Opera.ca News – September 2020

20th Anniversary brings a New Look, a New Name, a New Website – Coming Soon!

2020 marks the 20th anniversary of Opera.ca, and while COVID19 may have caused many cancellations, it has only delayed our plans for celebration. We are very excited to reveal some of the work we have been doing over the past few months to re-brand the organization as it heads into its third decade of services to the opera sector in Canada. Stay tuned later in the month as we unveil our new look, a new website, and even a new NAME! (Hint: “So long dot!”) We can hardly wait.

Announcing the LINK Program

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the brand new Emerging Artist Fellowship, the first of multiple initiatives as part of the Leadership, Innovation, Networking, Knowledge (LINK) Emerging Artist Programs. The Fellowship will identify fifteen exceptional Canadian emerging artists most between the ages of 18-29 to participate in a year-long development program including consultations, mentorship, and professional workshops. Designed to give a voice and agency to the next generation of artists, the LINK Programs also provide a platform for discovery and skill development. The Emerging Artist Fellowship forges a new path for artists in Canada to realize their full potential both in their artistic field and outside of it.
(Read more)

Tips on Managing Virtual Teams from ED Christina Loewen

It’s hard enough transitioning an existing team from a physical office to a virtual environment, but how do you build an entirely new team from scratch for a virtual environment, when you’ve never even had any staff to begin with? Christina Loewen, Executive Director at Opera.ca provides 10 tips on building an all new 8 person virtual summer team (The Portfolio Artist Collective) that flourished and succeeded in only 8 weeks together.
(View the tips HERE)

Opera.ca’s Digital Civic Impact Framework Project featured during Mass One Study Date

In June, Opera.ca Executive Director Christina Loewen was the Research Lead and host of a Mass One Study Date exploring Civic Impact Frameworks hosted by Mass Culture. Christina shared the outline of the Opera Civic Impact Framework published in January 2020 as well as our plans to transform it into a digital tool for the collecting and reporting out on data, and to scale it beyond opera and translate arts outcomes into impacts of our non-arts community partners. Opera director Julie McIsaac was in attendance and wrote this fantastic article about her experience.