Let me tell you about something I saw last year that reminded me why I fell in love with opera in the first place. It was a production of The Turn of the Screw by a small company in regional New South Wales. The venue was a converted church hall. The orchestra was a chamber ensemble of eight. The set was two chairs, a table, and some clever lighting. And it was absolutely riveting.

The soprano singing the Governess was a young Australian who’d been working in German regional theatres and had come home. The tenor singing Peter Quint was genuinely terrifying. The two child performers were extraordinary. And the audience — maybe 150 people in a room that smelled faintly of floor polish — was utterly transfixed.

This is what regional opera does. It strips away the spectacle and leaves you with the music, the voices, and the drama. And it’s under threat.

The Landscape

Australia has a network of smaller opera companies operating outside the major-city flagships. Melbourne Opera and Lyric Opera of Melbourne in Victoria. Opera Queensland serving Brisbane and regional centres. State Opera South Australia. And scattered around the country, smaller companies and festival productions serving communities that would otherwise never see live opera.

These companies operate on budgets that would make Opera Australia’s management faint. Where OA’s annual budget runs to tens of millions, a regional company might work with a few hundred thousand dollars — or less. They rely on government grants, private donations, box office revenue, and a staggering amount of volunteer labour.

The Funding Reality

Here’s where it gets grim. Government arts funding in Australia has been essentially flat in real terms for years, which means it’s been declining when you account for inflation. The Australia Council for the Arts distributes federal arts funding, and while opera isn’t specifically singled out for cuts, the overall funding envelope hasn’t kept pace with costs.

State government funding varies dramatically. Victoria and South Australia have historically been more generous to the performing arts than New South Wales and Queensland, but even in the better-funded states, small companies are struggling.

The problem is structural. Most government arts funding flows to major organisations — the big state companies, the flagship festivals, the national institutions. Small and medium companies compete for what’s left, and the application processes are gruelling. I know artistic directors of small opera companies who spend more time writing grant applications than they do on artistic work. That’s a terrible waste of talent.

Why Regional Opera Matters

I can already hear the pragmatists: “If there isn’t enough money for everyone, shouldn’t we concentrate resources in the major companies?” No. Here’s why.

Access. If you live in Bendigo, or Townsville, or Launceston, your nearest Opera Australia performance is a flight away. Regional companies bring opera to communities that would otherwise have none. This isn’t a luxury — it’s cultural infrastructure.

Artist development. Every major Australian opera singer started somewhere small. Regional companies provide performance opportunities for emerging artists who aren’t yet ready for — or simply can’t get into — the major company. Cutting regional companies means cutting the pipeline of future talent.

Innovation. Small companies can take risks that large companies can’t. They can programme unusual repertoire, experiment with staging, and develop new work without the commercial pressure that constrains major organisations. Some of the most interesting opera I’ve seen in Australia has been produced by companies with tiny budgets and enormous ambition.

Community. Opera is a communal art form. It’s designed to be experienced together, in a shared space. When a regional company stages a production, it becomes a community event — something that brings people together in a way that streaming never can. In an era of increasing social isolation, that matters.

What Would Help

1. A dedicated small-company fund. Stop making companies with $200,000 budgets compete against those with $20 million. Create a dedicated stream. The impact per dollar is higher.

2. Touring support. A touring fund that covers transport, accommodation, and venue hire would let successful regional productions reach more audiences without each community building from scratch.

3. Co-production networks. If three regional companies co-produce a work, they share costs and each gets a production they couldn’t afford alone. Formalise this with administrative support.

4. Corporate partnerships beyond the city. A $10,000 sponsorship is a rounding error for Opera Australia. For a regional company, it might fund an entire production.

The Stakes

When a regional opera company folds, it doesn’t just mean fewer performances. It means a community loses access to an art form. It means emerging artists lose a platform. It means audiences who might have discovered a lifelong love of opera never get the chance.

I think about that Turn of the Screw in the church hall. The woman sitting next to me told me at interval that it was her first opera. She was seventy-two years old, she’d lived in that town her whole life, and she’d never had the opportunity to see one before. By the end, she was in tears.

That’s what regional opera does. And that’s what we lose if the funding squeeze keeps tightening.

— Margot