Met Artists Need Your Help: You Can Make A Difference!

On March 19th, the Metropolitan Opera made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of its 2019-2020 season.

At that moment, hundreds of Met Opera artists were without work. Due to the necessity of adhering to the social distancing directives, there would be no hope for our artists to find other performance opportunities to recoup lost wages, nor was there a possibility of finding alternate employment as many businesses in the New York area had been forced to eliminate staff or close their doors.

In the midst of these challenging times, the Met Chorus Artists, Inc. feels compelled to come to the aid of our fellow artists in financial distress.

We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organized and operated by the members of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus as a vehicle for outreach, education, and valuable partnerships with other non-profit organizations. Realizing that so many of our Met Family were struggling to support their families, we decided to create a fundraising initiative to help as many artists as we can.

Our campaign will help the members of our Metropolitan Opera family who are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). This includes dancers, stage managers, staff performers full-time and extra choristers, stage directors, and soloists, all of whom are suffering economic hardship due to the Met’s closure. Our goal is to help bridge the financial gap between now and when the Met is finally able to reopen. The more money we raise, the more we can share with our Met artists whose livelihood is threatened by the continued effects of the virus. 

These are uncertain times, and we know many of you are also financially affected by the pandemic. If you are able, we invite you to participate in our fundraising drive and to donate what you can. We are grateful for any amount that you can give to enable us to help as many artists as possible. 

All monetary donations are tax-deductible and will be used solely to give emergency financial assistance to our AGMA Met Family.

Thank you in advance for your kindness, generosity, and continued support of all of your beloved Met Artists!

Update #1:

Today is a huge day for the Met Chorus Artists fundraising campaign.

Thanks to the incredibly generous donation of $150,000 from a Metropolitan Opera Board Member, we have surpassed our initial fundraising goal of $100,000! 

Our generous board member has issued a statement along with his contribution:

“As a board member of three arts organizations – The Metropolitan Opera, Dramatists Guild Foundation, and Opera America – I’m acutely aware what effect the total shut down of the performing arts is having on people who bring the arts to life.  While we all wait for the day it is safe for performers and audiences to return to theaters, many are already experiencing financial hardship as the various sources of emergency funding begin to wind down.  Personally, I felt it was important to support these organizations to help sustain them, and provide assistance directly to campaigns established to make emergency grants to individuals – such as the ones started by the Met Chorus Artists and Dramatists Guild Foundation.  My hope is that these contributions will help bring attention to the plight of so many involved in the performing arts, and encourage others to contribute what they can during this unprecedented time.” 

This incredible act of kindness will go far to help our colleagues in need. But, there is still more work to be done.

The more money we raise, the better we can help our out-of-work artists in a more meaningful way.

So, we've raised our campaign goal to $300,000.

Over 300 Met AGMA artists are still in financial distress due to the closure of the Met and the continuing effects of the pandemic, and we need your help to reach our next big milestone. Please share the link for our GoFundMe campaign to help us get the word out. If you have the ability to give, your donation will enable us to make a more significant impact on the lives of our artists whose main source of income has evaporated.

We look forward to that glorious day the Met reopens and we will once again be reunited with you, our fans, who so generously supported us in our time of need! Thank you! 

Update #2:

What a whirlwind it has been for the Met Chorus Artists Fundraising Campaign.

When this campaign began back in May, we couldn’t have imagined the monumental outpouring of support we received. Almost 500 individual donations came in from opera lovers all around the world, and we received major contributions from who we ended up calling our “guardian angels”: Graham Berwind; Bob Doorenbos; the anonymous donor that spearheaded our successful $25,000 matching campaign; and Rolex, who donated $250,000 in support of Met AGMA artists. All in all, over $500,000 was raised for the dancers, choreographers, soloists, chorus members, stage managers, staff performers, and stage directors that lost income as a result of the Met’s closure due to COVID-19.

We are overwhelmed by the generosity of each and every donor who came through for us in our time of need.

We could not have done this without you.

Honestly, there aren’t enough words to tell you how immensely grateful we are to everyone who donated to our fundraising effort. The goal has always been to help struggling Met AGMA artists in need, whatever the amount may be. But the amount that all of you helped us raise will make a concrete difference in their lives during a frighteningly uncertain time.

In the words of Gina Lapinski, a Metropolitan Opera stage director, “we want to be able to offer opera, which is something that touches the soul. More than anything, we’re going to need to feed our souls again. Your support is what’s getting us through this. In the meantime, please stay safe, and we hope to be performing for you again, in the near, near future.”