Attendees at the Opera.ca Regional Roundtable take part in a mock Culture Days activity workshop. From left to right: Stephen Bye, Opera Hamilton, David Speers, Opera Hamilton, Caitlin Coull, COC, Calista Biermans, Toronto Summer Music and Cecelia Paolucci, Toronto Summer Music.
On Friday, May 14, I attended a regional roundtable on arts education and outreach presented by Opera.ca the nationally association for opera in Canada. Following several other speakers on arts education, I had the opportunity to introduce the Culture Days movement to leaders in the Ontario opera scene. Three arts education staff from the Canadian Opera Company, Tapestry New Opera Works and Opera Aterlier led a group exercise designed to help organizations understand the value of arts education and to brainstorm ideas for potential Culture Days activities.
Arts education programs are often called “outreach” but Christina Loewen (Opera.ca Executive Director) floated the idea that we should in fact be calling it “inreach” since the idea is to welcome the public inside our arts organizations and within the creative process. “Inreach” conveys many of the goals of Culture Days. With a mission to develop new opera works by Canadian and international creators, Tapestry invites the public to “inreach” during every step of their creation and production process throughout the year. The reason is simply, said Amber Ebert (Tapestry), “Artists are our best spokespeople.” The passion of artists positively reflects on their company and imparts to the public a great appreciation for their art form.
Many arts managers wonder about the value of doing outreach when resources are tight and staff limited. Outreach is often justified on the assumption that consumers of free programming will eventually become ticket buyers but the transition is never so simple. When companies invest in arts education, especially when it is aimed at children, the return on that investment could take 20 years or more. Therefore, Katherine Semcesen (COC) explained the priority of outreach should be to promote your art form first, your company second. Collectively, outreach will build a greater arts-aware public, which will in turn produce a stronger arts and cultural sector.
Nancy Hitzig (Opera Atelier) reminded us all to think back to that one influential arts education moment that inspired us to pursue careers and lives in the arts. Most of us can recall an awe-inspiring school trip to a museum or a special music teacher who shared her enthusiasm for the violin. Each Culture Days activity has the potential to be one of those special moments for someone else. You can be the artist who inspires the next generation to pursue their artistic potential and play a hand in shaping their life-long love of the arts.
The roundtable concluded with the arts education staff leading us through an opera creation workshop, where groups had to write and perform their own 5 minute opera with the aid of an accompanist and some simple props. Suddenly put in the position of performers, many of the executive directors and managers were nervous and reticent. With a bit of encouragement and teamwork, we brainstormed some ideas and produced some very silly short operas. The arts education staff pointed out how we were feeling uncomfortable, which will be the same for the public during Culture Days. Participating in the creative process is outside of many people’s comfort zones. We have to be prepared to deal with the public feeling silly or nervous. As activity hosts it is our responsibility to make the public feel safe and welcome within the creative process. If achieved, both the public and the activity hosts will be rewarded with new ideas and stimulating interactions.
Written by Aubrey Reeves, Ontario Arts Council’s Culture Days Animator/Coordinator.