Past Grant Recipients

2010

Santa Fe Opera Guild

Volunteer Training To Support Student Produced Opera At Santa Fe Indian School

The Santa Fe Opera has brought its Student Produced Opera to schools throughout northern New Mexico for a number of years. With this project, initiated by The Santa Fe Opera Guild and supported by The Santa Fe Opera, Student Produced Opera will be offered to a group of middle school and high school students at The Indian School and incorporated into the school’s music curriculum.

It will be the Opera’s and the Guild’s first opportunity to work with Santa Fe’s 120 year old Indian School and, most important to us at The Santa Fe Opera Guild, our first opportunity to work as hands on volunteers in any school program. As such, the Guild’s first priority for the project will be to recruit and properly train volunteers for all the activities we’ve outlined.

A theatre artist and composer work with students to write a story, and then compose music to go along with the narrative.  Students build sets, gather props and assemble costumes. Then their opera is performed in a professional theatre in front of proud classmates, family, friends and community members.

Chattanooga  Symphony and Opera Guild

The Night Visitors and Amahl for the Homeless

The Chattanooga branch of the Interfaith Homeless Network (IHN) provides housing and counsel for homeless  families in the Chattanooga area.  Local churches assist by providing housing, food and personal assistance for these families for one week at a time.

The families are moved from church to church on Sunday afternoons. During the week, church members provide breakfasts, dinners, evening hosts to help with homework, entertainment and overnight hosts. During the day, the families are transported to a central location where the adults are counseled in job seeking and in other issues facing them. The children attend school.

These families are wrestling with many problems, and arts experiences are not a part of their day to day struggle.  Providing education about and the experience of attending a performance is a way to connect these families with an event out of their reach. The storyline will provide their case worker with an opportunity to make an opera relate to their daily lives.  It will certainly bring an awareness to them to know, in a very personal way, that opera is for everyone.

The CSO Guild proposes, with the grant monies, to provide a DVD of Amahl and the Night Visitors to each of the two churches that will host families in order for them to see a production to familiarize them with the story. In addition, docents will visit each of the churches on one evening of the week to discuss the story line as well as to help the visitors understand what opera is and how everyone can enjoy it. Docent materials will be developed by staff and guild members.

On the evening of the performance, the visitors will be greeted by Guild members. Case workers and guests will be invited to join the family members. They will also be treated to a back stage tour. Case workers will be provided with follow up materials to be used the following day when they meet with families. Each person attending will be asked to write a letter and describe how attending the event as well as how the story line affected family members.

Opera productions had to be suspended due to finances during the past year and The Night Visitors and Amahl production is 2010′s only opera for the year.

Ogden Opera Guild

Increase Youth And Other Volunteer Participation In Ogden Opera Guild Symposia

The purpose of this project is to extend the knowledge of and the appreciation of the art form of opera by extending the unparalleled opportunity to meet and hear performers in the field. The Symposia is organized and sponsored by OOG and is the only opportunity to see a brief live performance in Ogden.

With this grant from OVI, we will extend a special invitation to targeted groups. We would like to encourage the attendees to participate in various volunteer aspects of the evening so they feel a part of the proceedings and experience the satisfaction of giving back. We would like to train those attending a symposium to greet audience attendees, usher, assist in preparation of the venue, setup, clean up, etc.

We wish to concentrate on a very special inner city group known as Youth Impact. These young people are from 36 different schools in the Ogden area and are the victims of poverty, crime and gang violence. These children have been carefully screened regarding school attendance and motivation.

In addition to the performers, many of whom are principals in the upcoming performance in Salt Lake City, there is an informative talk by the artistic director and a commentary with piano accompaniment concerning the history and a synopsis of the featured opera. The singers are invited to give a brief introduction of their background and the process by which they became involved with opera.

Elgin Opera Guild

Elgin Lecture Corps

Elgin Opera Guild will to develop a Lecture Corps to instill the love of opera in under-served groups, specifically the elderly and school children. The educational tools/services will be in the form of lecture performances (at public and private locations accessible to the elderly) and school presentations with accompanying educational packets. Twenty volunteers will be involved.

We will market and promote this new program to draw in both existing Guild members and to attract new ones.  We will use professionals to develop packets and programs targeted towards audiences of different ages. We need to train new presenters in lecture and presentation skills for these new audiences.

Our reach has been limited by lack of funds and personnel to develop and implement such outreach programs. With the growth of Elgin Opera Guild, we are now poised to develop the personnel and programs for under served communities on a regular basis.

2009

Houston Grand Opera Guild

Artist Hospitality Program

The Houston Grand Opera Guild sponsors 8 major volunteer opportunities that develop and train volunteers. At present, the Hospitality Program’s mission is to make the artist feel welcome and satisfy needs during his/her stay in Houston. The Houston Grand Opera has requested the Guild to expand the Hospitality Program to the HGO chorus and stage professionals. The Artist Hospitality project is needed to meet our goals of promoting active participants through service and events.

Projected expenses include printing, photographer, decorations, equipment/furniture rental, postage and entertainment. Training is part of the volunteer experience in this project. Seasoned volunteers conduct “on the job” training during the volunteering experience.

Project expenses are expected to be $4,925. Matching Revenue will come from the Spring Fund Raiser, Awards Brunch and dues.

Opera Illinois League

Opera Preview Program

Since our local opera company suspended operations, we have placed greater attention on enhancing other opportunities to enjoy opera in our community. We initiated free breakfast previews in conjunction with the Met Opera Broadcasts. These are prepared and presented by a League board member who teaches opera for continuing education at two local colleges. The previews increase the audience for these events by adding more interest and understanding, especially for newcomers to opera. They include visuals which are built into a PowerPoint slide show.

When our audience was small, we could allow people to view these visuals directly on the laptop computer screen. As our previews increase in popularity, we find we must either dispense with the visuals altogether or find a way to project them so they can be viewed by a large group. The cinemas presenting the Met operas do not offer such equipment, even for rent, and long term rental would be costly. We have identified increased interest in attending the Met operas when a multimedia preview is available.

In addition to the board member who prepares and presents the previews, we have a board member who assists with technical items, another who co-ordinates with theater management and two who assist with refreshments. These events are publicized in the newspaper and directly to League members.

We would like to purchase a Sony 3LCD Projector for this program. Cost expected is $999. We will match $500 if awarded this grant. Money to match came from a raffle.

Elgin Opera

Development of Elgin Opera Guild

Elgin Opera will use grant funds to pay for the development of an effective Elgin Opera Guild. We will pay, on a contract basis, a program coordinator to identify and solicit potential guild members, contact current guild members, write and distribute a professional newsletter, organize distinct events for current guild members and potential guild members, organize and hold educational events for the guild and potential members, and pay for marketing materials.  We anticipate that the program coordinator will work on this project from April through December 2009.

The program coordinator will develop methods to identify potential members and hold appropriate individual and group outreach meetings with them. The position is also responsible for writing and distributing a professional newsletter targeting potential and current members.The coordinator will hold sessions to train current guild members to go out and solicit new members. Expenses will include time, materials such as DVDs, posters, shirts and mugs, postage and a software application to publish the newsletter.

We would like to add 50 new members by the end of 2009. We believe the OVI grant would put us in a strong position to accomplish this goal. At this critical juncture in our development, we need this growth to survive and to continue to serve our community. A strong and active Opera Guild will serve to help us continue to realize our mission.

Cost to achieve this goal is approximately $8,000.  We will match the $2,000 grant with money received from ticket sales to events and membership.

2008

Skagit Opera Guild

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