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9 Overview The Sydney Opera House is Australia s largest Performing Arts Centre which operates 5 venues throughout the year as well as being a key tourist point, because of its famous architecture. There are over 300 staff employed across the House, both full time and part time Sydney Opera House has a performing arts unit which produces and presents performances, a combination of commercial and subsidised work. There are also key presenting partners who access venues across the year, including (but not exclusively) Australian Opera, Australian Ballet, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare. The departments within SOH include - see attached table Appendix 1 The venue operates 363 days per year, closed one day for maintenance and the other for Christmas Day
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11 Performing Arts Venues There are 6 venues and each one mostly has its different character, with a varying focus around style and scale of work and target audience demographics. The outside area referred to as the Forecourt is also used for special events with maximum capacity of 5,000 Concert Hall - largest venue. Home to the Sydney Symphony, and to a range of musical performances from jazz, rock, world music. Occasional seasons of large scale dance when the venue is available for a longer period, but mostly 1 off events. Opera Theatre - second largest venue. Home to the Australian Ballet and Australian Opera. Between these two major companies they use the venue for most of the year, leaving around 6 weeks for our department to program alternative large scale activity. Drama Theatre This is primarily used for theatre and larger scale dance - key hirer across the year is Sydney Theatre Company, then also Bell Shakespeare and Bangarra Dance Company. When there are available dates in the program our department usually presents a large scale dance season. Playhouse This venue is home to a new program called Adventures - which specialises in smaller scale (limited by scale of venue) international work, covering a breadth of genres inclusive of dance, theatre - text based and physical theatre, mime. This program is curated by Wendy Martin, a fellow producer and runs across the year when the venue is made available. When this program is not running it is used by selected hires - including a selection of comedy. The Studio This is the smallest full time performance venue, which is flexible in respect to seating and our department has complete access to programming this space across the year, which is mostly shared between the youth/ kids program and the Studio seasons. When there are dates left in the calendar it is available for hiring, but this makes up a very small percentage of its usage. The Utzon Room This is a newly refurbished space which shares the role of being a reception space as well as for less formal performance set ups - a musical series is run from here of classical contemporary music as well as concerts for children, called the Babies Proms.
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13 The Performing Arts Team My position is Studio Executive Producer and I am part of a larger team (which is currently going through a period of restructure). At present there are 2 separate units - the commercial arm and our team which presents a subsidised program. We are currently in the process of amalgamating these units. ( see attachment 2 - structure model performing arts unit - now outdated) We are also supported and work in partnership with all departments across the house but with daily project alignment with Marketing / Sponsorship/ Box Office / Production unit for the successful delivery of shows.
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15 The Studio was opened as a new venue in 1999, and the program I established has been running since 2002. My brief was to devise an alternative program to Sydney Opera House and to offer accessibility to new audiences. After five years this brief remains the same, and the program sets out to be responsive to current contemporary performance, presenting new artists and ideas that would not otherwise be seen in Sydney. The program I present is intentionally eclectic, inclusive of a range of genres and targeted towards both niche and more mainstream audience interest. The length of the seasons vary from 1 day to 2 weeks, determined mostly by predetermined audience interest, but also to run the program like an ongoing festival feel. We offer around 20 different shows per season. Over the five years we a have continued to also focus on building our brand - so we are easily recognisable for the type of work we present and for reliability of its quality and the look of our marketing. This is necessary because the Studio rarely presents artists who have an established high profile in Sydney. The program includes Dance / Theatre- with a focus on Physical Theatre ( space specific and alternative to other activity in the house ) /Dance/ Circus/ Music/ Cabaret / Comedy and a combination of these in multimedia productions and club nights presenting a combination of performance and music. It is made up of a mixture of local, national and international productions. This includes a selection of shows already presented in other venues ready to be staged, some seen in more Fringe venues which require added production values to make transference to the Studio space and premieres of work newly commissioned and produced with partners offsite.
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17 Selection! Ofprogram - how it works A key part of my role is to select the program, made up of buying in shows which already exist and taking risk on making new productions.the selection of shows needs to fit into the calendar of activity, considering competition with similar programs across the city and in the Opera House. The program is created within a specific budget where I also predict Box Office targets across the season - some go higher, some lower, but so far we have managed to balance out reasonably well. I also obviously need to work within the overall performing arts mission of the Opera House and be adaptable to changes in policy and new programming streams that are introduced into the Sydney Opera House, as well as maintaining a point of difference in programming style from other venues in Sydney, to try to remain relevant and a uniqueness in style. It is also our aim to offer a good balance of styles of shows to cater for the varying tastes and interests of Studio audience members across the season. As the programming feel I have established for this venue covers a broad range of performance styles, and artists of variable experience, the process for accessing and selecting the work also varies massively. But the underlining philosophy behind the selection is always based on -Quality of the work and its suitability to the feel of the contemporary style program -Its accessibility to Sydney audiences -Who is the audience? -Will it suit the scale of the venue? -Is it affordable within the overall program? Budgeting Studio shows are subsidised via an overall allocation by the Sydney Opera House Trust Budgets are balanced by overall cost of the show and projected income Budgeted costs include: Artists fees plus royalties where necessary Accommodation / travel / per diems Production costs Marketing Hospitality Plus other incidental costs where necessary Projected Box Office income range from 50 % - 80 % Each budget obviously varies massively according to scale of production and level of recognition of the artists(s) being presented.
