We Heard Your Feedback. Now What?

Last spring, more than 600 donors participated in a survey regarding the menu of benefits our members receive for their support. The chief aim of our survey was ensuring that our benefits are helping donors feel closer to the art they’re supporting; or if not, learning how we could improve our work to accomplish that goal. Your feedback was incredibly useful in helping us revise our donor benefits and communications and build a new membership structure for 2019.

So, we wanted to share some of the key insights we learned from donors like you:

1. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!

Having access to Lyric’s Working Rehearsals and Donor Dress Rehearsals are very important to you, and we’re thrilled to hear that! Auditing our rehearsal process offers you an exclusive inside peek into all of the work that goes into building an opera. But it was pointed out to us that there was gap in the rehearsal benefit: Donors at the Patron level ($100-249) are invited to one Working Rehearsal, and Sustainer donors and above ($500+) to Dress Rehearsals, but our Associates ($250-499) felt left out.

Solution: Beginning in the 2019/20 Season, we’ll be offering Associates an invitation to audit two Working Rehearsals!

2. Coupons are a drag.

We totally get it. Remembering to bring coupons to redeem at our OperaShop or ticketing office is a bummer. They can get lost, they can get ripped, and they feel a bit déclassé.

Solution: Beginning this fall, you can receive reduced Member-level pricing when you show your Lyric membership card at the OperaShop!

3. Long Live Passion!

When asked what inspires you to donate to Lyric, your response was clear: You believe that Lyric is an important cultural asset to Chicago, and that you want to ensure opera has a continued place in our city’s artistic landscape. Hooray! We love to hear that our donors are invested in our mission, and we hope this insight will help us attract new donors who share our values.

4. We can do more than sing, too!

It was wonderful to read that more than 90% of our donors are satisfied with the quality of our donor communications! We want you to know exactly how your support is used to produce great art, and it’s important to know whether our message is being heard. We’re so glad it is! We hope that new communications like our Donor Serenade enewsletter will help us take care of that outlying 10%.

5. Favorite Lyric Moments: Past, Present, and Future

One of the most enjoyable parts of this survey was learning more about the moments that helped defined your relationship with Lyric. With memories dating as far back as the 1950s, it’s clear to see that you’re dedicated members of “the Lyric family.” And yet, many also shared that recent productions like Die Walküre, Così fan tutte, and Faust were among their favorites. Some took it a step further, saying that they hope their favorite Lyric moment is “yet to be,” and they look forward to our upcoming season! We look forward to sharing some of these moments with you in upcoming editions of our production program.

Thank you again for your participating in our survey. We are always welcoming feedback from our donors, so don’t hesitate to write to [email protected] to share your thoughts.