Pegasus is a formidable opera company that champions Black, Asian and other Ethnic Minority classical artists.
In April 2020, they were due to produce a major opera in London. In fact, they were very close to the opening night and everything was in place for their new production. Suddenly they discovered some of the team that were in America and could not get to the UK and then everything shut down.
Their funders were incredibly supportive in enabling them to re-allocate some of their funds to support the core running costs of Pegasus during this challenging time.
Where they could, they tried to create paid opportunities for their freelance Pegasus associate artists to work with them, as many of the artists and facilitators had been hit very hard by the pandemic.
As they explained, “We want Pegasus to not only survive, but thrive during this process. We had already planned to run an opera mentoring scheme for aspiring and/or emerging opera singers this year, matching emerging diverse talent with our established BAME artists for one-to-one mentoring sessions. Due to the new challenges around social distancing, we are delighted to announce that we have moved that programme online. This will mean even more people around the UK can get involved and we can break down barriers about opera music”.
https://www.pegasusoperacompany.org/digital-mentoring-programme
By being flexible, light on their feet, and responsive to opportunities, Pegasus hope to be able to ride the wave of lockdown and come out of it as a stronger and more resilient organisation.
As an organisation that has always advocated for the underrepresented, they responded to the Black Lives Matter movement during the lockdown period by bringing together 26 opera singers from around the world to sing the social justice song ‘Make Them Hear You’ from the musical Ragtime.
Artistic Director Alison Buchanan was adamant that the Covid-19 lockdown would not prevent her company for playing a role in the Black Lives Matter movement:
‘Pegasus Opera Company stands with those in America and around the world who are standing up against injustice and police brutality. We condemn bigotry and the systems which embolden it. We are committed in our mission of being change-makers and we call on our communities, which we serve, to be agents of the change that we wish to see.’
Pegasus hope to announce an exciting new opera soon, which will be very topical for today’s climate. Pegasus Opera is a force for positive change so watch this space www.pegasusoperacompany.org.
