A Note About Sitting at Performances - USHERS

I wanted to take a moment and address a concern I have been hearing through the grapevine.

First, you all should know that we appreciate the time you give to the Opera, and we recognize that many of you have taken the time to build relationships with our patrons.  We want that to continue and we want to continue to provide you with opportunities for service at Sarasota Opera.

As you all know, the policy for ushers sitting at a performance is that ushers may not sit in a seat for which they do not hold a ticket.  For each performance, ten seats are set aside for ushers.  Tickets for those seats are handed out prior to those performances, and ushers who receive tickets for those seats must initial for them.

Additionally, as has been done in the past, if there are seats available just prior to the curtain (three to five minutes), I will ask the Box Office to turn those seats over to the ushers.  Ushers who receive tickets for those seats must also initial they have received them.  We did this on opening night of Rigoletto and to a much lesser extent at the recent Sunday matinee.

I have not broadly announced these additional tickets because they will not always be available, as we saw at the Sunday matinee.  However, we will distribute them as they come available.

Here is the explanation as to why we are doing this.  First, it's a simple matter of needing the revenue.  If we can sell a seat we are going to sell a seat.  Setting aside the ten seats that we do--something that is not done at the other organizations I have spoken with, by the way--costs us $720 per performance.  Unlike the Asolo, we do not have the standing room space for ushers to stand during a performance.  Unlike the Van Wezel, we cannot allow ushers to sit on the steps of the balcony during a performance.  So, we have these ten seats set aside and we open other seats as they come available prior to curtain.

Second, we have received complaints in prior seasons that ushers took seats that appeared to be available, but in fact were not.  When the ticketed patron--in one case it was a staff member of the Opera who bought a ticket (staff rarely get comp tickets)--asked the usher to move, that usher did not.  We have also had complaints of ushers climbing past patrons to get to empty seats inside the rows.  Whether these were isolated incidents or not, they are unacceptable.  Therefore we decided to better enforce the policy of not seating ushers if they do not have a ticket.

Our goal is to make sure that each usher gets to see at least one performance of the opera they are ushering. It does make it more difficult for us to do that if you only sign up for one performance of each opera or only give me one option for scheduling you.  In those cases, we make every effort to seat you, but can't guarantee it.  If an usher is not able to sit at a performance, we will make sure they get to at least see the dress rehearsal of that opera if that dress rehearsal is open.

Again, we cannot say it enough: thank you for what you do for Sarasota Opera.  We hope you see the enforcement of these policies as an effort to make everything fair for everyone who works with us.

Usher Schedule Email

I have just sent the email containing the usher schedules for Fall.  The program we use is telling me that four of you will not receive this email.  That is due to either you unsubscribing to Sarasota Opera emails or because of glitch in how your address was entered.

Please check the schedules here, and if you're on them but did not receive the email, let me know.  We will try to fix the problem!

Usher Schedules for Fall Season

Schedules for the Fall season are now posted and will be emailed out shortly.  Thank you again for your patience.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SCHEDULE FOR SUNDAY, NOV. 3 HAS CHANGED.

As you can see, we still have some holes.  If you are interested in ushering on the days where there are blank slots--meaning slots that have not been blacked out--please email me.  I will fill these slots on a first come, first served basis.

A reminder to Opera Club workers, your call time is half an hour earlier than the rest of the ushers.  This is because the clubs open an hour and fifteen minutes before curtain.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

~Scott

Usher Schedule for Week A of Fall Season

The usher schedule for Week A of the Fall season is now posted.  To view the schedule, click here, then select Week of October 22.

As discussed at the training session last night, the rest of the Fall season will be posted by Tuesday afternoon.  Thank you for your patience.

Thank You, and New Forms Available Online

THANK YOU to everyone who attended the Volunteer Orientation last night at the Opera House.  The turnout was fantastic, and I enjoyed meeting you and answering your questions.

I have made some of the forms you need available here on the blog.  If you look over to the "Pages" menu on the left side of the blog, you will see a page titled Sarasota Opera Volunteer Forms.  You can get a copy of the time card and the commitment form, and you can point your friends to the Volunteer Service Application if they would like to work with us.

Thank you again!  I'm looking forward to working with all of you.

~Scott

Announcing the Sarasota Opera Volunteer Ticket Lottery!

This year we are starting an exciting new benefit for our Volunteers, the Sarasota Opera Volunteer Ticket Lottery!

Occasionally, Sarasota Opera will be in a position to offer Volunteers free tickets to certain performances.  After 10 hours of service, Volunteers will be automatically entered into a lottery for these performances and issued a number.  Each entry is for two tickets.

When one of these performances is identified by the Box Office, the Volunteer Coordinator will draw a number.  The Volunteer who holds that number will be notified and the tickets will be placed at Will-Call for pick up on the night of the performance.  These opportunities will occur with very short notice, sometimes as close as the day before or the day of the performance.  Every effort will be made to notify winners in a timely manner.

Questions?  Comments?  Leave them in the comment section below, or email Scott Guinn at the Opera.

Usher Training

Come join us for the Usher Training meeting on Friday, October 19, 2012 at 5pm in the Opera House!  This  training session is for both new and existing ushers, and if you want to be scheduled for the Fall performances, you must attend.

We will have a group meeting at 5pm then will begin the training which will cover life/safety, seating, and customer service.  Sign-up sheets for the Fall and Winter seasons will also be distributed and filled out at this meeting.  An agenda is posted on the Events page of this blog.

RSVP to Scott Guinn (ext. 228) or email by Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

Volunteer Orientation

**UPDATE** The orientation will be in the theater and the main lobby of the Opera House, not the 2nd floor lobby.  We had a much bigger response to the invitation than we anticipated, and have changed locations accordingly.  So, when you arrive tomorrow evening, we will check you in and point your toward the theater.  THANK YOU!

Volunteer Orientation will be held on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 5pm on the second floor of the Opera House.

The agenda will include a group meeting at the beginning of the meeting to go over policies and procedures of the program.  This will be followed by small group sessions where you will learn about the different departments you wish to work in.

Please RSVP to Scott Guinn (ext. 228) by Tuesday, October 2, 2012.

The Difference Between Oct. 9 and Oct. 19

We have received some calls asking about the difference between the Orientation on Oct. 9 (tomorrow) and the Usher Training on Oct. 19.

These are two separate meetings that will cover different things.

At the Orientation tomorrow, we will go over the changes to the entire Volunteer Program.  The session on the 19th is for ushers only and will only speak to the changes in the usher program, and will include training for seating and customer service scenarios.

The meeting on the 19th is mandatory for ushers to attend.  While the meeting tomorrow is not mandatory, you are encouraged to attend so I can meet you and you can get acquainted with the changes we have made.