By Rebecca Ann S. Kirk, Manager of
Education Programs
I was nominated by
our General and Artistic Director, Esther Nelson, to apply for the Career
Advance initiative to attend Opera Conference 2016. OPERA America selected my
application to be one of 10 emerging arts leaders in its inaugural cohort. The initiative
was created to meet the needs of the field by providing more levels of career
support for opera professionals. (OPERA America already has a highly regarded
Leadership Intensive program.) As the
Manager of Education Programs, until now, my professional development has
centered around best practices in arts education and community engagement, but
not specifically in opera. I welcomed the opportunity to connect with
colleagues in the field and learn the best practices in opera that were being
implemented successfully in different communities throughout North America.
After a whirlwind of new faces, long days, and lots of opera,
punctuated by French pastries and café au lait, I have had a chance to reflect
on my experience in Montréal at Opera Conference 2016 and would like to share a few
insights. My insights ended up to be more broadly reaching than my personal
career development, yet I found that these take-aways were also highly
supportive of the work I do, and in ways I hadn’t experienced before working within an
arts organization. I returned to Boston inspired to continue to offer my best
work to the community. Here is what I learned:
Community Engagement
is essential. There was a general trend throughout the conference
discussing various ways to truly, deeply engage our communities in a meaningful
and lasting way. Opera has always been a highly social, community centralized
art form. And opera professionals are realizing that in this manner, we must
return to our roots if we are to remain vital to the community, which also means
innovating, listening, and responding to our community in ways that draw them
to us. As a side note, having dedicated
my career to community engagement and arts education and often feeling like my
work was viewed as “extra,” and “cute,” at
Opera Conference I felt like the devout chorister singing “amen!” in response
to this sermon.
The theme for the conference this year was Global Strategies, Local Actions, and
each company and individual was encouraged to ask themselves the
question: “How are we relevant to our
community and how do we add value?” I was inspired by innovations of companies who are deeply engaging their local community. Here are a few
highlights:
- Houston Grand Opera’s chamber opera commission, O Columbia, about the Columbia space
shuttle disaster, created through an in-depth partnership with NASA.
- Opera Vancouver’s commission of, Stick Boy, with libretto by a spoken
word artist’s biographical work on bullying. After it’s success on the
mainstage, the opera was then adapted into a touring production to schools with
accompanying supportive materials. Opera Vancouver also created a new
production of The Magic Flute through
their ongoing partnership with the First Nation communities in British Columbia,
retelling the classic opera through native traditions, art, language and
culture.
-
Opera Memphis’s community initiative, 30 Days of Opera, where they bring opera
all over Memphis with pop-up performances every day for 30 days.
- Manitoba Opera’s engagement relating to their
season by partnering with local agencies to engage the community in difficult,
yet critical social dialogue around topics including intellectual disability in
conjunction with Of Mice and Men, and
adult male suicide in conjunction with Werther.
The field of opera is
grappling with issues of cultural diversity and ways to create inclusivity.
Like almost every other industry, opera too faces challenges on how to
adapt and broaden this centuries-old Western European art form for the 21
st
Century in our increasingly global community. Fortunately, the art form itself
is flexible and has historically embraced many different traditions;
and the arts naturally lend themselves to a
continual process of reimagining and story-telling. The leaders in the field,
however, are mulling over how to best make these necessary changes in
meaningful ways. Issues of diversity include not only what may first come to
mind: racial differences, but also people of different genders, generations,
socioeconomic values, nationalities, and abilities. Issues of diversity touch
every aspect of the industry including personnel, artists, donor cultivation,
grants, marketing, audience services, education, and community
engagement—basically any area that interfaces with people, which in opera, is
just about everything! Although naturally there are different opinions on this
matter, it was a topic that colored many of the sessions either directly or
indirectly, and one that the field is currently thinking critically about.
Retreat is great for building relationships. Although not a
conscious goal, I found that the opportunity to spend time and get to know
colleagues from within my company with whom I don’t work directly very often was
invaluable. (And even some that I do!) There is something about being with
people you know but in a different location or context that helps facilitate
relationship building—even (especially!) in instances where we sharing a meal and not talking
about opera. These strengthened relationships have positively lead into my day-to-day work life.
In addition, I was able to have face-to-face
conversations with my colleagues across the country. Relationship-building is
essential in any industry, and especially in the highly-collaborative field of
opera. By putting faces to names, sharing handshakes and hugs, and geeking-out in
discussions on opera pedagogy for K-12 students, I returned to my desk feeling
more supported in the work I do each day knowing I am part of a network.
We gathered because we are passionate about opera. Hundreds of
opera professionals took time out of their busy lives to convene with colleagues
in the beautiful city of Montr
éal for four days to talk about opera
and how to make it better. As a group we are highly dedicated, passionate
people who have devoted our careers to the arts because we believe in their
importance to our communities and for the world. Despite the challenging conversations,
differing opinions, and unique perspectives, it was re-centering to conclude
the week as a patron of the arts.
On the final evening of the conference, our hosts, Opéra
de Montréal,
opened their world premiere Les Feluettes.
I was utterly drawn in and completely captivated by this brand-new work of art.
The music, story, and production were,
in my humble opinion, flawlessly supportive of each other creating a riveting
and deeply moving experience in the theater, an exemplar of what all opera strives
to be, and a viscerally satisfying reminder of why all of us at Opera
Conference and all of our colleagues back home do the work we do.