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19 Work is sourced by: Attending a large number of presentations within Australia across the year through ongoing programs at smaller scale venues, other key performance venues as well as Festivals held across the country. Continual communication via networks for recommendations Relationships forged with a range of artists and producers, where partnerships are established for the creation of new work. Some shows are selected by viewing DVD s, but usually only when there is a trusted relationship already established with the artists in question. Hard decisions usually have to be made as not all the work you want to present usually can be! International work is sourced by: The occasional visit to an International Festival by myself or colleagues who will recommend for the program Via trusted established relationships of recommendations and work accessed via viewing a video. Productions presented as part of a tour Productions are often shared when touring from overseas - between Festivals and SOH and other venues. This is often necessary to share costs of travel. The role of Cultural Embassies is very important in ensuring the affordability of productions -supporting travel costs because of the distances involved in coming to Australia and also moving around the vast country. In respect to Performing Arts and Music - key arts festivals are held in every state of Australia. Adelaide and Melbourne stage large scale Fringe Festivals, Melbourne has a major International Comedy Festival, Brisbane also offers a large Music Festival and contemporary music Festivals are held across Australia mostly in the summer months. The Studio also has a key relationship with the Sydney Mardi Gras - a festival celebrating gay culture. These partnerships are important both to the artists to broaden their profile and build a worthwhile tour and to the Presenting partners to share in productions travelling to Australia.
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21 Locally produced work is also regularly shared between states - where 2 or more organisations may invest in the creation of a new production. This may be solely paid for by the presenting partners or also include investment via a state funding body or The Australia Council. One centre will usually drive this idea from its beginnings and seek out interested parties. At the Studio we commission one or two new shows each year. As we are set up to be a presenting organisation rather than a production house however the work is usually produced off site in partnership with a selected team or established producers as we are not set up for this role. This may take up to a few years before the show is premiered, but this is largely determined by the scale of the show and how much money needs o be raised to realise it. This is the most exciting work to be engaged with, seeing it grow from an idea through to fruition, and if successful to touring beyond Australian shores. What makes a good commission you may ask? A good idea! And a strong creative and production team behind it to realise it. New projects and commissions - whether they are international collaborations or locally produced come about because of relationships with artists and the opportunity for them to share their vision. I believe successful programming also grows from that same place - being open to people s ideas, and allowing a range of voices to be heard within the scope of a program, all sitting within a clear vision.
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23 My role in managing the delivery of the Program The Studio program could not be delivered in the professional manner it is without the committed input of a core group who oversee each aspect of its delivery. In the Studio we approach this as a team and ownership of roles is clearly acknowledged. Production A Production co coordinator is assigned to looking after all of the shows in the program. This person works with me right at the beginning of scoping out the program. Technical specifications are identified Will the show fit the venue? What bump in/ bump out time will be required? What staffing and technical equipment will be required? Budgeting technical components Overseeing the bump in and bump out of the show with technical staff. Project Co coordinator - overseeing details of program delivery including Contracting details Box Office builds and management Details sorted aligned to accommodation / Travel /Per Diems / security issues etc Opening night details - programs / catering etc. Looking after artists needs Marketing Marketing is a key component in maintaining and building the Studio brand Currently we create 2 programs per year working with a graphic designer who clearly understands what we are aiming to achieve. Marketing includes A range of paid placements of material - including post cards / posters / advertising / paid radio etc Large scale e marketing campaign - e cards / various internet sites niche marketing campaigns targeted at specific communities. Publicity Relationships with press for both pre publicity and reviews. This includes - print media, radio, TV, and on line connections. Press releases for season are sent out and followed up accordingly around each individual show. Sponsorship Corporate sponsors are aligned to the Studio program and are managed by the Sponsorship department. The requirements of the sponsors are managed by this person Sponsors for the Studio include cash and in kind support for the creation of marketing materials, decreasing the real costs of campaigns.
24 In conclusion I have set out to offer a practical overview around the running of the Studio, Sydney Opera House. Each season offers its new challenges and in the live performing arts you can try to plan for everything but of course we always need to be open to being flexible, and to be alert to potential problems that may arise from left of field. We can never predict them all when you are dealing with artists and audiences. But that is also the joy, the unpredictability of the industry and a part of the risk taking role we are in! Good luck in your performing arts ventures!
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