MA Top 30 Professional: Pamela Jones

Senior Artist Development Manager
OPERA America

When describing her career, Pam Jones is reminded of a comment Jamie Foxx made on Inside the Actors Studio. Foxx didn’t understand why his grandmother put him through sports and piano classes—until years later, when he was nominated for Oscars for Any Given Sunday and Ray, respectively.

Similarly, Jones suspects her own multi-faced career prepared her for her current role at OPERA America. She has been a voice teacher. She used to run a community music partnership that included both a wealthy Jewish Community Center and students in Inglewood, NJ, on their free lunch. She served as an AGMA grievance representative. And she knows what it’s like to balance a busy schedule—and the pocketbook—as a freelance singer.

“A lot of the programs OPERA America has, there is no age restriction; there’s no application fee. We’re trying to break down these barriers, because everybody’s got their hands in the artists’ pockets,” Jones says.

Jones frequently works with OPERA America’s Performer Development Network, a community of industry professionals who meet monthly to strategize on how to make the industry more equitable and transparent, whether at summer institutes, emerging artist programs, or in artist management. She has also convened a panel on race in opera, touching on the history of blackface and yellowface, and hosted a webinar on gender inclusivity during OPERA America’s 2023 conference in Pittsburgh. She also touts existing OPERA America programs like Opera RESPECTS, its anti-harassment program.

“We’re interested in the whole artist,” she says. “We never want you to stop singing…No matter where you are in your career, we need to make sure that we’re taking care of the artists… and you’d be amazed at how the art is elevated when people are cared for.”