Opera Lyra announced last week that it’s closing its curtains for good. On Oct. 14, the company released a statement saying that it was immediately ceasing operations.
“It has mostly to do with being strapped for cash, actually entirely to do with being strapped for cash. And most of that is due to the fact that we just completed a production of the Barber of Seville, that had, to put it bluntly, disappointing ticket sales,” said director John Peter Jeffries.
The Barber of Seville sold only 50 per cent of tickets, when the company was counting on about 80 per cent, Jeffries said. He added that the missing ticket sales totalled about $180, 000, or about 9 per cent of the operating budget.
“The board will continue to meet to see if they can find an financial model that will keep the company going in some other form,” Jeffries said.
Ticket sales are only a part of the company’s revenue, which has fallen in all aspects including sponsorships, philanthropy, and government funding.
The closing will affect nine office staff, six of which were full time employees, and over 100 people scheduled to be involved in future productions. Opera Lyra’s board is volunteer-run, composed of 12 seats with nine current members.