I have fond memories and kind thoughts about Electric Company and Sesame Street and all, but I also have clear memories of Julia Child changing how I thought about food and Mr. Rogers seeming like the perfect next door neighbor.
Recently, you’ll remember I got myself to watch The Ring Cycle from the Metropolitan Opera, via PBS’s Great Performances. Four nights of drama, singing and fabulous staging. Better views than what I would have seen if I’d been sitting in the theater, although I don’t go so far as to say that the theater-going experience is not important.
So, if I’d want to attend one of the upcoming season’s Ring Cycles what would it cost me? $300-$330 per person for the extreme nosebleed seats and $1000-$2600 for orchestra and primo seats. So, $75+ to $250-650 per night.
When we talk about making art a part of daily life and making it accessible, this is part of the equation. It has to be affordable. And yes, local companies do stage classics at lower price admissions and I applaud them for it.
Still, I got to watch the most current version of a very lavishly staged production by one of the top companies in the world for the cost of my tax dollars and donations to PBS. Other nights I learn about writers and artists and history and nature.
Even as I turn off the channel during the local station’s endless fundraising with pandering memory-lane music programming, I know it’s important to support PBS and the local station’s dedication to putting alternative programming out there. In these days when schools strip all art and music out of their curricula, it’s even more important to make them accessible to everyone.
