Investing in Education

Opera Australia: WotOpera Photo: Bridget ElliotAll our 28 member companies already make a huge contribution to arts education, enabling over 570,000 students each year to attend free or discounted performances or participate in arts in education programs Australia wide.

Every year, we are putting aside valuable resources to ensure that young Australians can attend the world-class productions created by our companies. In addition, we are creating new ways to engage our youth with interactive workshops, made-for-schools performances and multi-media access programs.

Research conducted by the Australia Council for the Arts over the last five years has demonstrated how involvement in the performing arts improves academic outcomes and our major performing arts companies are at the forefront of that engagement.

Education programs

AMPAG member companies have a wide variety of innovative programs at all levels of education. These include introducing children to performance, young artist development programs for those developing professional careers, and mentoring programs for those training across the art forms.

Each company contributes in a different way to the future of the performing arts in our country. This is just a sample of what the companies are up to in education. For more comprehensive information download our education file.

Between 2003 and 2009 Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) conducted an annual Artists-in-Residence program at Western Cape College. The program provided high quality in-school drama tuition and theatre performances to students and drama became a permanent part of the curriculum at the College. Over the life of the program QTC conducted more than 300 drama workshops with more than 4,000 recorded participants in workshop activities. The Artists-in-Residence program at Western Cape College has also been of broader national significance through serving as a case study in 2009 for the Social Return on Investment analysis undertaken by Social Ventures Australia. 

The Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) has has been providing drama and theatre experiences for young people continuously for almost 50 years and reaches over 15,000 students annually. In 2010 it invited 28 Year 11 students from around Victoria to take part in the Youth Ambassador Program. The students were nominated by their drama teachers to take part in the program which is designed to immerse students in the wonderful world of theatre. They are allowed unprecedented access to all aspects of a professional theatre company including tickets to seven shows throughout the year, social events and behind-the-scenes excursions led by key members of the MTC creative team.

Opera Queensland has commissioned composer and conductor Sean O’Boyle and renowned film and television writer, actor and director Ian McFadyen to create the new opera Space Encounters for young audiences aged between 5 and 12 years. The opera is a teaching tool – allowing students to explore opera as a narrative – and toured the Brisbane metropolitan area, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast in 2010, with a regional Queensland tour in 2011.

Opera Australia has collaborated with the founder of Wotif.com (Graeme Wood) to create the WotOpera program. Four Sydney high schools – Glenmore Park High, Merrylands High, Miller Technology College and MLC Burwood – collaborated with Opera Australia to create four new operas which were performed to packed houses at Parramatta Riverside Theatres in June 2010. In 2010 WotOpera also went to Launceston and Bendigo.

Students have been discovering the fascinating world of opera as the Education Team from West Australian Opera present a concoction of scenes spanning from Mozart to Bizet, and from Verdi to Gilbert and Sullivan. This interactive workshop explores the history and development of opera, with the singers accompanied by the a new Tyros3 Keyboard, thanks to a partnership with Yamaha. 

The Australian Ballet presented free workshops at Campbelltown Arts Centre for primary and secondary school students in 2010. In addition over 460 education activities were delivered by the Ballet in theatres, in schools and in communities and  over 17,000 participants were children. Throughout the country The Australian Ballet presents an array of education programs in a range of places including theatres, schools, art galleries and even the Melbourne Zoo!

Over 4800 high school students per annum attend a Belvoir production, including around 850 high school students from schools identified by the NSW DET as disadvantaged or geographically remote. One participant commented “I loved it and can’t wait to watch more, didn’t know I would like theatre that much.”

Every member of the orchestra remembers an early experience that “hooked” them on music and the ASO wants to give future generations the spark of inspiration which turns them onto music as a vital, living aspect of their lives. In 2010 the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra performed to approximately 4500 children aged between 2 and 16 years.

Bell Shakespeare's programs reach over 88,000 Australian students through the Actors at Work performances, student masterclasses, residences, teachers’ masterclasses and teachers' forums.

From Kununurra in the Kimberley to Albany and Esperance on the south coast, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra's EChO [Education Chamber Orchestra] tours the state and performs to over 12,000 students per year.

Musica Viva Education provides music education to Australians from 3 to 93 through its diverse range of programs. The most well known of these is Musica Viva In Schools which in 2011 will celebrate 30 years of providing quality professional learning for teachers, teaching resources, interactive workshops and live music in schools reaching students nationally.

Sydney Theatre Company's program for young people, STC Ed, is the most comprehensive commitment made by any state theatre company in Australia.  STC Ed is driven by the belief that it is vital that students engage with work of the highest quality, and in 2009, STC Ed presented programs of the highest calibre to over 21,000 students across NSW. 

Orchestra Victoria run free workshops across six locations in Victoria to allow aspiring musicians to experience the thrill of rehearsing and performing alongside the professional musicians of Orchestra Victoria.

Approximately 30,000 children and young people engage in the Queensland Theatre Company's Youth & Education Program annually. This includes 400 workshops state-wide, a Young Playwrights Program, Teacher Professional Development, annual Drama Camp, Student Advisory Panel and partnerships with youth organisations.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra gives pre-professional string players the chance to be mentored by and play alongside the musicians of the orchestra. This program has resulted in one of their 2008 Emerging Artists, Madeleine Boud, winning a full-time position as a core member or the ACO.

Queensland Ballet runs Dance+ which includes classical and contemporary professional development workshops for teachers, technique and repertoire workshops for students, studio performances and tours, and opportunities for online interaction with Company dancers.

There are more education resources in our AMPAG Publications and Performing Arts Resources pages.

And you might like to visit Member Companies to explore the range of available arts experiences.