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A COMMITMENT TO EQUITY, DIVERSITY, & INCLUSION

POP seeks to create a welcoming environment with a sense of belonging for all individuals. We define our community expansively to include everyone within reach of POP. 

 

Diversity Commitments Under Our Strategic Plan:

Pacific Opera Project collects optional and anonymous demographics from our Board of Directors, staff, artists, school partners, and audience members in an effort to build data on our current impact, to reveal populations that are yet to be served. 

 

Audiences

  • POP will actively consider productions in venues that are geographically convenient for communities with historically limited exposure to opera.

  • POP promotes access by maintaining affordable prices and reduced or complimentary tickets for people of limited means, including children and families.

  • Many POP productions feature new and unique libretti written in modern vernacular, reflective of how audience members speak and tell stories today.

  • POP is committed to live streaming our productions, per copyright allowance, and promoting the live stream to new and/or underserved audiences and exploring associated educational outreach. 

  • POP’s new studio, The POPera Shop, will serve as a venue to authentically engage our diverse Highland Park, Los Angeles community with accessible and resonant  opera.

  • POP seeks to welcome new audiences by building a sense of belonging for all audience members by creating opera that is accessible for every individual, affordable through low ticket prices, and resonant to the people of Greater Los Angeles, in order to build a greater sense of belonging in our performance spaces.


 

Education

  • POP will further expand our robust practice of engaging schools and youth organizations, especially those designated as Title-I, in year-round opera education.

  • POP will continue to pursue funding for opera education programs for youth, as well as student volunteer and intern opportunities.

  • POP will continue to provide complimentary and low ticket prices for students and families, and will provide accessible performances for children and families.


 

Artists, Staff, & Volunteers

  • POP understands the value and impact of a culturally representative group of staff and artists, on and off stage, in order to be reflective and accessible to the Greater Los Angeles community.

  • POP will recruit performers with a variety of backgrounds so that all audience members will have the opportunity to see themselves on stage.

  • POP will challenge inherent bias and organizational structural barriers in order to diversify stage artists, musicians, volunteers, and staff. 

  • POP will actively engage and collaborate with other local cultural and artistic organizations on mutually exciting initiatives that expand our staff, artist, and volunteer networks, and the community of opera lovers.

  • The POPera Shop will be a welcoming space that uplifts a diverse group of opera creators and performers, and amplifies unique operatic works. 

 

Board of Directors

  • POP is committed to developing our Board to reflect the vast range of diversity within the Greater Los Angeles community. 

  • The Engagement Committee will support the Nominating Committee’s mission to diversify its Board of Directors by submitting a list of potential board recruits every year.

  • In an effort to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in board recruitment, at least one member of the Engagement Committee will also serve as a member of the Nominating Committee.

 

The POP Director of Education & Community Engagement and the Artistic Director will provide a report at each POP annual meeting detailing the challenges and achievements regarding diversity and inclusion during the preceding year, and the opportunities and goals for the upcoming year. This DEI statement will be reviewed by the Engagement Committee on an annual basis.

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