Metropolitan Opera Essay

The goal of the Metropolitan Opera is to educate society about culture and the performing arts, in particular, opera. The Met aims to present operas of the highest quality featuring the world's most talented performers and the broadest range of works. It tries not to repeat any operas and puts on from twenty-five operas a season, not to mention the tours and the recordings that they undergo. The Met also attempts to advance operas by producing new ones that are risky productions, which attracts a small audience. It has been increasingly difficult for the Met to break even each season considering the large-scale productions and the decreasing popularity of operas. Previously, they had relied on the cash inflows from sales of seats; however, recently
they have had to rely more on alternative ways of bringing in money such as donations. The major stakeholders of the Met include the audience, critics, employees and performers, Metropolitan Opera Guild, and the Board.
The audience is comprised of different members that the Met probably responds differently to. There are the casual attendees who prefer the more popular operas, the people who attend one or two operas per season because they can't afford to attend any more, and the regular subscribers to packages of tickets who the Met is probably most responsive. The regular subscription holders are important stakeholders because they indicate the success of the operas. If they are unsatisfied with the previous season's operas, then they will not subscribe for tickets the following year, which would be detrimental. Without the support of the audience, the Met will be unable to fulfill their mission of spreading the arts. The critics are important stakeholders because they can either make or break an opera performance with their review. If the critics disagree with an opera performance, they will publish articles with a terrible review in which the audience will no longer watch that performance. The employees and performers are important stakeholders because they make each opera performance possible. Even
though they are highly unionized with complex rules and regulations, the Met is willing to compromise and follow each and every rule. The Metropolitan Opera Guild is an important stakeholder because they support the Met with fundraising, educating, selling goods, and publishing magazines. The last major stakeholder is the Board, who is responsible for running the Metropolitan Opera. While the critics, employees, performers, and the Metropolitan Opera Guild agree that the main goal is to educate the public about the arts, the Board believes that the main goal is to run the operas smoothly and to gain enough revenue to cover the expenses. As a result, the two groups clash when money is tight where the Board wants to cancel some productions, the critics, employees, performers, and the Guild want to further the arts and continue production.