"The Management of Opera Houses. The Italian Experience of Enti Autonomi"

The activity of opera houses is governed by the directives of cultural policy and the organisational and management choices made by each house. In Italy, the field of this enquiry, cultural policy has always taken a quantitative rather than qualitative approach. Governments have invariably been preoccupied with the amount of funds to be made available rather than the problem of how to distribute arts subsidies effectively. From the organisational and management point of view, the most striking feature is the rigidity of the "Enti Autonomi", (literally, Autonomous Institutions). This rigidity is a result of an imbalance in the division of labour in the production and distribution functions, since each Ente Autonomo is an independent centre of production and there is no organic distribution network. Currently changes are taking place in the norms governing these institutions which, it is hoped, will clear the way for new management possibilities and a more coherent relationship between the spheres of production and distribution. To achieve the latter, the interface between the theatre and its environment must be more clearly defined, and a number of individual houses must be linked in a network to operate together in value creation. This study will look at some aspects of management and organisation in the context of opera houses, with specific reference to the Italian "Enti Autonomi". It will illustrate the close link that exists between management and arts policy, and hopes to make a contribution to Arts Policy and Management. The first section defines the study's terms of reference. The second section considers the macro level and outlines the weakness of cultural policy in Italy ever since 1921, when the first Ente Autonomo, La Scala di Milano, came into being. The third section descends to the micro level and describes the organisational structure of the Enti Autonomi. The fourth section describes the various processes that the Enti Autonomi, in common with all opera houses which are responsible for their productions, have to manage. The fifth section analyses the present and future implications of cultural policy for opera management in Italy. The final section formulates six questions which may stimulate new ways forward.