taylor Award for livestreaming its concerts, which it started in the summer of 2020 and continued into the fall, when it became easily the most prominent North American orchestra to welcome back live audiences.
“That really helped keep more of our people engaged and subscribing than if we had just taken a year and a half off,” Mangum says. “In some cities, just because of the local regulations and things, the performing arts had to shut down really until September of ’21.
The longer people get out of the habit of doing something, the harder it is to get them back into that habit.”
Like HGO, Mangum says he’s noticed a trend toward more single-ticket buyers. Although he says donations have been great, he believes relying on donors alone to offset the lost subscription revenue would be a mistake: “all that does is kind of mask the problem.” And as with the ballet, symphony subscribers tend to become future donors and board members, so the orchestra now offers packages of varying size, including some that allow patrons to curate their own concerts.
“These new ways of being more flexible, so that we can meet some of our new consumers where they live, are going to be critical to keep that subscriber base growing into the future,” Mangum says.
Happily, Mangum says the orchestra is sounding “spectacular” under Valcuha, and further improvements planned for Jones Hall this summer should make the concertgoing experience even more comfortable. The symphony will also announce its new season in March.
“I’m feeling positive,” he says. “It’s always, you know, let’s just not have any more surprises.”
To that, Houston Ballet’s Nelson will enthusiastically agree.
“We’ve had enough challenges for a while,” he says. “Please give us a break.”