OperaUpClose awarded Arts Council England National Funding Portfolio from Spring 2023
OperaUpClose awarded Arts Council England National Funding Portfolio from Spring 2023
OperaUpClose announces joining the Arts Council England National Funding Portfolio from Spring 2023
Artistic Director Flora McIntosh says “We are enormously grateful that Arts Council England have decided to regularly fund OperaUpClose as a National Portfolio Organisation. This supports a new and transformational phase in the development of OperaUpClose as we embed as the only resident Opera Company in the South West. From our new homeat the brilliant and diverse cultural hub of MAST, Southampton, and with the support of Arts Council England, we arenow in a unique position to have both local and national impact, developing and expanding our work as an innovative force in UK opera.”
Abigail Toland, Chair of OperaUpclose says “OperaUpClose is delighted to join the National Portfolio. We are very grateful for this endorsement from Arts Council England in support of our work delivering accessible opera to audiences at both our home in Southampton and across the UK”.
Phil Gibby, Area Director, South West, Arts Council England said: “Arts Council England is delighted to be welcoming Opera Up Close into the 2023-26 National Portfolio. The organisation is transforming opera for a new generation of audiences, and offers a ground-breaking programme of work for children and young people. This funding helps us to achieve our ambition in relation to Let’s Create by supporting new approaches to existing artforms and new ways of reaching new and existing audiences and participants.”
The mission of OperaUpClose is to create and deliver excellent, accessible opera, and by doing so improve the reach, availability and impact of the art form to people across England and beyond.
In the period ’23-’26 OperaUpClose will develop our partnerships and strengthen our presence in local communities with work in 4 main areas:
Stories of the Sea: we will tell stories resonating with coastal communities, opening up our creative process to local people and allowing them to participate directly in making our work in collaboration with experienced professionals working to the highest artistic standards.
Refreshing the operatic canon: we will work with composers and writers to distil the essence of classic operas into new, contemporary works with their own artistic integrity and excellence, not only delivering innovatively staged, relevant and affordable touring productions, but also creating legacy and impact with bold new musical interpretations.
Opera for the Very Young: we will build on the success of our opera for 2-5 year olds Peace At Last with further work for early years in underserved areas, developing material through a devised and co-creative process.
Cross art-form partnerships and commissions: We are developing exciting creative partnerships to help extend the reach and relevance of opera in the UK through the co-creation of multi-discipline prologue/companion pieces for our core work.
This work begins in 2023 with a nationwide tour of Laura Bowler and Glyn Maxwell’s boldly re-imagined version of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, developed in partnership with Manchester Camerata; initial development and community outreach around Vaughan Williams’ sung play Riders to the Sea in partnership with composer Michael Betteridge and writer development agency Artful Scribe; and a revival of Peace At Last for early years settings in Southampton and the Isle of Wight.
Based on the model for our established Trainee Director scheme, in partnership with (amongst others) MAST and Southampton University, OperaUpClose will develop a paid Young Associate Artist programme to include a directors, conductors and performers, ensuring our contribution to developing & improving pathways in the industry with an emphasis on recruitment in the South West.
For further information please contact Company Manager, Jane Ryan – jane@operupclose.com