An Open Letter regarding Diversity in Opera Advertising
For the attention of all opera companies and classical music organisations operating in the UK.
As we enter a new season of Opera making, I:Opera asks you to reflect within your organisations on the progress that has been made relating to equality, diversity and inclusion, and with a particular focus on how your work is advertised.
The demand for diversity on stage has been known to all UK companies for many years, and while iOpera is glad to recognise the positive shift in intention made by many, sadly not all companies are progressing as quickly as we would hope.
It has come to our attention recently, however, that many companies HAVE embraced diversity within their advertising artwork - while in theory this is a move in the right direction, it becomes problematic when the workforce on and offstage does not match the diversity of that advertising.
- While the saying “you cannot be what you cannot see” holds true, I:Opera have received complaints that some companies are advertising their productions as if they have been cast with ethnically diverse performers when they have not been, which constitutes a performative and dishonest show of equality.
- Similarly problematic, is that one member of a cast may come to represent the total ethnic diversity within a production, and it is easy for them to feel exploited and tokenised if they are used to market the production in this way.
- Audiences of colour may also feel tokenised when their images are used to sell the diversity of an organisation which then doesn’t add up to the commitment of their on and offstage activity.
- Having one production which includes diverse artists, does not absolve a company of considering equality and diversity within its other productions. I:Opera considers this type of planning to be performative equality rather than a real commitment to change.
Therefore, I:Opera call on all Opera companies, their planning and marketing teams to ask themselves the following:
1) How diverse is our production on and offstage?
2) When preparing season brochures, how many productions throughout our season have a diverse cast and creative team?
3) Will our advertising artwork give a false positive impression of diversity?
4) If using photography of the cast, (rather than models,) is the cast member content for their image to be used for this purpose, especially if they could perceive their involvement as representative of diversity within the company?
We ask all companies to continue to address the lack of representation within creative and offstage teams, and throughout their organisations, including within marketing and advertising. It is essential that companies are not complacent and continue to rigorously ask: What more can we do?
The positive advances that have taken place over the last few years must continue to progress, without the use of performative equality or cynical box-ticking exercises.
The I:Opera team
www.iopera.org