For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Jason M.A. Walter | 808-596-7372 ext. 211 | j_walter@hawaiiopera.org
Hawaii Opera Theatre receives $25,000 grant to support community outreach and education programs
Honolulu, Hawaii – Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT) received a $25,000 grant from the Sidney E. Frank Foundation to support its state-wide education and outreach programs.
Cutbacks in arts education funding are an ongoing struggle. The National Endowment for the Arts’ Survey of Public Participation in the Arts reveals that from 1982-2008 there was a decline of 23 percent of youth taking art classes in their childhood.
Opera is the culmination of all art forms: the perfect blend of music, theatre, dance and design. Opera can only happen when artists from a variety of disciplines come together bringing singers, musicians, actors, dancers, creative designers, scenic painters and costumers into one magnificent vision. It is therefore the ideal foundation for arts education, with its rich diversity of program disciplines and opportunities for self-expression.
HOT’s Residency program brings its education and production staff members into elementary schools to work with students and teachers to produce, perform opera. Some schools even create an opera production around curriculum components. HOT is currently working with elementary schools Blanche Pope in Waimanalo, Waikele, and Pearl City Highlands. When the cafeteria was being used for lunch, Blanche Pope students are being staged (literally) “under the mango tree”! Kupuna are heavily involved and even crafting props from royal palm. Waikele’s adapted story of Cinderella includes characters coming from different cultures and an overall theme of working together. ESL teachers have shared that singing opera helps many of their students more quickly grasp, and become more comfortable with, the English language. “It’s hard hard work on everyone’s part but there is incredible talent, and it’s so wonderful when you feel the ship turning – in a good direction,” said HOT Education Director Erik Haines.
“Opera is delightfully unexpected in Hawaii,” said HOT Artistic Director Henry Akina. “And yet, opera has been part of Hawaiian island culture for more than a century. Its history in Hawaii, which dates back to the 1850’s, includes stores of Queen Emma singing in the chorus of Verdi’s Il Trovatore while her husband, King Kamehameha IV served as the stage manager.” Passed down through generations of unwritten communication, Hawaiians as well as most other ethnic backgrounds here have a natural aloha for musical story telling as well as a natural talent for singing.
HOT’s educational programs serve as both catalyst and active participant in the artistic education of Hawaii’s youth and adults:
- Opera for Everyone (OFE) reserves the 2,000-seat Concert Hall’s preview night of each of the three operas for a large and enthusiastic audience of students. OFE Intern Program provides students with hands-on experience, on-stage in the chorus or as supernumeraries, or backstage in wigs, makeup, wardrobe, or other areas of production.
- HOT Opera Express takes operas specially adapted operas, into elementary and middle schools with special tours to all neighbor islands, reaching more than 15,000 students each year.
- HOT Opera Residency program takes our education and production staff members into an elementary school to work with students and teachers – and parents and grandparents – to produce and perform and opera, touching approximately 4,000 in a year. In some cases, the students develop the story and lyrics centered – set to opera music by HOT education staff – around curriculum components. HOT’s Opera Residency Program has received national recognition with an Opera America Success Award for demonstrating “exemplary effort in advancing public awareness of opera using an innovative approach” and “showing initiative in forging creative, community-building partnerships outside the company.” Opera America is the national service organization for opera companies in the United States and Canada.
- Adult education is offered Opera Previews, at the Honolulu Academy of Arts; Opera Talk at the HOT Rehearsal Space the Saturday before each opening night, pre-performance Lanai Lectures on the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall lanai; and other presentations at various locations in the community.
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Since 1961, Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT), formerly a division of the Honolulu Symphony Society and incorporated in 1980, has served to enhance the quality of life Hawaii by presenting opera performances of the highest standards, while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Through three productions annually in the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall, HOT offers opera to over 14,000 residents and visitors each season thereby increasing the public’s awareness and exposure to opera as a multi-media art form.
Directed by Artistic Director, Henry Akina, and Executive Director Simon Crookall, HOT partners with the Hawaii Symphony to provide the orchestra. Auditions are held, generally in NY, to cast principal roles from mainland, European, Asian and local singers. The Opera Chorus is a local volunteer organization.