Towards creating healthier and more sustainable
Opera // Orchestra // Ballet fields
and Empowered Stakeholders!
Our
Mission
To enhance the Performing Arts field through pioneering Practical-Research and multidisciplinary collaboration, delivering sustainable and profitable Productions, comprehensive Services, and state-of-the-art Resources. We empower individuals, organizations, and communities globally by providing the tools and knowledge to achieve artistic, financial, social, and ecological sustainability in their opera, orchestra, and ballet enterprises.
In-depth Multidisciplinary International
Practical/Research in the Performing Arts
& Multiple Award-Winning Groundbreaking Work
About US
Working in a multidisciplinary approach (in alliance with Economy, Business, Arts, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Arts Administration, Political Economy, Macro and Micro Economy, Entrepreneurship, and other sciences), we help Organizations, Individuals, and Societies (at local, regional, national, and international levels) to understand and use in their favor the clues to achieve the sustainability of their Performing Arts.
Every stakeholder is crucial in the Performing Arts Field. From Artists and Arts Administrators with stronger and healthier careers; to Organizations with broader and more sustainable artistic practices, business structures, and services; and communities collaborating at local, regional, national, and/or international levels.
We develop solutions for a better and more sustainable Performing Arts Field benefiting all communities.
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What Makes us Unique?
🌿 4D Sustainability Framework
Not just financial. PAL advances Artistic, Financial, Social, and Ecological sustainability — transforming performing arts ecosystems with a globally informed, field-tested model. We help organizations, individuals, and full societies to move beyond crisis management toward long-term cultural viability.
🧠 “Sustainability is more than money. We help your art survive, thrive, and transform society.”
🎬 Hybrid Model: Practice + Research + Strategy
PAL is more than a consultancy. It’s a Production Lab, a Multidisciplinary Research Engine, and a Strategic Partner — blending deep inquiry with hands-on solutions. From stage rehearsal to policy report to boardroom retreat, PAL turns ideas into action.
🔁 “Not just theory, not just art — tested strategies from podium to policy.”
🌍 Global Cultural Equity Focus
Unlike most consulting firms (which tend to impose Eurocentric arts management models on other localities without fully understanding the unique cultures, values, and needs of each), PAL combines deep expertise in standard and traditional performing arts repertoires and management models with advanced knowledge of underrepresented musics, arts, and cultural ecosystems — including those from the Global South, emerging communities, and marginalized voices.
We operate fluently across both worlds, building collaborations with artistic rigor, sector-specific access, and cultural care.
What does that mean for you? With PAL, you’ll lead the Performing Arts in a way that reflects your vision, your organization, and your communities — not by copying anyone else. You’ll become the best version of yourself.
🌐 “Global vision. Deep cultural insight. Local trust.”
🏛️ Governance & Institutional Design Expertise
Our work is rooted in groundbreaking governance innovation inspired by Nobel Prize–winning economist Elinor Ostrom and the globally renowned center for political economy and multidisciplinary research: the Ostrom Workshop.
Though PAL operates independently, our founder is a long-time Affiliated Scholar of the Ostrom Workshop, having served as a Research Awardee (2021–2023) and Visiting Scholar nominee (2023–2024). This legacy empowers us to guide institutions through complexity, conflict, and renewal — with a deep commitment to international, multidisciplinary thinking and a nuanced understanding of multi-local logics and the diverse needs, roles, and values of all stakeholders.
We don’t see the Performing Arts in isolation — we understand them as deeply interconnected with societies and the interconnected systems that sustain them.
🏛️ “Powered by the Ostrom tradition — shaping cultural governance for a new era.”
🎓 Artist-Scholar Leadership
At PAL, we live by one of our core slogans: Artistically Designed, Scientifically Proven, and Internationally Awarded. Our work is led by Maestro Diego Barbosa-Vásquez — an internationally recognized conductor, scholar, and strategist. With lived experience across orchestras, opera, ballet, academic research, and cultural diplomacy, his leadership ensures that PAL’s recommendations are visionary, evidence-based, and artistically coherent.
🎼 “Leadership with a baton, a pen, and a policy proposal.”
🚀 Investing in the Future of the Performing Arts
We don’t just produce or consult — we build capacity. PAL creates mentorship pipelines, pre-screening guides, and strategic programs that empower emerging leaders and strengthen full institutional and society ecosystems. Whether you're a youth orchestra, a regional opera company, or a national symphony, we help you grow from within.
🌱 “Consulting that builds artistic ecosystems and cultivates tomorrow’s leaders.”
🎯Why Choose Us if You’re a Performing Arts Institution?
If your organization is facing:
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📉 Audience decline or engagement challenges
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⚖️ Board misalignment or governance transitions
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🧩 Outdated models of leadership or programming
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🌐 A desire to grow equity, cultural relevance, or global partnerships
Then PAL is your strategic partner.
We help orchestras, opera and ballet companies, performing arts organizations, cities, schools, and performance-based institutions redefine their purpose, rebuild trust, and thrive in complexity — without sacrificing artistic excellence.
🧩 “Creating a thriving future for the Performing Arts — Globally, Holistically, Sustainably.”
A New Era of Performing Arts Sustainability
Redefining Sustainability in the Performing Arts — Because Survival Isn’t Enough
Most firms focus on just one dimension. PAL goes further.
