Education & Outreach

Opera Plus! is committed to arts education and to bringing the four hundred year tradition of opera directly to local children, teachers, parents and families. Opera Plus! is the only year round regional arts organization that incorporates the full range of the classical arts, including singing, orchestral music, set design, and acting. Not only do the arts give life richness, but they are critical to the development of a vibrant community.

Opera Plus! is actively involved in bringing arts education into the classroom and providing enrichment programs for students of all ages.

Opera-tunities! The very first event Opera Plus! offered to the community was an elementary school program. Over 8,000 third graders have been introduced to opera through Opera-tunities.

Every year, for the last five years, Opera Plus! has presented the Opera-tunities program to the entire third grade class at ten schools within Coeur d'Alene's District 271. Last year alone, nearly 1,000 third grade students from the District attended the live one-hour session that integrates professional musicians and singers, as well as music education in the operatic arts. For the past two years, we have also take our program to the entire student body of the Tribal School in Worley. This spring for the first time, third graders in Post Falls District 273 will also be included in the program.

Because Opera Plus! is an all-volunteer and locally operated 501(c)3 non-profit organization, programs such as Opera-tunities! can be accomplished only through the generous support of local businesses, individuals, artists, and educators.

Opera Matters! Opera Plus's advocacy for arts education also incorporates an element to enrich educators in the operatic arts. For the last three years, Opera Plus! has brought Opera Matters! to secondary and pos-secondary teachers in our region. Opera Matters! provides workshops and classroom materials that empower drama, vocal, and humanities teachers with the skills and confidence to include opera into their classroom studies. The curriculum focuses on the fall opera production of Opera Plus!

Opera Studies! Opera Plus! believes that community arts education should involve children AND adults, and for this reason created the Opera Studied! program. Offered twice a year for the last five years, this half-day seminar teaches 3-40 adults about composers, the history of opera, and most importantly, offers a context within which to enjoy the fall production.

In addition to educational programs for students and adults, Opera Plus! produces an annual fully-staged opera with professional singers and orchestra -- incorporating all aspects of traditional opera: voice, music, story and artistic set design. Consistent with our advocacy for arts education, Opera Plus! provides a free public lecture prior to each performance. This year, Puccini's opera "Madam Butterfly" will be produced.

Past productions include Rossini's "Barber of Seville" and Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro." According to surveys conducted by Opera Plus! volunteers at the opera last year, at least 25 children and their families were first-time opera attendees as a direct result of the children's exposure to the art of opera by the Opera-tunities program. And, remarkably, more than a third of the audience attended as a direct result of the Opera Matters! program. These results exemplify how a grass-roots effort like that of Opera Plus! can bring arts not only to the classroom, but also to an entire community of families, children, teens, and adults.

For its efforts to strengthen public arts education and add variety and enrichment to the cultural resources in our community, Opera Plus! received the 2006 Mayor's Award for Arts in Education.