"Opera Zuid needs structurally more room for maneuver to be able to fulfill its basic function as a fully-fledged opera company".
Raad voor Cultuur
Opera Zuid is in danger of disappearing due to a serious shortage of subsidies. Our company has learned with dismay of the allocation letter from the minister for the coming period 2025-2028. In this allocation, the minister ignores the call from the Raad voor Cultuur to "actively support Opera Zuid with additional financing options, so that a real solution is found for the institution". The subsidy amount requested by Opera Zuid was € 3,500,000, while € 1,888,300 will be allocated. The Council furthermore writes that "Opera Zuid structurally needs more room for maneuver to be able to fulfill its basic function as a fully-fledged opera company, which also serves as the only opera provision in the South region". While the Council describes the company as "indispensable" and "exemplary", the allocation from OC&W means an unavoidable death sentence for Opera Sud. The minister's allocation places our company before obligations that are impossible to fulfill within the allocated resources. For we can and must not cut back any further. The Raad voor Cultuur namely writes that Opera Zuid's activity program "forms the minimum basis for a fully-fledged opera company in the bis, especially since Opera Zuid also has a task under the regulations regarding the regional distribution of opera [...] with even fewer productions and shorter tours, the institution cannot continue to fulfill its basic function". The minister does not act on the above, and the consequences are disastrous and irreparable: the fragile and invaluable connection that Opera Zuid has been able to establish between opera and societal areas such as care, prevention and welfare, self-sufficiency, education and inclusion, will be destroyed. Exemplary projects such as our Buurt Opera (which was literally put in the spotlight by the Berenschot report, drawn up on behalf of the House of Representatives), will inevitably perish. The value of our company is not only about opera but also about its impact on people and society. Furthermore, this allocation undermines our entrepreneurship: not only is our business model (audience revenue, sponsors and donors) disrupted, but equally the carefully built relationships with co-producers and partners, regional, national and international. Through the minister's allocation, Opera Zuid is furthermore endangered because without the necessary additional resources we cannot meet the obligations and agreements with our regional and local authorities. Without intervention by the House of Representatives during the culture debate on 11 November a.s., Opera Zuid will cease to exist. Season Opera Zuid 2024-2025- Blauwbaards Burcht – Béla Bartók | 1 to 10 November 2024, co-production with Philzuid
- Goud! - Leonard Evers | 8 October to 15 November 2024, co-production with De Nationale Opera
- The Four Note Opera - Tom Johnson | 12 to 28 November 2024, co-production with De Nationale Opera and Nederlandse Reisopera
- Buurt Opera Malpertuis - Hartwerk, December 2024
- Le Villi - Giacomo Puccini | 18 May to 19 June 2025, i.s.m. Philzuid
