About this project

NEW AMERICAN OPERA (working title) will explore the development of a truly American way of telling stories through music. With the changing cultural, social, and demographic scene, it includes influences from the opera, Broadway and the “alternative music-theater” worlds resulting in a “cross-over” trend that is contributing to a shift toward a new art form. Our overall goal is to help change attitudes toward opera and music-theater, and to build audiences for ambitious new works. In turn, this can help organizations increase ticket sales for all their programs – new and traditional.

Champion, photo by Ken Howard

Champion, photo by Ken Howard

About this project

NEW AMERICAN OPERA (working title) will explore the development of a truly American way of telling stories through music. With the changing cultural, social, and demographic scene, it includes influences from the opera, Broadway and the “alternative music-theater” worlds resulting in a “cross-over” trend that is contributing to a shift toward a new art form. Our overall goal is to help change attitudes toward opera and music-theater, and to build audiences for ambitious new works. In turn, this can help organizations increase ticket sales for all their programs – new and traditional.

Objectives

We’re developing this documentary to honor and celebrate the efforts and achievements of the talented and dedicated creators who are creating new operas and new ways of telling stories through music, and to expand awareness and interest in new works to increase ticket sales across all forms of musical storytelling. This will ultimately encourage producers to program new work on their stages and streaming platforms.

Intended Audiences

  • Opera audiences who are dedicated to the inherited, European repertoire and haven’t been exposed to new opera or other forms of storytelling through music.
  • Broadway-style musical theater fans who have avoided opera, assuming that the stories aren’t socially or politically relevant to them

Budget Overview

The documentary has a $650,000 budget. To date, we have raised $100,000 from individual donors in Minnesota. As we expand our individual fundraising efforts to New York, Houston, and Los Angeles, we are beginning to apply to private foundations and courting corporate sponsors.

Projected Timeline & Distribution

We anticipate beginning production in Fall 2024 or Winter 2025, with a completion date and distribution beginning in 2027.