Attracting young audiences is the future for Modesto performance groups. How it’s going
One group jazzes up a Christmas tradition. Another took part a few years back in a Jane Austen-themed “takeover” of Modesto that included opera, movies, zombies and ice skating. And a third let its Modesto audience enjoy the movie “Star Wars” in a new way.
The classical arts are alive and well in the Modesto area as performance groups steadily engage younger audiences while also pleasing their longtime patrons.
That’s the consensus among those leading the resident art companies at the Gallo Center for the Arts: Opera Modesto, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Central West Ballet and Modesto Performing Arts.
While some might ponder if classical music, dance and other performances garner interest with the younger-than-baby-boomer crowd, the above companies are seeing audience members of all ages, their leaders said.
And the COVID-19 pandemic actually has seen audiences skew younger, with fewer 50-and-older people returning to the theater, most agreed.
None of the companies specifically track audience age, but the leaders spoke anecdotally.
Here’s a look at what the companies are seeing and what they’ve been doing to get and keep younger people engaged.
Opera Modesto
At Opera Modesto, established in 1983 as Townsend Opera Players, they have seen a shift in age among participants and patrons.
Roy Stevens, Opera Modesto’s general director, said in an email interview that the company’s youth engagement programs established in 2018 have “led to significantly increased interest in participation in our productions and attendance at the performances.”
In 2019, Opera Modesto joined the LearningQuest literacy center, the State Theatre and others in presenting a Jane Austen-themed “takeover” of Modesto that included a screening of “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” preceded by a zombie walk; performances of the opera “Mansfield Park”; a special Jane Austen On Ice session at the Modesto on Ice outdoor skating rink downtown, and more.
Many from the Summer Opera Institute for teens, a training program for Central Valley youths, have joined the Opera Modesto chorus and perform in its productions, “bringing friends and family to the performances,” he said.
As a result, the average age of the Opera Modesto Chorus has changed, he said, from mostly over age 50 to now mostly under 50.
Many are ages 16 to 26, drawing “significantly younger friends and family to purchase tickets, as well as bringing a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm to the performances,” Stevens said.
Opera Modesto also has invited 200 to 300 middle and high school performing arts students to attend final dress rehearsals of main productions for free, he said. “These audiences have been incredible; loud, fun, appreciative, profoundly moved. Many of them return for the weekend performances with their family or friends, paying for student discount tickets.”
Stevens also cited the company’s most recent production at the Gallo Center of “Tosca,” when they had to hold the curtain for 15 minutes because of a line of dozens of ticket buyers, almost all under age 25, he said.
Stevens noted the shift in audiences since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What changed significantly post-COVID is that the traditional over-50 audience for opera ... dropped off drastically ... and has not come back, he said. “Therefore,the percentage of the progressively increasing younger audiences has leapt up.”
He said that those over 50, and particularly over 60, “have simply gotten out of the habit of going to the theater for entertainment. Some of those are still actively concerned about being in group settings for disease or other reasons. But, anecdotally, most of them are simply out of the habit. Will they ever get back into the habit? There is no way to know.”
Modesto Symphony Orchestra
It’s not about attracting just young people, but attracting all people to Modesto Symphony Orchestra performances, according to President and CEO Caroline Nickel.
“We don’t necessarily just focus on young audiences,” she said of the MSO, which was founded in 1931. “...We want to make sure we are engaging, serving and reaching our entire community and we consider the whole county our entire community. (We want to) make sure we have something for everyone.”
Nickel said the MSO’s new musical director, Nicholas Hersh, is innovative and creative in his programming, which helps bring in new people.
“For instance, last year we did a short-form concert without an intermission and invited the audience ... to the lobby after to meet the musicians and orchestra,” she said. That event was “very well received.” The symphony has another such concert planned for the 2024-25 season.
Attracting younger audiences has been a topic in the arts industry for years, Nickel said.
When it comes to reaching out to younger people, Hersh has held master classes, worked with students in music programs and spoken about music opportunities at high schools and California State University, Stanislaus, she said.
The MSO also added productions a few years ago that have been successful in reaching audiences that span the generations, Nickel said. Those programs feature popular movies such as “Star Wars” played on a big screen with the orchestra performing the score live on stage.
These popular movie programs have seen multigenerational attendance, she said, with grandparents bringing their grandchildren.
“The programming we’re putting on isn’t just to attract younger audiences but it is attracting them,” Nickel said.
As for how the pandemic has made a mark on attendance, Nickel agreed that “some of the older population may not be going out as often as they once did.”
Central West Ballet
At Central West Ballet, established in 1987 as Bravo! Repertory Dance Theatre, they attract diverse audiences “through a mixture of different types of programming,” according to Executive Director Karin Reenstierna.
That’s led to an audience age range that’s “really quite wide,” she said.
From Halloween-themed projects such as “Frankenstein,” the Christmas holiday classic “The Nutcracker” and traditional ballets such as “Romeo and Juliet,” CWB is seeing that wide age range, Artistic Director Rene Daveluy said.
“Ages skew (depending) on the kind of shows,” he said.
Reenstierna said CWB also reaches out to youth by offering school performances. And the company has an academy for young dancers.
CWB is seeing success expanding its audience age, Reenstierna said. She noted that the holiday “Nutcracker in Jazz” version of the classic they offer each year appeals to a younger, “date night” crowd.
Leslie Ann Larson, rehearsal director, mentioned the success they had with a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” at a high school. CWB showed just part of the ballet to the students, then gave them discount coupons to buy a ticket to see the full performance at the Gallo Center. Many of the students showed up, she said.
“They wanted to see the full ballet and bought a ticket to do that,” Larson said.
“To see that kind of turnaround immediately is gratifying,” she said.
The pandemic also has resulted in a shift in age range for the company, Daveluy said.
“Yes, it did affect that part of it,” he said. “We still have our supporters who are of an older age who come and support the ballet. But there’s a replacement of the younger generation that’s taking over the gap, if you will.”
Modesto Performing Arts
Modesto Performing Arts Artistic Director Paul Tischer founded the company in 1968 as Modesto Youth Theatre. He said their audiences today include “everything from young people to older and retired people.”
Like others, MPA audience age ranges are a mix depending on the show, he said, citing some of the productions the company has presented.
“If we’re doing something like ‘Grease,’ that’s going to appeal to a much younger audience, so you get teens, people in their 30s and older people, too,” he said.
“West Side Story” appeals mainly to an older audience that is familiar with the show, he said.
“Get to ‘The King and I,’ that’s a show that’s going to appeal to an older audience. (People) under 30 or 40, they won’t know the show at all.”
While the other arts group leaders noted the shift since the pandemic, Tischer said he has not noticed the same for MPA.
MPA just wrapped up its sold-out production of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Gallo Center, which featured a young cast, mostly in their teens and 20s.
He agreed that such younger casts bring in younger audiences, including their friends “to cheer them on.”
Tischer emphasized the need for new and younger audiences. “I think it’s very important, they’re our future theatergoers, our patrons,” he said. “I think it’s very important for any arts group to develop younger audiences because they are (ultimately) going to become our older audience.”
