Board composition and performance in Italian Opera Houses

The importance of the Italian opera in the worldwide cultural scene is undisputed; in a country where heritage is protected by the Constitution, it is not surprising that opera houses are an important part of the Italian cultural landscape, with 14 lyric symphonic foundations, 28 local opera houses, 6 opera festivals, 3 festivals performing also opera. While still representing one of the main characteristics of the Italian identity worldwide, viewed from Italy, the present of opera is much less shining than its past.This paper addresses the issue of how board composition correlates with different measures of value created by opera houses. The institutions considered are 14 Italian lyric foundations from 2001 to 2012. Given their current economic and financial situations, revenue size, growth and diversification are the performance indicators taken into consideration. We look at individual diversity in boards and board diversity as indicators of board variety and find that individual diversity – when most directors have at least two different backgrounds - is positive and significantly related to the financial performance of the theatres.The impact of the different profiles on revenues breakdown is also analysed