A Career Center Stage: Alumna’s Path to Opera Columbus
September 9, 2025 | admin
There’s so much more work that goes into a theatrical production than what an audience sees on stage. As the senior director of sales and marketing, Kelsi Moore ’21 is one of those essential parts of Opera Columbus.
Although Moore is new to opera, this is the kind of career she has always dreamed of pursuing. She grew up attending the Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati. She also participated in theater through high school. At Miami, she studied Theatre as well as Arts Management and Arts Entrepreneurship. She credits her experiences as preparing her for her first full-time job.
“I think that something that I learned at Miami, mainly through arts management entrepreneurship, was being comfortable in ambiguity,” Moore said. “Which is very helpful when you work in the arts because things change all the time.”
Putting Her Miami Experience in the Spotlight
Every day, she handles anything from social media to content creation to the digital and print strategies of the opera’s pre-show experiences. Her favorite project so far has been a production of “West Side Story” in collaboration with the Columbus Association of Performing Arts, the Columbus Symphony, and BalletMet.
Along with the marketing teams of each organization, she developed the public relations plan, digital ad strategy, and other visual assets for the show. The final production featured approximately 50 orchestra members, 20 singers, and 30 ballet dancers, all mostly from the city.
“It was like a very mega project for our team,” Moore said. “But it was really cool because the audience loved it and they left very proud to be in Columbus and proud of the arts in Columbus, which was really cool to see.”
Blending Ambition with Passion
Her favorite job responsibility is curating pre-show experiences for Columbus Opera patrons.
“We’ve done tarot card readings,” Moore said. “We’ve done dancing on the stage before the show. We’ve done love-letter writing. It’s just a lot of fun to curate those experiences that go beyond just seeing a show. Having it be an entire experience for the audience members who are coming to the show immerses them in it.”
For someone who grew up passionate about performing arts and then studied nonprofit marketing in college, Moore can’t imagine being anywhere else.
“I never pictured that I would be the main marketing person, and everything came from my brain or came from the CEO’s brain,” Moore said. “I think my college self would be very proud of where I am today.”
Learn more about Kelsi and other Miami alumni making a difference.
