( CNN ) -- The fat lady finally sang when the New York City Opera filed for bankruptcy on Thursday after the company fell short of an emergency fund-raising goal of $ 7 million . The company 's projected deficit was $ 44.1 million for the 2012 fiscal year , according to the Chapter 11 petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan . The New York City Ballet was listed as one of its largest unsecured creditors at an estimated $ 1.6 million , the filing showed . The opera blamed a `` troubled economy , decreased donations , and increasing pension obligations '' for its financial troubles , the petition said . Unless another cultural or educational institution is willing to partner with the opera , or there is a `` miraculous increase in donations , '' the company will be forced to use the Chapter 11 process to liquidate , the affidavit said . The opera company also needed to raise an additional $ 13 million by the end of 2013 for future seasons , it said in a news release . The company had hoped to raise $ 1 million of the $ 7 million through an online site , Kickstarter.com , in a campaign that ended Monday . It raised only $ 301,019 from more than 2,000 donors . The organization raised $ 1.5 million outside of the Kickstarter campaign , according to the company 's spokeswoman Risa Heller . `` The odds have been against us for a long time , but in the face of that difficulty we have made tremendous progress , '' George Steel , general manager and artistic director for the company , said in a video for the failed online campaign . The company , dubbed `` The People 's Opera '' by former New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia , was founded on the principle that every New Yorker should be able to afford to go to the opera , Steel said . He explained that in order for the company to break even , it would have needed to sell every ticket for $ 600 . Instead , the starting ticket price was set at $ 25 to make the experience affordable . The New York City Opera received critical praise for its world premieres of works including Robert Ward 's `` The Crucible '' and Anthony Davis ' `` The Life and Times of Malcolm X . '' It opened its current season on September 17 with the opera `` Anna Nicole , '' which turned out to be the company 's last production . `` We need the help of the people we were founded to serve to put on our season this year , '' Steel had said , speaking to New York residents and opera fans everywhere . `` We need you to come together and carry it forward into the future . I hope we can count on you . '' In a statement from the American Federation of Musicians , President Tino Gagliardi said that despite the musicians making great sacrifices in wages and benefits to keep the opera afloat , they long feared this would happen . `` NYCO management 's reckless decisions to move the New York City Opera out of its newly renovated home at Lincoln Center ... predictably resulted in financial disaster for the company , '' Gagliardi said . The opera company left Lincoln Center in 2011 in an effort to save money . Since then it had staged performances at various venues . This year marked the 70th anniversary of the New York City Opera , which opened in 1943 as the second opera house in the city . The Metropolitan Opera was founded in 1880 .
The New York City Opera filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday . `` The People 's Opera '' was founded on the idea that every New Yorker should have access . For the company to break even , all tickets would have to cost $ 600 each , its GM says . It has been a struggle from day one and it is still not profitable.