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• Strategic and tactical support
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Executive Assistant to the President

Hartt Vocal Studio

Business Owner

Opera, Oratorio, Operetta

1st Prize, American Prize for Vocal Performance in Art Song
2nd Prize, American Prize for Vocal Performance in Opera
1st Prize, Classical Singer University Competition (Boston)
1st Prize, Maine NATS competition
1st Prize, Fingerlakes NATS competitions
3rd Prize, Emily K. Rand Competition
Finalist, Schuyler Foundation Career Bridges Competition
FInalist, Connecticut Opera Guild Competition
Finalist, Peter Elvins Competition

"[Hartt] stood out as particularly stunning…marvelous, deftly executing the emotional extremes that the imbalanced Blanche traverses throughout the opera."  – The Arts Fuse

"...Hartt's silvery tone filled the hall easily with arching phrases in 'Ah forse lui.' Her animated and nimble rendition of the notoriously difficult cabaletta 'Sempre libera' was sung with impressive stamina and technical assurance." – The Examiner

"the perfect ingénue." – The Boston Phoenix

"simply lovely…[Hartt] understands the emotional context in which she is singing…[her] warm tone is supple and flexible – beautiful in its own right." – The Boston Musical Intelligencer

"an artist of sensitivity and intelligence…musically sophisticated…a silvery quality that blooms on top…[with] fine flexibility."   – The American Prize

"Hartt has a lovely voice and a super stage presence, portraying Juliette with thoroughly believable acting, singing with great sensitivity to the story." – The Boston Musical Intelligencer

"excellent…a pleasing soprano who captured…[the] character in her movement and singing." – Berkshire Fine Arts Review

"Hartt...added dramatic flair as well as a tremendous voice to her rendition of “E strano…. Sempre libera” from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata"- The Barnstable Register

Professional Singer

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

The highly selective Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis provides emerging young singers professional experience and development. Gerdine Young Artists sing supporting roles and/or cover leading roles in mainstage productions.

As a 2011 Gerdine Young Artist, Ruth covered the role of Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni and joined the Ensemble for an acclaimed revival of Adam's The Death of Klinghoffer under the direction of James Robinson.

Gerdine Young Artist

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School

Director of Choral Programs

Opera Maine

At PORTopera (now OperaMaine), emerging professional singers master their craft through performance. Young Artists sing lead roles in the PORTopera Young Artist production, which is presented throughout the state of Maine. They also have the opportunity to cover lead roles and work alongside Metropolitan Opera singers.

As a PORTopera young artist, Ruth covered the role of Donna Anna/Don Giovanni for PORTopera's mainstage production, and appeared as Celidora in Mozart's L'oca del Cairo for audiences throughout the state of Maine.

Young Artist

"A superhero in all things marketing and perspectives!" —Holly Mulcahy, Concertmaster, Wichita Symphony and founder, Arts Capacity

"For any org wanting to center their customer and community, Ruth's thinking on this topic is hands down the best I've ever seen." —Aubrey Bergauer, CEO, Changing the Narrative

“The room was vibrating during her [Chorus America opening plenary]...lightbulbs were going off, pens were furiously writing.” —Alex Gartner, Artistic & Executive Director, Pensacola Children’s Chorus

“Thank you for delivering two remarkable presentations. Your work is transformative!”
—Kevin Eberle-Noel, Executive Director, Redlands Symphony

"Ruth has an extraordinary vision for arts marketing, and the arts sector needs it now." —Mark Schaefer, author of Marketing Rebellion

"This may well be the salvation that audience-hungry arts marketers are searching for." —Trevor O'Donnell, author of Marketing the Arts to Death

“Blown away by this presentation and Ruth's expertise…Her analysis of the shrinking audience and its effect on the industry is spot-on and the approach to bringing in outsiders is refreshing and overdue.” —Participant, Las Vegas Arts & Culture Summit

"I've watched a number of webinars since 2020 and Ruth's is the best by far!" —Participant, Association of California Symphony Orchestras webinar

“Excellent. As a marketing person [myself], she touched on the same things we've advised over the years…Ruth deeply understands empathy-based marketing.” —Participant, Las Vegas Arts & Culture Summit

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Merging 23 years of experience in the cultural and nonprofit sectors—including six years’ immersion in innovation frameworks—Ruth helps arts organizations rethink audience development and arts marketing through a customer-centric lens.

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Timothée Chalamet is right. Nobody cares about opera or ballet.

But here’s what they do care about: 

Relief from stress. 
Finding their people in a new city. 
A moment that pulls them out of their own head.
Escape from the barrage of digital noise.

The old value proposition is dying. But the art form doesn't have to die with it.

https://lnkd.in/ewgFBVZY

Ruth Hartt

Ignite radical growth with a radically customer-first model | Arts & Culture

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Why BCG couldn't solve the Met's relevance problem:

A New York Times story this week describes how the Metropolitan Opera brought in Boston Consulting Group to stabilize the company’s finances.

But even the smartest consultants in the world can't fix the symptoms of a demand problem with supply-side tactics.

BCG knows this.

Their own research shows that personalization—a demand-side strategy—can grow revenue 10 percentage points faster. 

So why didn’t they recommend a personalization strategy for the Met?

Instead, BCG generated the same familiar recommendations that have left arts organizations spinning their wheels for decades.

Here's the breakdown:

Open article: The Wrong Trousers: What the Met Opera’s Crisis Reveals About Strategy in the Arts — Culture for Hire by cultureforhire.com

The Wrong Trousers: What the Met Opera’s Crisis Reveals About Strategy in the Arts — Culture for Hire

Arts organizations aren’t in the entertainment business.

They’re in the state-change business.

Generic, vague, diluted: that's often what happens to messaging when ticket sales are down. It's an attempt to be inclusive, but you end up speaking to no one.

What happens when you stop trying to speak to everyone—and start positioning around a patron’s declared motivation?

Four weeks ago, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra began sending personalized emails to a subset of patrons who had voluntarily identified what they wanted more of—connection, stress relief, digital detox.

The NBSO promoted the same concerts for both the non-personalized and personalized segments.

Each week, instead of institutional broadcasts, the subset got personalized invitations. Each framed through the lens of what that specific person said they needed.

Here's what happened:

🚀 Open rates soared
89% lift compared to non-personalized campaigns

🚀 Click rates exploded
191% lift compared to non-personalized

🚀 CTOR jumped
54% lift over non-personalized

🚀 Unsubscribes disappeared
Not a single unsubscribe from personalized emails

The moment personalization was activated, you could see the shift.

This is what it looks like when your market is clearly defined. 
When the invitation matches the patron's struggle.

When you START with relevance, instead of requiring patrons to infer it.

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