This multiplier effect has been discussed for decades. We know that arts organizations are critical for local restaurants, parking, taxis, hotels, etc. Yet it is equally clear that the economic importance of the arts is not fully understood in most cities across the globe.

Reducing staff time and cost is only one of the benefits. The exciting innovation of this new venture is that all member theater companies will also be allowed to borrow the stored items of the other companies, as needed.

The leadership of the Metropolitan Opera recently announced that they were lowering most of their ticket prices for next season. At the same time, they announced that it is now clear that their highly successful movie theater broadcasts are cannibalizing ticket sales for their live performances.

From now on, when I hear people say that opera is a dying art form, that it is outmoded, that young people could never enjoy it, that it is too long, or too serious, or too expensive, I will remember this performance of Così fan tutte.

I rarely go to Broadway these days, mostly because, as a graduate student, I cannot justify spending so much money on one ticket when I could be seeing several shows for the same price.

We in the arts face a major problem: we now have a generation of young people who have had virtually no exposure to the arts. They do not go to theater, concerts, dance performances or operas.

Orchestra has suffered chronic deficits that have blossomed over the past two or three years. The orchestra world is going through a major discontinuity, at best, and an implosion, at worst.