Arts and Cultural Heritage Community Arts Learning Grant

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2015 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$5,000
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
Lyric Opera of the North
Recipient Type
Non-Profit Business/Entity
Status
Completed
Start Date
July 2015
End Date
June 2016
Activity Type
Grants/Contracts
Counties Affected
St. Louis
Lake
Cook
Itasca
Koochiching
St. Louis
Lake
Cook
Itasca
Koochiching
Project Overview
Arts and Cultural Heritage Community Arts Learning Grant
Project Details
Hansel and Gretel. Lyric Opera of the North will introduce its children's opera program, Little Opera of the North with an adaptation of Humperdinck's classic opera, Hansel and Gretel. Through a special arrangement with Opera For the Young, based in Madison, Wisconsin, we will tour this 45-minute opera, sung in English, to schools throughout the Northland. Students at each school will perform alongside Lyric Opera of the North's four professional singers and one pianist, in the school gymnasium. Each performance will conclude with a Q and A session.
Competitive Grant Making Body
Board Members and Qualifications
Erling Ellison: jewelry designer and creator, speech coach and judge, director of Garrison Art Fair; Ken Bloom: Director of Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota-Duluth; Janeen Carey: vocalist, retired Hibbing Community College librarian and information media specialist; Kate Fitzgerald: Program Director North Shore Music Association, writer; Peter Pestalozzi: furniture maker, wood worker; David Beard: Assistant Professor University of Minnesota-Duluth writing studies; Mark King: actor, theater reviewer, musician; Adam Guggemos: graphic designer, art events promoter; Michelle Ronning: jewelry designer and maker; John Gregor: photographer, art educator, community art advocate; Ann Russ: music performer, community song leader, choir director, workshop leader, past director and founder of North Shore Music Association; Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Dana Mattice: Development and Communications Director of The Art Institute Duluth, Shannon Sweeney: stage manager for Duluth Playhouse and former production manager for the Minnesota Ballet; Moira Villiard: visual artist and student of arts and communication at University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Advisory Group Members and Qualifications
Janeen Carey: vocalist, retired Hibbing Community College librarian and information media specialist; David Beard: Assistant Professor University of Minnesota-Duluth writing studies; Mark King: actor, theater reviewer, musician; Erling Ellison: jewelry designer and creator, speech coach and judge, director of Garrison Art Fair; Kate Fitzgerald: Program Director North Shore Music Association, writer; John Gregor: photographer, art educator, community art advocate; Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Ann Russ: music performer, community song leader, choir director, workshop leader, past director and founder of North Shore Music Association; Shannon Sweeney: stage manager for Duluth Playhouse and former production manager for the Minnesota Ballet.
Legal Citation / Subdivision
Laws of Minnesota 2013, Chapter 137, Article 4, Section 2, Subdivision 3
Appropriation Language

ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage

2015 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$5,000
Other Funds Leveraged
$18,250
Direct expenses
$23,250
Administration costs
$0
Number of full time equivalents funded
0
Proposed Measurable Outcome(s)

With these performances, we hope to provide an engaging and welcoming introduction to opera for elementary school-aged children and for all interested community members. By engaging students as audience members and on-stage participants, we will demonstrate that opera belongs to people of all ages, from every walk of life, and from small towns and big cities. We hope to enliven the appetite for opera in our region. Additionally, we seek to provide paying work and invaluable stage experience for emerging professional opera singers and pianists, as well as for our artistic designers and skilled builders. Participants will be asked to complete surveys, which will be evaluated by our administrative and creative staff, as well as our board of directors. Students, teachers, and administration at each school will be surveyed, as will our performing artists. Ongoing artistic merit will be monitored throughout the tour season by our artistic staff.

Measurable Outcome(s)

Little Opera of the North gave 13 performances of Hansel and Gretel in 12 schools for nearly 5,000 elementary school audience members (and their teachers, staff, administrators, and invited guests!). In each performance, 16 students from the host school comprised the on-stage chorus. In many schools, large numbers of the audience had also learned the chorus music, and sang along. In most situations, this was the first live opera the students had seen. Surveys filled out by students, teachers and principals were very, very positive.

Description of Funds
Source of Additional Funds

Other, local or private

Recipient Board Members
Martha Firling, Charlotte Taylor, Jean Jacobson, James Sheetz, Floyd Cochran, Chery Takkunen
Project Manager
First Name
Sarah
Last Name
Lawrence
Organization Name
Lyric Opera of the North
Street Address
PO Box 462
City
Duluth
State
MN
Zip Code
55801
Phone
(218) 464-0922
Email
sarah@loonopera.org
Administered By
Administered by
Location

Griggs Midway Building, Suite 304,
540 Fairview Avenue North,
St. Paul, MN 55104

Phone
(651) 539-2650 or toll-free (800) 866-2787
Email the Agency
Location


332 West Superior Street, Suite 204
Duluth, MN 55802

Phone
Project Manager: Rebecca Graves
(218) 722-0952
Email the Agency