Background
June 7th, 2007 by admin
Background: Opera Guilds
Across the United States and Canada, volunteer support of opera companies has long been a hallmark of this art form. Beginning with the formation of the Metropolitan Opera Guild in the 1940’s, opera companies began to attract their patrons toward volunteer organizations which united those opera devotees wanting to contribute their services, as well as their dollars, to the company.
Over the years, these groups organized under such names as guilds, friends, leagues, associations and committees, to name a few. The number of support groups grew and their memberships increased as they performed an ever increasing number of services and functions for their opera companies. To talk about just a few:
Education has always been an important activity. Opera volunteers have created and supervised projects aimed at all levels of learning. From young students to seniors, volunteers give lectures, present productions, conduct back-stage tours, write educational information, and initiate a myriad of educational and entertaining material.
Fundraising is another area that has always been essential. Over the years, individuals and support groups have been very inventive in raising the dollars necessary to the existance and growth of opera companies. Balls, parties, tours, tastings, programs, lectures, classes, sales, boutiques, festivals and fairs are just a few of the creative events and projects volunteers have presented.
Audience Development has always needed volunteer interaction. Helping to keep opera companies strong, volunteers worked toward all measures of marketing. From developing programs that attract new people to this art form, to physically selling the tickets at performances, volunteers have contributed enormously to the popularity and successes of their companies.
Formation of OPERA GUILDS INTERNATIONAL
In 1972, Leta Autry from Seattle, Washington, the president of the Seattle Opera Guild, had a visionary idea. She realized that the many volunteer groups and guilds active in different communities all over the United States and Canada, were unaware of each other. There was no contact or interaction between them. In hopes of changing this situation, she organized a “Conference of Opera Guilds” in Seattle, and invited volunteer associations across North America to send representatives. Thirty delegates from 17 different communities attended; their eyes were opened to the possibilities of sharing information between opera volunteer organizations.
A second Conference followed in 1973 , with a third in 1974 hosted by the Canadian Opera Women’s Committee in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Attendance and enthusiasm grew at an enormous rate. At the Conference in Toronto, delegates decided to created a formal organization that could give more structure to its collaborative activities: the organization known as Opera Guilds International (OGI) was born.
Opera Guilds International’s purpose was to facilitate the sharing of information and resources by all the varied and geographically diverse opera volunteer groups. Over the years it established networks of communication between these opera organizations , developed a “how to” manual for a variety of different kinds of volunteer projects, created publications designed to help create and assist volunteer organizations in different endeavors, and hosted international and regional conferences and meetings.
Opera Guilds International was managed by a totally volunteer board of directors that accomplished all the activities of the organization. In 1991, OGI created a central office and hired an office manager (a former president of a member guild) to centralize and professionalize the organization’s management. That effort led to a further step forward in 1995, when OGI negotiated and signed a collaborative agreement with OPERA America, the North American “trade association” of professional opera companies.
The OGI office was moved to the OPERA America headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the two organizations began a series of cooperative efforts in which OPERA America offered expertise to the staff members of professional opera companies, and OGI offered assistance and guidance to the volunteers associated with those same companies.
After a collaboration of several years, Opera Volunteers International voted, in 2004, to become independent of OPERA America once more.
Recent Changes to become OPERA VOLUNTEERS INTERNATIONAL
In November 2000, the organization took another leap forward when it adopted bylaws changes which broadened its scope to include not only volunteers organized in traditional volunteer groups such as guilds, but also volunteers who work in the field of opera under different structures. Recent years have seen many volunteers associate directly with opera companies on an individual basis rather than through membership in a support organization. In other instances, opera companies have created their own special groups of volunteers to focus on specific activities. OGI realized that it was not adequately recognizing and providing support services to these individuals and groups , so it expanded its ideas and its membership in order to include them as well.
In recognition of this move beyond “guilds,” Opera Guilds International changed its name to Opera Volunteers International and its dedication to opera volunteers in all categories.