We help Performing Arts stakeholders — individuals, organizations, and entire societies — understand their full ecosystems and thrive through artistic, financial, social, and ecological sustainability. Our work is backed by field-tested research and real-world results.
True sustainability goes beyond funding, beyond art alone, and beyond isolated social efforts. We empower your Performing Arts to flourish, inspire, and endure — through interconnected governance models designed for lasting transformation.
Practical Research and Applications
at the
REAL FIELD!
The work of the Performing Arts Laboratory (PAL) is grounded in international field experience—because the most powerful solutions emerge from collective wisdom. Our foundational Performing Arts Sustainability Practical Research, a two-decade-long study led by Maestro Diego Barbosa-Vásquez, has been a collaborative journey made possible through the contributions of over 150 organizations worldwide. Their support—through grants, advice, co-productions, pilot programs, and/or the generous sharing of time and insight—has been invaluable.
The knowledge gathered from these global collaborations forms the bedrock of our award-winning 4D PAL Ecosystems Mapping™, as well as all PAL Productions, Services, and Resources. Today, these tools are dedicated to serving individuals, organizations, and communities alike—synthesizing this collective intelligence to give back to the performing arts field.
Recognizing our Contributors
All of our Productions, Services, and Resources have been developed based on an in-depth research in the REAL FIELD! And that is why we thank more than 150 international organizations and people that supported and helped us during this long international practical multidisciplinary path of almost 2 decades. Thanks to all of them we've been developed multiple times awarded groundbreaking work. Results that now are at the service of all Opera, Orchestra, and Ballet Stakeholders, through our Productions, Services, and Resources.
Following you can find a humble and thank you list of some people that, in one or many ways during the last years, have supported and contributed to the understanding of a healthier and more sustainable Performing Arts field for ALL stakeholders.
Team/Advisors/Mentors/Allies:
Opera, Music & Artistic Field
Peter Volpe, Professor of Music (Voice) / JSoM, IU / USA
Megan Starnes, Director of Student Leadership Programs / O’Neil, IU
Walter Huff, Professor of Music (Opera Choral Conducting) / JSoM, IU
Arthur Fagen, Chair of Department of Orchestral Conducting / JSoM, IU / USA
Michael Shell, Resident Stage Director, IU Opera and Ballet Theater / JSoM, IU
Marzio Conti, Opera, Orchestra Conductor, Music Professor / Istituto Superiore di Musica "L. Boccherini" / Lucca, Italy
Karen Gahl-Mills, Director of Arts Administration Programs; Senior Advisor, Center for Cultural Affairs / O’Neil, IU
Bloomington Community Allies/Partners
Steve Roc Bonchek, Harmony School, Bloomington, IN
Nancy Hutches, Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, IN
Benjamin Rardin, Reimagining Opera for Kids, Bloomington, IN
Ines Paez, Society of Colombian Friends SADCO, Bloomington, IN
Tabitha Cassani, Director of Programs, Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington
Tamara Loewenthal, Executive Director, Lotus Education and Arts Foundation
Silvia Panigada, Music and Culture Coordinator, FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
Alex Crowley, Director, Economic & Sustainable Development at City of Bloomington, IN
Holly Warren, Assistant Director for the Arts, Economic & Sustainable Development at City of Bloomington, IN
IU Students for Documentary Project
Robert S Mack, Documentary Co-Producer
Duke Wayne, Director of Photography of Documentary
Alex D'Angelo, Sound Recordist
Founder and General Director
Dr. Diego Barbosa-Vásquez / Colombia / JSoM, IU (USA)
GroundBreaking
MultiDisciplinary Research
Artistically Designed
Scientifically Proven
& International Awarded
Recognizing our
History
Did you know that the Performing Arts Laboratory used to be called the
"Ostrom Opera Camp Laboratory"?
The selection of this first name was an homage by Maestro Dr. Diego Barbosa-Vásquez (our Founder and General Director) to Elinor Ostrom (Nobel Prize in Economics) and to the remarkable, internationally distinguished scholars of the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University. These exceptional scholars have been strong supporters of our work since its inception, providing seed funding to our Founder (as an Ostrom Workshop Research Awardee on 2021 to 2023), and nominated him as a Visiting Scholar in 2023-2024. They have also enabled us to deeply understand concepts such as "Multidimensional Sustainability," "Polycentricity," and "Commons Governance," which we have successfully applied to the Performing Arts.
However, since the name was often associated solely with one of our services (Opera Camp) and primarily with one art form—Opera—we realized the need for a broader scope. Our goal has always been not only to conduct research but also to actively serve and influence the fields of Opera, Orchestra, and Ballet at local, regional, national, and international levels. As a result, we decided to adopt a new name: Performing Arts Laboratory, and to establish it as a separate institution.
This new organization carries forward the knowledge, freedom, and resources needed to profoundly impact the Performing Arts field while retaining our strong academic, artistic, and scholarly roots. These values continue to underpin every Production, Services, and Resource we offer.
Here, you can watch the trailer we developed many years ago (when it was still called Ostrom Opera Camp Laboratory) for a documentary we are creating to present the remarkable multidisciplinary research behind our Opera Camp™ in a more accessible format.
