West Bay Opera Association

West Bay Opera produces three professional-quality fully-staged operas i.e. with orchestra chorus sets costumes and projections every season. Those account for the lion's share of the operating expenses. The Opera in the Schools OITS program reaches over 15,000 grade-school children every season through performances at school assemblies of abridged operas sung in English with student participation in the performances. That program accounts for about $18,000 to $25,000 every season in expenses and serves 15 to 25 schools in the San Francisco Peninsula and South Bay. The pandemic forced the cancellation of all of our performances starting March 2020. Therefore the entire 2020-21 Season Oct 2020 to May 2021 was lost including the Opera in the Schools Program given the impossibility of visiting schools to perform live. Expenses were limited to the most indispensable to keep the organization running provide for the basic maintenance and repair of our building and for safety upgrades to be able to minimally operate and prepare for an eventual reopening. We also spent time reaching out to patrons to solicit donations.