Corporate Partnerships Just the ticket for your business
Think you know us? Think again. Scottish Opera is Scotland’s national opera company and the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. We are a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, with an annual turnover of around £11.5 million.
We exist to perform and to produce work that Scotland can be proud of. At its best, opera is the pinnacle of live performance – it excites the senses, entertains, thrills, surprises and delights – and we perform it to an international standard, employing award-winning singers, conductors and directors who are in global demand. Surprising reach We’re proud to take this amazing art form both to city centre theatres and to village halls, schools and community centres the length and breadth of Scotland, reaching 110,000 people in over 50 different venues every year. We range beyond Scotland too, and have recently run projects in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Delhi and Georgia. Surprising audiences Our largest audience group is Mosaic Scotland Group A (Upper Echelons), but since 2006, our Under 26 campaign has also encouraged over 12,500 young people to attend one of our shows. Our youngest audience members (at BabyO ) are just 6 months old. Surprising introductions Our education team has been introducing newcomers to the world of opera for 40 years and our Primary Schools Tour gives over 8,000 pupils each year an opportunity to perform in their own schools. Surprising partners In the past couple of years, we have worked with The Scottish Sun, Aberdeen’s Word Festival, the Royal Scottish Variety Show, HMP Shotts and T in the Park… …but we don’t just collaborate to perform – this season we’ve also worked with many businesses to create a range of sponsorship and hospitality packages tailor-made to suit their needs.
Image above Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach, 2011. Photo Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
We don’t just sing. We listen. We work in the arts, but we’re also business people and experienced professionals. We understand that every business is different and that you’re looking for a return on your investment. That’s why we don’t want to shoe-horn you into a one size fits all partnership. We want to create long-lasting, personal relationships that are as beneficial to you as they are to us. Maybe you want to entertain your clients, enrich your Corporate Social Responsibility programme, or arrange imaginative training for your staff. Or perhaps you simply want to raise your company’s profile by partnering a National Performing Company at the top of its game. Whatever your aims, we can help. Our corporate packages are designed around cash sponsorship, but we also create in-kind partnerships, where you can showcase your products and services in a totally unique setting, while contributing in a very practical way to our work.
Image opposite The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart, 2010. Photo Mark Hamilton.
A night like no other Are you looking for an opportunity to dazzle your clients? Whether you’re a regular ticket buyer or a total novice, nothing can compare to the thrill of top-quality live performance, and at Scottish Opera, we’re all about quality. Glamorous surroundings, the choicest food and wines, glitter, glitz and phenomenal music. It’s just the ticket for a night to remember. Our corporate entertainment packages give you and your guests tickets for the best seats in the house, exclusive pre-performance and interval drinks, and complimentary programmes. If you’re looking for something longer term, Corporate Membership gives you the flexibility of entertaining at performances on a regular basis over the course of a year. You’ll also be credited in our programmes, promoting your brand to our unique audience.
Image opposite Manon, Massenet, 2009. Photo Mark Hamilton.
Take centre stage If you’re looking for impact, performance sponsorship could be just the ticket, bringing your brand to prominence in front of an audience of up to 1800 people. Your chosen performance is dedicated entirely to you. That means acknowledgement on the surtitle screen above the stage, branded slips inserted into every programme, the opportunity to create displays for the theatre foyer and acknowledgement in the production programme. You can take on the role of host for the night, treating your chosen VIPs to top price tickets and exclusive pre-performance and interval drinks. If you want to make even more of a night of it, we can also create bespoke events with personalised pre-show talks from our creative teams, and post-show receptions with the stars from the show.
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We perform regularly in Scotland’s big cities but our smaller touring productions visit up to 50 other venues every year, from Shetland to the Borders and back again. Both individual performance sponsorship and tour sponsorship packages are available. So we can be as far reaching or as focused as your business strategy demands.
Production sponsorship is our highest level of corporate partnership. Branding on all publicity materials for the full run of your chosen opera, extensive entertainment opportunities, getting in behind the scenes…you join us in the creative journey.
Image above La bohème, Puccini, Theatre Royal Glasgow, 2010. Photo Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Make a difference Your sponsorship doesn’t just make a difference to us, it can also benefit the communities we engage with across the country, and the thousands of children our Education and Outreach team works with each year. 45,000 people are involved in our education activities each year. Perfect for developing your Corporate Social Responsibility programme, sponsorship opportunities range from our annual Primary Schools Tour to inspirational projects for adults and children with physical disibilities. Benefits are as imaginitive as the projects you support, with possibilities including staging a one-off performance in your workplace or bespoke creativity days for staff and their families.
AerialO (2011), a performance arts project for children with physical disabilities.
Top: On the Rim of the World (2011), a community outreach project run in the Gorbals. Bottom: A Little Bit of...Rigoletto (2011), taking opera out of the theatre, Botanic Gardens, Glasgow.
Images above AerialO, photo Dave Provis. All other photos Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Dr Ferret’s Bad Medicine Roadshow (2011), performed by our Connect Youth Company, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.
Tap our expertise You can make a difference to your own staff too, with our imaginative and inspirational training programmes. Great productions don’t just happen, they are created. Opera directors face a unique set of challenges. Faced with casts and creative teams with a huge range of strengths, weaknesses, talents and uncertainties, it’s their job to pull everything together to create a spectacular performance that is much more than the sum of its parts. And these skills aren’t just useful in a theatre – they can be applied to any business. Teamwork, communication, creative planning, people management, generating and realising ideas, risk taking…your business can benefit from our expertise. With courses and workshops tailored to suit your needs, we can offer you a totally different approach to staff training.
Images above Scottish Opera’s Production Studios – (left to right) the scenery workshops, props store, wardrobe store, shoe store, props workshop and wigs department. Photos Liz Lees.
‘Scottish Opera has proved itself to be innovative and willing to listen and learn from business enterprise. For us it has been an extremely rewarding partnership.’
Bill McDonald, Managing Director, Accenture Scotland – our Principal Sponsor since 2008. Our very successful partnership won the coveted Arts & Business Cultural Branding award 2009.
‘Being involved with Scottish Opera allows us to present our business to clients in a whole new way.’ Ian Smith, Sales Director, Linde Material Handling Scotland Ltd – in-kind sponsor who provides the forklift truck we use in our set-building workshops.
‘People still talk about the singing waiter – what a lovely addition to a special evening.’ Brian McNelis, Operations Manager, Hilton Garden Hotel, Glasgow City Centre – a longstanding sponsor whose guests at the hotel’s 10th anniversary celebrations were treated to a surprise appearance by a Scottish Opera singer.
‘Our sponsored performance of Rigoletto was first class, both artistically and in the management of our event by the Scottish Opera team.’
Martin Ewart, Managing Director of Energy, Utilities and Telecoms, Logica UK – performance sponsor who uses our shows for corporate entertainment and profile building in Scotland.
Find out more about Corporate Partnerships on 0141 242 0553 or email corporate@scottishopera.org.uk
Cover image Scottish Opera at Club Noir, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2010. Photo Bart Madejski. Scottish Opera
scottishopera.org.uk Registered in Scotland Number SC037531 Scottish Opera Scottish Charity Number SC019787 Scottish Opera Theatre Royal Ltd – Scottish Charity Number SC014382 Scottish Opera Endowment Trust – Scottish Charity Number SC003924
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