Social media campaign for Lowbrow Opera Collective’s production of
more than friends: a triptych on queer love through the ages

For its fourth season, Lowbrow Opera Collective presented these three one-act chamber operas from LGBTQIA+ contemporary composers and librettists, coming together to showcase the magic, poignance, and resilience of queer love. This campaign took place on Instagram and Facebook.

We kicked off with a season announcement

Shortly after, we announced our development event, called
Indelible: Reflections on Queerness in the Performing Arts.

In recent history, opera has been gatekept by the wealthy. This is why an important part of Lowbrow Opera Collective’s mission is making opera accessible. We go about this in a few different ways:

1. Ensuring cost isn’t a barrier to entry. We partner with venues who offer sliding-scale ticket prices, and simply give away tickets.

2. Offering mask-only performances for the peace-of-mind of our immunocompromised supporters.

3. Live streaming at least one performance by each cast for those who want to enjoy some opera in their jammies.

Our target audience is folks under age 35, so memes are a requirement, as is content that’s unrelated-yet-adorable.

We had two major honors during our campaign!

1. A feature in the Seattle Times

Ultimately, this campaign was successful!

We saw our largest audience and most sold-out shows during our production of more than friends.

Audiences shared how important it was for them to see opera that was so unapologetically and obviously queer.

We drew the attention of major arts organizations and news outlets in the Seattle area.

We unexpectedly received grants and generous audience donations.

Indelible was well-received and set the precedent for what our future development events would look like.

more than friends made us feel pride, and Pride 🏳️‍🌈

Check out recordings of more than friends performances!

2. Nominations for two American Prizes in Opera Performance