Austin Opera’s new HQ welcomes smaller arts orgs to the stage

Austin Opera leaders aim to turn the organization’s new headquarters and performance space into a bustling hub for arts groups increasingly pressured for space in Austin.

Last week the group, which holds its major performances at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, announced the purchase of a 16,000-square-foot facility in Southeast Austin near Montopolis Drive. The $4.5 million purchase of a former architectural company building provides the opera with offices, storage areas, rehearsal studios and meeting and gathering spaces, plus a 195-seat performance venue available to other arts groups 40 weeks out of the year.

General director and CEO Annie Burridge quickly named groups such as Austin Chamber Music Center, One Ounce Opera, and Local Opera Local Artists as potential users of the new facilities, which Austin Opera will likely use for some of its own smaller performances. She said nonmusical arts groups could also easily fall into the mix.

“There’s composers in town that are in faculty at UT, but if they want to workshop a new space, they need a place to do that,” she said. “This is a whole new ball game. Now that we’re going to have a secondary venue that we own and control, we hope to be offering programming ourselves year-round, but also through all our partners, colleagues and renters – they’ll be able to do it, too.”

Burridge said Austin Opera has long had working relationships with other local arts groups and a willingness to share resources, but its previous headquarters near the intersection of MoPac Expressway and U.S. Highway 183 lacked the parking and overall flexibility of the new space, which has 300 parking spaces available for most evenings and weekends.

The purchase of the new space was made possible via a $7.5 million capital campaign, which is almost halfway complete. Beyond the sale price, the additional $3 million will be used to modify and improve the facility to best accommodate performances and other creative uses.

“I could book the space 365 days a year now, just with our existing friendships. We work with everyone in the city, and they all need this space,” Burridge said. “It would be certainly interesting if there are other types of organizations that aren’t in the theater. We know theater, we know all the music, we know the classical music, we know many of the dance organizations. But what we’re hoping is with this new location, that there are additional opportunities with other types of music.”

While supporters of the opera group have stepped up to help with the capital campaign, the organization has had to turn to philanthropists to help fund some of its programming efforts that for many years were paid for with Cultural Arts grants from the city. With those grants restructured in recent years to emphasize equity and funding newer groups, Burridge said established organizations have been forced to look for private help in a city with major economic growth but a relatively young and disconnected network of wealthy potential givers.

“It’s about individual philanthropists and then just working with anyone who is some center of influence, whether they’re in an elected position or any leadership position, and just continuing to make the case for what the creative arts do to make a city more livable and more creative and just a better community,” she said.

“The biggest red herring in the nonprofit community is that folks think that the corporations are charitable, and they’re not … there’s amazing companies who are an exception to this, like HEB. God bless HEB. They’re incredible. But corporate philanthropy is not going to move the dial.”

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Posted In: Music & Entertainment, District 3