PHILOSOPHY • POLICY • PRACTICE
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Mission.
The Mission of SINGTANK is to be a collective voice for professional opera singers, a think tank harnessing singers' brilliance to develop artist-centered policy for our field, while empowering singers as entrepreneurial leaders.
Story.
SINGTANK was launched in 2021 by Victory Hall Opera as an outgrowth of its Mission to empower singers, born of opera soloists' widely-expressed need to have more of a voice in our field.
The pandemic, followed by the recent crises of opera closures and layoffs, has further exposed the structural imbalances that leave singers feeling unrepresented, financially insecure & powerless within the art form they have devoted their lives to, as it fights to maintain audiences & relevance in a new era.
SINGTANK taps into the underutilized brain- and heart-trust of singers to catalyze American opera, advancing field-wide learning by having the courage to change who it is that is asks the questions & offers solutions, giving singers a space & voice to be agents of our own progress.
Actions.
SINGTANK was co-founded by singers. The structure for its first 3 years centered around a rotating, diverse “Cabinet” of up to 20 singer-advisors, who gather at annual, private Summits. These Summits, followed up with subsequent research, generated our Policy Reports, which are available for download here.
We shared these Reports with industry stakeholders and on social media, and present the issues to industry panels and organizations, encouraging new conversations and fresh solutions in our field.
We have been heartened by encouraging signs that the opera industry is starting to acknowledge & address the concerns explored in our reports, including areas such as wages, audition conditions, and harassment policies.
Moving forward in 2025, SINGTANK is focussed on the singer as activist and entrepreneur. To this end, we are co-producing a film about Young Artist experiences and conditions (YAPs), and are developing an arts-entrepreneurship incubator program for singers.
Become a Member and stay in the loop by signing up for our Quarterly Newsletter, below:
Vision.
We seek to:
Be a collective voice for solo opera singer artists.
Be a force and voice that is respected, listened to, and that achieves real change.
Help catalyze and ensure the longevity and evolution of our beloved art form by empowering singers, in all their diversity, within & without the structures of the opera industry.
Tap into the currently underutilized brain- and heart-trust of singers to inject opera with fresh ideas, passion, diversity, research, and artistic courage.
Recognize singers as the musicians, linguists, scholars and intellectual powerhouses that we are.
Foster better work conditions for singers that allow for long-term, sustainable and healthy careers and lives.
Core Principles.
Opera = Singers
Without singers, there is no opera. And yet, singers have been traditionally excluded from agency or leadership within their own art form. SINGTANK seeks to elevate the Singer, in all of their knowledge, power, and love for opera, within the art form and industry.
Genuine Diversity
VHO and SINGTANK are committed to a more human and complex evaluation of diversity — respecting but going beyond purely political notions of race, income, or gender. In our employment and membership practices, SINGTANK will always value diversity, and will make a conscious effort to hire, engage, listen to and empower artists, administrators, and staff members representative of the fullness of American opera & society.
Being a Singer is an Identity
Singing is not just a vocation, or even a calling: it is an identity. Singers bring a set of gifts, purpose, perspective and passion to the world that is unique, deeply personal, and integral to their sense of selfhood.
Just Tell the Truth
The opera industry has long favored operations shrouded in secrecy. SINGTANK will Tell the Truth of its own operations and actions (while respecting Members’ privacy), and will demand the same in calling out shameful and outdated practices in institutions. We will develop new recommended policies and principles for organizations to foster healthier cultures of honesty, fairness, and accountability.
We are a Fellowship
Often pitted against each other in an industry that exploits the career vulnerability of freelance soloists, SINGTANK instead celebrates the true fellowship of singers. We are a tribe, supportive of one another in our triumphs and sacrifices, sharing experience and knowledge known only to ourselves. The bond of our fellowship is our strength.
Be Difficult
Long used as a way to silence singers—especially women and disempowered minorities—the specter of being tarred as "difficult" looms over every audition and rehearsal room in opera. "Difficult" means you care; it means you are demanding standards, agency, or merely to take part in the creative process. SINGTANK prizes the Difficult Singer as the one working to make opera better. As a collective, we aim to Be Difficult on behalf of all singers.
Like what we’re about? Support the Mission and work of SINGTANK by making a tax-deductible donation.
Make a tax-deductible donation through PayPal - no account needed. Select “SINGTANK” from the scroll-down menu. You may also donate via check to Victory Hall Opera - just write “SINGTANK” in the memo!