03 Rigoletto
March 2023
Opera Columbus
Grand-Scale Opera Returns to Columbus!
Rigoletto was a monumental show for Opera Columbus. This was the return of grand-scale opera in collaboration with CAPA and the Columbus Symphony. At Rigoletto, 28% of the audience experienced opera for the first time.
Our followers love to take a peek behind the curtain and gatch a glimpse of opera behind-the-scenes and to feel a part of the production! At Opera Columbus, I create engaging and visually compelling content for all of our social media channels that shares the process of producing an opera and offers opportunities for the community to get to know the people behind these operatic roles.
One way we do this is through our OC podcast called "Opera-isms" where we invite singers, directors, designers and more to join us and share their journey in the opera world, talk about their favorite places in Columbus, the show we are producing, and explain common opera terms to the audience.
We also invite our creatives and staff to do "Instagram Story Takeovers" where they take our followers for a day-in-their-life journey through our Instagram account via video and photos, answer questions and show the behind-the-scenes of the rehearsal process.
During Rigoletto, we created late-night talk show styled interview episodes - Opera Talk! In these episodes, we interviewed each singer about their past roles and current role in OC's Rigoletto. Then we had them compete in a series of games including Pictionary, Bad Lip Reading, Taboo and more!
In addition to this fun content, I also spearhead our rehearsal photography (both hired and personal), cast photoshoots, and stage photography.
From newsletters to social media campaigns to digital ads, our strategy is based in three key elements:
We have found that many people in Columbus might not know opera like they may know a Broadway show like Wicked or Mamma Mia. Building excitement and interest in an opera begins with explaining and connecting the show with things in pop culture that people know and love, like whether the plot is similar to a TV show, making playlists for a character, relating the costumes to a fashion era, and more.
Something all marketers can agree on - is that people love to see and interact with real people. At Opera Columbus, we limit our static graphic design posts and focus on curating content that showcases actual people through rehearsal photos, pre-recorded content and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks.
Finally, increasing our brand awareness is major priority in all our marketing strategies. At Opera Columbus, we are taking opera off its "high class" or "stuffy" pedestal, and invite our audiences to "make it yours"! This is not your traditional opera, we purposefully take a unique approach. For example, there is no dress codes for our shows so we have some people dress to the nines and some come in jeans. Our audiences are welcome to eat, drink , take photos and more at our shows. And we encourage our audiences to engage with and be an active participant in the opera - clap, cry, laugh!
For each main stage show, Opera Columbus offers pre-show events to help our audiences engage with the show - from SALON, Coffee with the Creative Team, Drag Shows and more! I create the graphics and marketing posters for all of these events.
Grassroots marketing is one of our top marketing pillars at Opera Columbus. For each show, I create flyers that highlight the show, cast and connections/reasons why the community should come to the show. We place these flyers at local coffee shops, libraries and community spaces. We also go door-to-door flyering with these show flyers throughout Columbus suburbs.
One of my biggest projects for each show is to create the program. I collect all of the assets, design, finalize and coordinate printing for the program for all of Opera Columbus' main stage shows.
For the Front of House experience, we displayed past Opera Columbus looks to celebrate our return to grand opera at the Ohio Theatre. These looks ranged from past shows costumes to incredible community event looks.
In Rigoletto, each character has a walk-on song. To play on this, I created a Buzzfeed quiz where the audience answered a series of "This or That" questions to learn which character's walk-on song they would have!
Another aspect of the show is the Rigoletto vs. Duke feud. I created another Buzzfeed quiz that highlighted famous pop-culture love triangles. Based on how they answered, they would learn which "team" they are on for the show!
03 Rigoletto
Thanks for visiting ♥